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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Business
Rachelle Abbott

How to be a CEO podcast: Lime’s Wayne Ting on optimism in a crisis

For a couple of years, Lime seemed to be one of those companies that pops in exactly the right place at the precisely the right time.

It started off in San Francisco in 2017, hiring out electric bikes just as the world was taking climate change more seriously – the ink on the Paris agreement had only dried the year before.

In 2018, it was valued at one point one billion dollars – a full on unicorn. In 2019, it doubled its value.

Then came 2020, and the pandemic which wiped out 99% of its markets. In this episode, CEO Wayne Ting talks to us about:

•The race to raise emergency funding with 90% of Lime's revenue disappearing.

•Why "management with optimism" is essential during a crisis.

•The challenges of persuading cities to introduce electric micromobility.

•How even places like Amsterdam and Copenhagen faced backlash when they encouraged more bike use.

•The problems with electric cars and continuing contribution to climate change.

•Can Lime serve six million people in London with 100,000 bikes?

•What’s next for Lime?

Listen here or here:

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