Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • June 2014
  • Teaching Note
  • HBS Case Collection

Lit Motors

By: Thomas Eisenmann
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:12
ShareBar

Abstract

In mid-2012 Lit Motors had created both engineering and design prototypes and conducted initial customer tests on less than $750,000 of investment. Lit Motors' founder, Daniel Kim, had started the company to design and manufacture an efficient electric 2-wheeled vehicle. The company had refined the designs for the key technologies required and had a working prototype, an understanding of the manufacturing processes to be used and a list of the components required. They also had a design prototype that they had used to conduct customer tests and establish reactions to pricing levels. At this point, management was aiming to raise $15M to get closer to manufacturing prototypes, but had they sufficiently proved out both the manufacturing feasibility and the market demand? How could they address the next hurdles in terms of partnership building, supply chain management and go-to-market strategy?

Keywords

Lean Startup; Prototyping; Electric Vehicle; Urban Vehicle; Customer Test; Gyroscope; Entrepreneurs; Development Stage Enterprises; Creativity; Disruptive Technologies; Consumer Surveys; Market Segmentation; Manufacturing Costs; Entrepreneurship; Auto Industry; United States; California

Citation

Eisenmann, Thomas. "Lit Motors." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 814-120, June 2014.
  • Purchase

About The Author

Thomas R. Eisenmann

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Author

    • April 2024
    • Faculty Research

    LinkedIn: Project InVersion

    By: Sara McKinley Torti and Thomas R. Eisenmann
    • September 2023
    • Faculty Research

    DocSend: A Path off the Plateau?

    By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Jeffrey Huizinga
    • September 2023 (Revised December 2023)
    • Faculty Research

    TetraScience: Noise and Signal

    By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn
More from the Author
  • LinkedIn: Project InVersion By: Sara McKinley Torti and Thomas R. Eisenmann
  • DocSend: A Path off the Plateau? By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Jeffrey Huizinga
  • TetraScience: Noise and Signal By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.