Lit Motors

Thomas  Eisenmann

Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | June 2014

Lit Motors

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;

Language: English

Format: Print

12 pages

Purchase

Citation:

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

eSig, an early-stage startup, offers an electronic signature application as a "freemium" product, i.e., users can upgrade from a free basic version to a premium version by paying a subscription fee. Using 9 months of data from 50,000 user activations (available as a case supplement), students are asked to project the number of new users eSig will acquire in Q1 2016 and recommend how much they should spend during the quarter on each major marketing channel (e.g., Facebook ads, Google ads, content marketing, etc.). Note: the name and functionality of the actual freemium application upon which the case is based have been disguised.

eSig, an early-stage startup, offers an electronic signature application as a "freemium" product, i.e., users can upgrade from a free basic version to a premium version by paying a subscription fee. Using 9 months of data from 50,000 user activations, available as a case supplement, students are asked to project the number of new users eSig will acquire in Q1 2016, and recommend how much they should spend during the quarter on each major marketing channel (e.g., Facebook ads, Google ads, content marketing, etc.). Note: the name and functionality of the actual freemium application upon which the case is based have been disguised.

Faculty & Research

Lit Motors

Abstract

Citation:

About the Author

More from the Author