Fun read.
I am sure Dean never thought he would see Segway mostly being a manufacturing shop for scooters.
Funny how Segway was introduced to Ninebot:
In 2014, Segway convinced the US International Trade Commission to investigate infringements of Segway’s patents for its self-balancing technology. One of the companies listed in Segway’s complaint was Ninebot, which quickly offered to buy the company.
Segway history: The rise and fall — and rise again — of the scooter company – CNN:
Brown bought the company from the estate of Jimi Heselden, a British entrepreneur who died after riding his Segway off a cliff. Segway was barely getting by on the meager revenue it brought in selling the PT to tour companies, security companies and police departments. But Brown saw a global brand with a powerful distribution channel. Six million tourists rode Segways on tours of cities like San Francisco and Washington, DC each year. He planned to buy other transportation companies focused on short trips, like e-bike startups. All he had to do to make Segway profitable, he figured, was run the place well.
Brown brought on new employees to change Segway’s uptight culture. He led an effort to trim costs by reengineering a circuit board, ditching the PT’s expensive gyroscope in favor of a cheaper solution, and negotiating a better battery contract. It worked. Segway turned a profit within a year of Brown’s arrival. He sold the company to the Chinese firm Ninebot on April 1, 2015 for more than $75 million.
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