THE BUSINESS START
Fleet Cycles, which added five new employees since opening, provides the only e-cargo bike in the world that has an 800-pound load capacity. Competitors’ bikes have weight limits of around 500 pounds. The Fleet Cycle bikes are most commonly used to supplement or replace traditional gas-powered fleet vehicles used in transporting heavier materials.
Mike said, “Chad and I noticed how Europe was successfully using electric cargo bikes in commercial spaces to meet the demand for lower operating costs and fewer emissions. When those same European conditions started to be present in the United States, we saw an opportunity and knew the timing to start our business was perfect. Chad is an experienced entrepreneur and I was ready to scratch that small business ownership itch. I like the pressure of making crucial decisions and facing the consequences.”
THE OBSTACLES
The biggest obstacle they needed to overcome was raising money. “Early-stage investors in the Madison area are more focused on industries like bio and health technology, so finding investors early on for our type of manufacturing was challenging,” Mike said. “Our raw materials and testing and other needs are more capital intensive than in other industries, so the economies of scale and risk aren’t understood by many investors.”
Accomplishments with UW-Madison SBDC
- Business strategy
- Resouces connection
SBDC ASSISTANCE
Mike came to the UW-Madison Small Business Development Center (SBDC) for assistance, where he worked with Amy Bruner Zimmerman. Mike said, “Amy is such a good listener! She was like a business therapist for us. She heard our successes and frustrations and pushed us in the right direction.” She understood where the business was at in various phases, even when they didn’t yet have a prototype and she provided connections with experts who could help in very specific areas such as importing and exporting as well as military uses.
Amy said, “It has been a pleasure to assist Mike through business planning, early growth, and now his outstanding success with government opportunities. Advising Mike to partner with the Center for Technology Commercialization (CTC) to support public sector growth goals was a natural fit, and I am thrilled to see the results.”
CTC ASSISTANCE
Fleet Cycles made a small early pivot to focus on military use of their bikes. “We thought to be successful we would have to rely on commercial sales first, but the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program helped us focus on the military product first. We were awarded four Phase I and Phase II SBIR contracts,” Mike said.
Todd Strother of CTC led an SBIR Ready class that confirmed Fleet Cycle’s eligibility for the SBIR program and connected them with retired military personnel who confirmed dozens of use cases for their product. “Todd introduced us to many resources that were a good fit for us and we loved his ability to answer our questions and keep us on the right path,” Mike said.
The CTC helped Fleet Cycles with SBIR and Ideadvance applications. “The Ideadvance program was critical because it forced us to ask questions of our customers that are difficult and opened us up to answers we weren’t quite ready for. We learned what our potential customers needed and began to understand which features and benefits our bikes needed to provide a solution to customer problems,” Mike said.
Another element of the SBIR program, Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI), provides a limited funding match of private capital that Fleet Cycles is raising and will allow the business to move forward in offering bikes that can be used in forward deployment operations.
Accomplishments with CTC
- SBIR and Ideadvance applications
- Tactical Funding Increase program
- SBIR Ready class
OTHER LOCAL ASSISTANCE
In their first year of operation, Fleet Cycles participated in the Governor’s Business Plan Contest, an annual event to encourage entrepreneurs of tech-enabled businesses in Wisconsin. “This event was so worthwhile because we got feedback from judges in every round, which helped us see and fix blind spots we didn’t even know about. We were able to clearly see both our ‘warts’ and our strengths,” Mike said.
Fleet Cycles was a finalist in the Madison Chamber of Commerce Pressure Chamber event, an annual pitch contest. “We were on stage talking about our business in front of hundreds of people. It was an adrenaline rush! It gave us the chance to connect with many future investors who were in the audience,” Mike said.
“Webinars offered by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) gave us valuable insights on exporting products, internet promotion, and distribution,” Mike said. Fleet Cycles also applied for WEDC’s Qualified New Business Venture program, which offers incentives for investment in early-stage business with potential for significant economic impact and job growth.
Fleet Cycles is proud to source approximately 30% of their raw materials from Wisconsin suppliers and 53% from the greater Midwest area. “The Greater Wausau Chamber of Commerce is ready to help us scale with regard to suppliers as well,” Mike said. The business currently has a pilot agreement with the University of Wisconsin-Madison to test a commercial bike.
Keep an eye on this quickly developing and growing small business to see what local and nationwide impacts they provide next!
