In Conversation With Micromobility Expert Luca Mateescu

In Conversation With Micromobility Expert Luca Mateescu

LMT: You've achieved some pretty impressive things in your career, including winning market leadership for Lime in the largest US micro-mobility market and heading a complex micromobility program launch in the UK. Which mission or project have you found the most fulfilling to date, and why?

Each project was fulfilling in its own way, as the challenge serves curiosity. For me, new projects are about taking a pragmatic approach in solving markets as to customer, regulation, and competition - let's call this the "required set-up" side, as well as building on a new culture - or how you serve the "set-up." 

I've particularly enjoyed the US because I had the opportunity to operate under a very straightforward - let's do this - culture. What was specific about Los Angeles was that Lime and our main competitor were undertaking two different operating models in a more laissez-faire, uncapped micromobility market: centrally managed operations vs. a 'franchisee' model. 

Asset-based businesses like mobility are all about daily utilization, where increasing their footprint can easily add downward pressure. How we won was by leveraging our set-up advantage - our ability to sustain lower utilization while profiting from efficiency and scale - while our deliberate attempt to operate a larger footprint destabilized the competition's model, which found it impossible to grow as their 'franchisees' were not seeing the unit economics to make the system work at a level of efficiency they could master. This "tragedy of the commons" was a very interesting mechanic to identify and solve for.

LMT: What have you been up to in your current role at Lime? What have you worked on, and where will you be focusing in the near future?

I now oversee over 90+ markets under our DACH region, and thus, my role is more about standardization and best practices at scale. In building a machine that works, my focus was building the optimal KPIs, dashboards, and reporting systems to stimulate the right decisions and drive toward the right direction. 

What I found essential was really breaking down the KPI system to ensure we look at problems bottoms up as to eliminate market-specific noise while looking to measure exactly those actions that are within one's responsibility and ensure that each metric corrects another metric to avoid manipulation or bias. 

I found it amazing what can be created in an environment that is fundamentally data-based and how we can guide ourselves toward maximizing EBIT/EBITDA.

LMT: You've been focusing on how to solve complex issues and deliver profit while scaling, and we'd like to know, with your experience and being embedded in the industry as you are: what kinds of challenges and problems do you anticipate seeing in the upcoming months in the industry?

Regulation is as welcomed as it is challenging. Building towards the right market set-up where local rules will support the industry in the long term is key. 

Regulated markets may create more friction that can only be compensated by building a strong infrastructure that enables the benefits of a dense micromobility network. Safeguarding the much-needed concept of proximity in the last mile is critical. This is not an easy task, and only in government partnering with the industry to understand the key drivers will regulation drive the market forward. Taking a data-based approach to building infrastructure can maximize this impact but at a lower cost. It remains up to the industry to build the voice needed to drive this ambition forward.

Additionally, as financial markets add more scrutiny on profitable models, we will see a move from subsidized, profit-agnostic growth to a place where true operational efficiency and hence positive financial returns are both required and rewarded via access to financing. Looking at common practices, I can speculate that not all players will be able to adapt. 

LMT: You've been part of projects where you've had a chance to see how the market is changing and growing, such as building Romania's operations from scratch and expanding to over ten markets. In your opinion, what do you think the industry's doing right, and what do you want to see change? 

I think most competitors over-indexed on growth at any cost. While unsustainable discounts lead the trend, I would argue that such an approach is fundamentally reversible. 

Where the industry could have fared better to build long-term strength would have been in taking a united front to support proper regulation. Supportive regulation grows micromobility in a sustainable, customer and city-centric manner. Uncalculated decisions, betting on a hypothetical first mover advantage where a player would accept any terms to launch a market, have, in some cases, supported over-regulation - unfortunately not built on the drivers of a healthy micromobility sector.  

Fortunately, as stable players grew the bilateral conversation, this effect has been mostly contained. 

LMT: You've been involved in work across various regions, including Europe and the USA. Which regions or countries do you think are the most advanced when it comes to getting started and scaling last-mile solutions, and why?

I would say there is more similarity vs. difference as the use case is fundamentally the same - transportation is location agnostic. While the density of some European cities would showcase a longer list of routes that fundamentally fall under the last mile category, the same could be said for more compact areas of US cities. As such adoption is similar where the solution fits the geography. 

Similarly, regulation, in an area of information transparency and where challenges are the same, again, we see more similarity than divergence. What is specific is the pace of regulation, but I am confident provisions will gravitate to near parity sooner than later - albeit the industry is, more successfully, I would say, focused on ensuring each incremental wave is more aligned with core drivers. 

LMT: We see you're putting yourself out there with your focus on networking with young leaders and your professional endeavors. What's next for you? What will you do next? 

While I continue to be dedicated to Lime as we consolidate and grow as a company, I know my next step will invariably be building something new from scratch. I know this is what excites me and, what I hope, I can offer back. 

New hardware, especially autonomous, has the potential of reshaping not only mobility but delivery and all other sectors that stand to benefit from the transition from human labor to asset management.