Inmotion CEO Bob Yan steps down

[Unventor]

12 hours ago, alcatraz said:

I hope we get another euc manufacturer! Go Bob! Just do it!

That will be hard due to patients. 

[alcatraz]

20 hours ago, Unventor said:

That will be hard due to patients. 

I'm not sure they care in China. 

[mrelwood]

A recent rumor says that Bob is now the head of the product development team. That would sound like great news, and might mean that the published plans might actually still come to fruition. We’ll see.

I really wish we’d hear something from Inmotion directly.

[Finn Bjerke]

Seems like a nice bloke - The plans for future products he came up with are prob not relevant anymore... I still guess there will be a V11F and a V14 16 inch with suspension.... Im very keen on the latter ...

[mrelwood]

I would suspect that the plans were already well on their way into physical products when Bob stepped down. I was actually hinted that the reveal for their next product would happen “soon”. How much this “soon” changed because of Bob stepping down, I don’t know, but they probably already have at least a working prototype of the new wheel.

[meepmeepmayer]

If a talented person (seems he is) goes back to where he's best (instead of being promoted to a place that does not work so well)... sounds good to me! I hope that will turn out to be the case.

1 hour ago, Finn Bjerke said:

I still guess there will be a V11F

V11Y already announced: click.

[techyiam]

Bob Yan posted on Facebook that he has left Inmotion. He was one of the cofounder, I believe. I was patiently waiting for him to see through the Adventure and Challenger line of wheels from development to production.

I guess that is no more.

I hope Inmotion doesn't end up doing a Kingsong, a rudderless ship.

[Cerbera]

16 minutes ago, techyiam said:

Bob Yan posted on Facebook that he has left Inmotion.

That's not a good sign is it ? When a founder leaves entirely he's usually pretty unhappy about something...

[techyiam]

5 minutes ago, Cerbera said:

That's not a good sign is it ? When a founder leaves entirely he's usually pretty unhappy about something...

Plus he is one of the cofounders.

It looks like now what we have left are Leaper Kim and Begode. With a little bit more time, perhaps number 3 will be Extreme Bull.

[slippyfeet]

inmotion had the best fit&finish hardware quality but wonky software complexities...
kingsong had the best feeling firmware, but atrocious hardware...

[2disbetter]

Why is everyone so quick to think that Inmotion is done?

If things are so fickle that really is unfortunate. If every EUC company is just one CEO away from folding forever, well that just isn't very confidence inspiring.  

I mean it seems that Leaper Kim is the leading EUC manufacturer now, if Inmotion is out. I would have said Inmotion was the leading, because fit and finish matter. Quality matters. Safety matters. 

But Leaper Kim, which used to be Veteran, doesn't have the most stable management track record either. These wheels are complex. The house of cards these EUCs companies are built on just is not confidence inspiring. 

 

Edited August 3, 2023 by 2disbetter

[techyiam]

9 minutes ago, 2disbetter said:

Why is everyone so quick to think that Inmotion is done?

Highly doubtful anyone is done.

But, if we take for example, Kingsong, we haven't seen anything coming out of them since the S18, except for the S20/S22/S22 Pro brand reputation killer, the Basket Ball and the S19. But none of them are exciting.

As for Inmotion, since the V12, we have the V13, which I think is a great wheel, but its general appeal didn't seemed to be as popular as the Sherman S. But going forward, after seeing the sneak preview by way of the Adventure prototype, and the major shake up in management, I am not going to hold my breath waiting for them to bring out a new wheel worthy of my patience. Hopefully, the official Adventure announcement will bring more excitement. And hopefully it won't be a too little too late kind of thing.

28 minutes ago, 2disbetter said:

I mean it seems that Leaper Kim is the leading EUC manufacturer now, if Inmotion is out. I would have said Inmotion was the leading, because fit and finish matter. Quality matters. Safety matters. 

I think Inmotion won't be the goto brand for performance nor trendsetter just yet. I thought the V13 was a good first go, but missed the mark. However, it is still in a good position for Inmotion to make a solid next step. Unfortunately, there was a management shakeup, and everything is up in the air now.

[2disbetter]

What other wheel is safer to ride than the V13? Safer from random cut outs, wheel failures, etc. 

I don't care how great the suspension on the S is over safety. I think no one should think like that. You got one life. Losing it while doing 50 MPH on a wheel that fails just ain't something I'm wanting to do. 

So yeah the V13 has some shortcomings, but one of them ain't safety. Building quality is top notch on it. Honestly Inmotion is number 1 just because of the V13. What other EUC company can do something like that? Veteran? Nope. Look at that flimsy seat and trolley handle on the S. 

I don't understand why this is so hard to see. But if you are right and this CEO toss up impacts the current standards there, then maybe this whole EUC thing is too volatile for me to begin with. 

[meepmeepmayer]

If he left due to some disagreement (pure speculation, could be for any other reason), maybe he will start his own EUC company with blackjack and hookers. Unlikely but one can dream.

[InMoOnGoWa75012]

from my experience, V10F is the last good wheel ever produced by Inmotion, with not anymore upgrade ...

[UPONIT]

No one has any optimism? Maybe it was an unfortunate personality conflict? Maybe the commitment to safety and high quality will remain, but under new management?

[InMoOnGoWa75012]

Perhaps new CEO will start manufacturing of an outstanding V10S ! new hope !

V10S : a wheel with power, capacity, stability of an EX30 with only 20 kilos

+ feature to check motherboard (water proofing) and all critical components (all captors) by remote support !!!!

Inmotion will crush them all with such a V10S !!!

[techyiam]

1 hour ago, UPONIT said:

No one has any optimism? Maybe it was an unfortunate personality conflict? Maybe the commitment to safety and high quality will remain, but under new management?

Well, if I heard correctly, Bob Yan himself has told us that he was asked to stepped down because of the shareholders demand, or something along those lines?

Going forward, anything can happen. But I am not willing to wait for their new wheels unless they come out timely. Any delays and I am out.

I just find in the 16", 90 lbs class already have sufficiently good wheels worthy of getting one. I was hoping that with the Adventure, I could get the additional swappable batteries and the Raptor controller. But not having these features is not a showstopper for me.

[DavidB]

I have no info on this but suspect the cost of developing the V13 must have been a drain on the company as pretty much everything was new and I suspect the return not much. I guess it is all about the $ or Yuan. The V12 issues/warranty costs would be a burden as well. If I'd invested in a company (I wouldn't) that was making a good return churning out the same boring V8s, V10s and V11s as they had done for years and the CEO decided to change the game plan for a bet that didn't come off I'd problably want a new CEO as well. But I am not an investor and while I find the V13 too big and heavy it has its place in the EUC community and we can thank Bob for that.

[InMoOnGoWa75012]

40 minutes ago, DavidB said:

I have no info on this but suspect the cost of developing the V13 must have been a drain on the company as pretty much everything was new and I suspect the return not much.

This is the begode way you are speaking about ...

From my mind, Inmotion is currently selling solowheel

[Clem604]

16 hours ago, 2disbetter said:

But Leaper Kim, which used to be Veteran, doesn't have the most stable management track record either.

From my understanding LeaperKim is the company, founded by ex employee's of Gotway/Begode. Veteran is just a name that they attach to their EUC's (Veteran Sherman S, Veteran Patton) which makes it kind of confusing for the general public.

Edited August 3, 2023 by Clem604

[meepmeepmayer]

6 minutes ago, Clem604 said:

From my understanding LeaperKim is the company, founded by ex employee's of Gotway/Begode. Veteran is just a name that they attach to their EUC's which makes it kind of confusing for the general public

Yep, that's how it is.

Here's a good explanation of the Chinese namings. The company name formats are pretty rigid, and some (possibly wonky) translations into English tend to be the name known to us outside of China.

[mrelwood]

Seems we don’t have to wait all that long:

[Unventor]

It is for now mostly speculation and expectations being debated abound Inmotion. 

In general it isn't one person that make a company, but it's people and it's culture. 

I think it is fair to anticipate some sort of directors swing when a CEO is changed in a company. But it the change could just as well come from ambition and gouls being different. 

I find it a bit interesting perspective though that V10f is view as last good wheel made by  Inmotion. First off it had a batch issue but that got solved. Yet it doesn't meet other wheels from same time frame as it was too conservative. 

The V11 was a bold move yet not problem free. V12 taking further steps outside the Inmotion comfort zone. 

V13 pushing this much further. 

But like most other wheels on the market all had had problems. But that is not the same that customers do not enjoy their products. 

But where we are right now. It isn't enough to slap on a bigger battery pack to get people to buy a new wheel. Or ramping up the speed. It takes much more for a wheel to be truly succesful. 

Next wheel release from Inmotion is properly too far ahead to shaw what the change of CEO at Inmotion will lead to. 

[techyiam]

4 minutes ago, Unventor said:

In general it isn't one person that make a company, but it's people and it's culture. 

 

Perhaps in general, but in this case at Inmotion, it is the CEO that got replaced. That means big changes are possible.

From the roadmap that Bob Yan showed us, and the general direction he said he was taking Inmotion to, sounded ambitious and exciting. Bob Yan talked about reducing their product lines to only electric wheels, and electric scooters. Additionally, he talked about making Inmotion to become the performance leader and trendsetter in the business.