Linky

In a sleepy Southern Californian surf town, middle school teacher, Melissa Wantz, is breaking the rules—and it is just the rebellious philosophy here at Linky we can get behind."Instead of homework this year I want my kids to develop and master a passion or a skill of their choosing,” states Mrs. Wantz. She is standing in the center of her second story classroom in a mid-century white building hidden away in the browning hills of Ventura. There are ceiling high windows that line the entire back wall, which frame a view of the Pacific ocean resting on the horizon.“Traditional homework of worksheets is just so useless” she smiles and says. “It’s time to teach our students something more valuable.”The project is titled “The Great Learning Experiment.” In summary, the project is giving students the opportunity to commit to mastering one skill for the entire year, record and monitor their progress and end with a final “Ted Talk-esc” presentation. One of Mrs. Wantz’s goals for her students is for them to learn how to think like an entrepreneur. Be a producer rather than a consumer. “Learning to persevere through adversity is one of the most important and most difficult skills to learn in order to become successful. It’s time we start cultivating this skill in our students.”To help launch this project she reached out our Linky CEO, Paolo Pipponzi, who just so happened to be traveling through California. She also had a trick up her sleeve.On a sunny Friday afternoon Mrs. Wantz held discussion in her class about how a small passion or idea can grow into something much greater and how this project could be something much more than just a hobby. She then showed Linky’s Kickstarter video in hopes of creating a buzz of excitement and inspiration.“I asked them if they would be like to meet Paolo someday and ask him what it was like being an inventor and entrepreneur,” she laughed. “They cheered so loud and that’s when I sarcastically said, ‘hmmm I wonder if I can find him in the hallway.” She went to go open the door and welcomed Paolo to the classroom. There was absolute silence. Followed by screeching, celebrity worthy screaming. After the whispers finally settled down and Paolo took a seat on a tall orange stool in front of the classroom, Mrs. Wantz asked students to think of questions to ask Paolo about his Journey with Linky.The question and answer session adopted a natural flow of conversation, each question building on the previous one. Paolo recounted everything from the birth of the idea to the current status of Linky. He recalled when he first thought of the idea of the foldable electric skateboard in order to solve a problem he had while traveling.“I was traveling in Scotland and found that public transportation wasn’t taking me exactly where I wanted to go. That is when I thought how convenient it would be to have a cheap way to travel that I could take everywhere with me.” He wanted something that could fit in his carry-on and take anywhere, something smaller than a bike but easy to ride--that is when he thought about a foldable skateboard. From that moment on he describes his work with Linky as his number one passion. How he had a normal day job as an engineer for an electric car company and the rest of his free time working on building Linky. “It doesn’t feel like work when you are passionate about it. Passion is everything.”The journey was not always easy for Linky though. He also explained the different hardships that occur when building a startup. He went into detail about how his team burned through countless motors in order to come up with a reliable prototype and even how they had failed to reach their goal for their Kickstarter Campaign. Paolo was painting a very realistic image of how long and hard it is be an entrepreneur.“When did you start Linky?” “The beginning of 2014.” There was a unified “woah…”An unexpected gift from an up and coming artist !!

We've developed Linky based on our needs as travelers. But as time goes by and we get feedback from potential users and test drives, we're finding that there are some features you want that we hadn't prioritized - and others that you don't seem to really care about!We've committed to following YOUR needs based on your answers in this survey:Loading...

For those interested in the "ancient history" of this start-up :) we wanted to tell you a bit more about the main stages of Linky's design.As mentioned in our last article, in September 2014, the main ideas for Linky - and the team - really came together, and we quickly moved to constructing a wooden prototype in October of the same year, with the aim to assess size, driving ergonomics and portability.In December 2014 another turn in terms of human resources: Fabio enters the team as responsible for the production of the skate. Fabio, carried by passion for electrical engineering, has brought the attention to detail that made Linky unrivalled. Fabio and Paolo then made the first working prototype of the skateboard.In February 2015, Cristiano joined the project as a marketing manager. Cristiano graduated in economics, and his passion for the world of business promotion led him to conceive a brand linked to our product.Between February and April 2015, we rode Linky for its first 500 km, and these tests confirmed the choice of the battery pack; it was also decided to make a down grade power to the motor from 2000 watts to 1000 watts of power in order to favour portability and autonomy. Also during this period, after the first phase of the test, portability and ergonomics of driving are further explored.In May 2015 our project passed the first stage of the competition ECapital, a very important business plan competition in our region of Le March in Italy. Also in May the first prototype of backpacks is ready, and in June the innovative folding system is patented.In June, Lorenzo enters the team as Head of communication, a student of journalism who wants to learn more about the digital world.These are just the beginning phases, the first prototypes and the formation of the team, but we know we have a lot to look forward to.

The Linky project was born in May 2014 based on an idea of ​​engineer Paolo Pipponzi.Paolo, at that time working at Italian motorcycle maker Ducati, was inspired by his passion for travel and everyday commuter life in Bologna. He came up with the idea of ​​a way to increase our freedom and independence through green mobility.The project evolved in the summer of 2014, when Paolo traveled and his new business partners did too, expanding on the concept and their needs, and creating a first prototype of what would become the first foldable electric longboard. A motor based on the team's experience in the automotive industry, a battery safe to travel with, a weight that makes travel really an option.For Paolo a turning point was spending a few months in Scotland, in particular in Edinburgh, that country's center of infrastructure and transportation. It's a city that has functional and accessible public services, a general serenity and calmness of the people and last but not least, great attention for "green transport" that sadly is not present in many other places in the world - including in Italy, where Linky was born!