A new year is always a great moment to reflect on what has happened in the past 12 months, and to look ahead of what’s next. Even more so in the case of Linky and for its co-founders Paolo & Cristiano! 2017 was the year where they saw their dream come to life and in 2018, they plan on achieving many more goals. Time for a chat with them!
Why did you start the Linky company, what was your dream for it when you started?
Paolo: For three years I was living in the outskirts of a big city in the centre of Italy and I experienced that it was tricky to live the city life. Whenever I wanted to hang out with friends or go downtown, it was a nightmare to get there; by car I was stuck in traffic and there was always a lack of parking spaces, and public transport was sometimes even worse with horrible bus schedules.
I realized that what I needed was a means of transportation that I could always take with me during travels and in my daily life. Something that would allow me to enjoy the city life a lot more!
I really believe that the young generation needs a new way of thinking about mobility within cities; something that is affordable and with respect for and minimal impact on the environment. We are convinced that urban transportation can influence our life and our relationships.
So with this in mind, after various ideas, we came up with the foldable electric longboard: Linky – a travel mate for people who are facing the ‘city jungle’ every day for leisure and/or work.
How do you look back on 2017 for Linky?
Cristiano: I think 2017 was a big success for our project. We have obtained the most important result of all: producing 500 pieces, selling and shipping them. I think none of us imagined this moment 3 years ago. It was something far away, almost a mirage, so it’s like a dream come true to now be at this point where we see our customers enjoy their Linky.
That’s not to say that all has been easy; of course there have been setbacks and there are still some issues that we’re working to solve, but that’s part of launching a brand new product. After the last production shot, the quality of the product is very good and we can say that we are on track to achieve a stable production. Our suppliers are motivated and the relationships we have created are solid.
What was the biggest lesson the Linky team learned from that year?
Cristiano: That ALL IS POSSIBLE!
It doesn’t feel like work when you are passionate about it. Passion is everything. When there is love poured into what you do, even a small team of just 4 people like us can do amazing things!
Do you feel Linky is achieving the dreams you had for it when you started? Is Linky on the right path?
Paolo: Our customers just received the product and in a lot of cities it’s very cold right now. I believe this summer will be our big moment! That’s when people will really be able to fully enjoy and appreciate their Linky.
What can we expect from Linky in 2018?
Paolo: We’ll work a lot on the control procedures in order to achieve a better quality of the production.
We also know our marketing has not been very strong in the last year because we focused on other goals. So this year we’ll try to get as much visibility as possible and increase our market penetration.
We are already working on two new versions of Linky for the summer of 2018 and on a completely new product that will hopefully be on the market in 2019.
What’s your dream for Linky in the next 5 years?
Paolo: We want to create an established company that offers design and product solutions that allow each traveller or commuter to move from A to point B as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Once our company will reach its stability, we would like to improve our processes in order to be an organization with as much positive impact as possible on our environment. Working more with local suppliers in order to create products that are not just good for the customers but which processes can also give back to the society is a dream that we would like to realize.
