From Here to There on a FLASH, Electric Skateboard

Art of the Kickstart

In this episode of Art of the Kickstart, we interviewed Lukáš Joukal and Martin Mikeska, co-founders of FLASH, creators of high-quality, high-performance electric skateboards and airless wheels. Whether you race, train, commute or just want to have fun, FLASHBOARDS will get you anywhere fast, no matter the terrain or weather conditions. Listen in and learn about FLASH’s inspiration, product development journey and crowdfunding marketing strategies. Topics Discussed and Key Crowdfunding Takeaways How previous eBoards weren’t satisfying Lukáš Joukal and why FLASH was developed The biggest challenge to overcome when designing the boards The reason FLASH was crowdfunded instead of using a traditional direct-to-market strategy Why they switched crowdfunding platforms from Indiegogo to Kickstarter How FLASH was prepared for launch and why they partnered with the agency, Enventys Partners Links FLASH on Kickstarter FLASH How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie The Lean Startup by Eric Ries Sponsors Art of the Kickstart is honored to be sponsored by The Gadget Flow, a product discovery platform that helps you discover, save, and buy awesome products. The Gadget Flow is the ultimate buyer's guide for cool luxury gadgets and creative gifts. Click here to learn more and list your product - use coupon code ATOKK16 for 20% off! Transcript View this episode's transcript Roy Morejon: Welcome to Art of the Kickstart, your source for crowdfunding campaign success. I’m your host, Roy Morejon, President of Enventys Partners, the top full service, turnkey product development and crowdfunding marketing agency in the world. We have helped startups raise over a hundred million dollars for our clients since 2010. Each week, I’ll interview a crowdfunding success story, an inspirational entrepreneur or a business expert in order to help you take your startup to the next level with crowdfunding. Art of the Kickstart is honored to be sponsored by Gadget Flow. The Gadget Flow is a product discovery platform that helps you discover, save, and buy awesome products. It is the ultimate buyer’s guide for cool luxury gadgets and creative gifts. Now let’s get on with the show. Roy Morejon: Welcome to another edition of Art of the Kickstart. Today I’m super excited because I am talking with Lukáš and Martin, co-founders of FLASH. Lucas, Martin, thank you guys so much for joining us today on Art of the Kickstart. Lukáš Joukal: Hi Roy. Thank you for your invitation. Martin Mikeska: Hello Roy. Thank you for inviting us. Roy Morejon: Absolutely. So you guys have this vision to make high quality, high performance electric skateboards for racing, training commute purposes. And I think now it’s more timely than ever with people stuck at home wanting to get out and just explore a little bit more. So really inspired by your story, where you guys have come and where it all began. So if you guys would please tell our audience where does this all start and what inspired you to create FLASH? Lukáš Joukal: Yeah, so we are from central Europe, we can say Czech Republic, where we started all this out. But the first we saw the products came in from the U.S. I think that most of the audience who are listening to us right now know the Boosted Board. And so it was the first inspiration when we saw these products and when we saw this kind of products on the market. And I tried it for the first time, I fell in love with that, with this product. And I was like, “Okay, that’s something we want to bring into Europe.” That was the first idea because we didn’t have it. It was just in the U.S., and that’s how it started because in Europe, in our country, no one sold it, no one did that. So that was the first idea I, create this board, this product. Roy Morejon: So talk a little bit about where that all began in terms of sourcing or traveling to China, visiting factories,