Yuba Bikes and the Future of Urban Mobility – Benjamin Sarrazin of Yuba Cargo Bikes

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Hey there entrepreneurs. My name is Sushant and welcome to Treptalks. This is the show where I interview successful e commerce entrepreneurs, business executives, and thought leaders and ask them questions about their business story and also dive deep into some of the strategies and tactics that they have used to start and grow their businesses.

And today I’m really excited to welcome Ben Sarrazin to the show. Ben is the founder of Yuba Bikes. Yuba Bikes is a brand dedicated to revolutionizing urban mobility by designing high quality cargo bikes. Yuba Bikes. that make transportation more sustainable, efficient, and family friendly. Ben started Yuba with a mission to create practical, eco friendly alternatives to cars, cars helping people carry more while reducing their carbon footprint.

Now, before we dive into this interview, if you enjoy this kind of content, please make sure to hit the like and subscribe button. And for more interviews like this, please visit treptalks. com. And with that, Ben, uh, thank you so much again, uh, and welcome. And I’m looking forward to

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Hey, good. Good morning. Uh, very happy to be here and, uh, looking forward to having this conversation with you.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So, uh, you know, I was on your website and looking through and, you know, it’s a very interesting product. And I also was inspired by some of the names of your bikes. I believe one of your bike is called, uh, uh, spice, spicy bike or, um, spicy curry actually.

So spicy, the spicy curry, uh, that should,

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: that should ring a

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: bell. Right. Yeah, for sure. So I’m very interested. Uh, you know, how did you kind of. Uh, begin on this entrepreneurial journey. What inspired you to kind of start in a cargo bike, um, a bike business?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Yeah, that is a very good question. Um, it is the combination of multiple things.

One is my interest for environmental science and trying to find solutions to, um, the planet’s problem or global warming and so forth. I mean, we’re talking 2025 years ago and, uh, and the other one is, um, my passion for bicycles as a mobility tool. And, uh, you know, traveling around the world and, or, uh, trying to carry things with my bike, I just realized that the bicycles were not very well suited, um, to carrying things.

And some products already exist in the market in Europe, uh, for instance, or in Southeast Asia, for example, uh, three wheelers are pretty big bikes, but not super practical for, um, going on single track trails or maneuvering in traffic. So that’s how the concept came. And I also realized, Hey, what can we do to inspire people?

to use their bicycles for transportation a little more. How can we motivate them or create something excited? So it’s, it is fun to, um, to use your bike to go get groceries or bring your kids to school and so forth.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So you had this, uh, a greater consciousness for environmentalism and sustainability, even like 25 years ago, I think not many people, was there a lot of consciousness about, you know, being environmentally friendly and so forth, uh, that long ago?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Well, that, that may be because of my background, I spent a lot of time on rivers, uh, running rivers in the kayak and traveling the world. So, um, I’d seen the pollution of, um, of rivers and, and some other environment. And, and after going to college or university. I just really wanted to, you know, like. Being a scientist and saying hey, it’s getting dirty or polluted or the planet is getting warmer.

It’s cool There are a lot of people who are doing this, but what can we do practically so my my two cents You know my little contribution with my my background was because I like the outdoors so much and bicycles It’s like oh, well, I think if we could motivate people to ride in bikes more and make that a more appealing of a solution, um, it might contribute to, um, to a better future, to better, to a more sustainable planet.

And again, it’s a little drop in the ocean, right?

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: And so your bikes, I mean, you, you call the bikes cargo bikes. So of course they are meant for a specific purpose, or you had a specific vision in the mind, uh, for your bikes or for your products. Can you talk a little bit about your products and, You know, how they work, what’s different about them, you know, what kind of, um, things people can do on these bikes.

Uh, yeah, talk a little bit about your product line, please.

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Yeah, so, so at Yuba, at Yuba Bikes, uh, so our intention since the beginning was to make products, bicycles, loads carrying bicycle that could, um, carry almost anything, but also being really maneuverable. Um, so, you know, we, um, We went with a two wheel, uh, two wheel product, uh, you know, long wheelbase versus, uh, you know, people who’ve been to the Netherlands or Denmark, they can see, uh, tricycles, for example, but, you know, tricycles are not a pretty heavy and bulky and you can’t really, uh, go on a long ride.

Uh, so that was our, uh, that was our premise in terms of design. We just wanted something very maneuverable. Someone could use on the, you know, on the trails in, in Uganda or in Kenya. Or in India or in single track in the forest around London or Paris or just going getting groceries in in Berlin And so the way people use our product they find them really useful And we put a special emphasis on safety and stability So people carry, you know, one to three four kids.

We’ve had we’ve seen pictures of customers You know, sometimes I use a product to carry four kids. We’re just Could be a big, could look like a big load, but it’s not, you know, if you carry like a, you know, like a four year old and a five year old, they’re not that heavy. Um, we’ve had people tour. We had a woman in Australia, she tour, tour the entire continent with her cello for a few months.

You know, you imagine massive cello on the side of a bicycles and going around Australia and doing concert with the guy in the States traveling with his, um, with his dog. S to West and West to West and, uh, West to East and North to South. Uh, so that was, uh, that’s the kind of thing people, you know, or just getting groceries and, and, uh, or, um, with people going to surfing with our bikes.

So that all type of, uh, all type of loads from like big loads to children or dogs or musical instruments.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: So it’s really an, I mean it makes a lot of sense, I mean it’s really an alternative to like your traditional automobiles, cars, like motorcycles and so forth. It gives another option of people who want to get out in the nature and maybe, you know, have the ability to carry additional stuff with them.

Um, is there a specific kind of person or target market that you’re going after? Like do you find that Uh, is it more the people who are, um, adventurists, people who want to get out in the nature, uh, are, are those that are attracted to your bikes?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Yeah, well, that’s a good question. I mean, the type of people end up using or buying the most, uh, I will say that there are three types.

One is the, you know, the one you just mentioned. People want to go on a, on a long journey, uh, Uh, and they need something big to carry. Like I mentioned the cello or they want to carry a, you know, a surfboard with them and camping equipment. So you need like a pretty strong bike. That is that car capacity.

And I don’t know if I, you mentioned this, but we make electric and, and non electric, uh, bike. So, uh, battery assisted and just regular bikes. Uh, then the second groups are parents. So we have a lot of families, you know, we live in, you know, in Toronto, for example, we have a lot of customers or in, you know, Vancouver, uh, they’re like, Hey, how do I get my one kid, two kids to school and back and forth doing all the activities and get to work.

And I don’t get stuck in traffic and I get to, um, I get to move my legs a little bit. And the third kind, we have a entrepreneur, small time entrepreneur that do services like a plumber and electrician, and they just want to be able to access. Uh, so if you imagine if you’re in downtown area and like parking is really difficult, you know For the bike and if you have your all your tools on the bike You just park on the sidewalk and run upstairs with your tools I mean obviously it would be a you know for a massive cargo of uh, you know I don’t know like bricks or something but like someone who has to do quick repairs So that’s the type of customers we have.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Oh, very interesting. Is there more demand for the electric bikes or the non electric bikes?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: So now there’s more demand for the electric, uh, the electric bikes and we’ll say it’s probably like around 70 to 80 percent electric now. Um, that’s because also it’s the trend in the market. You know, electric bikes are very popular now.

They give you a little more range. They allow you, allow you to get to where you want to go without sweating necessarily, which can be an advantage when you’re going to work. And, uh, and on electrics are great. You know, if you live in a flat area, I mean, if you live in a place where it’s hilly, you know, Seattle, for example, Uh, you know, there are big hills.

It’s nice to have an electric bike over there.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Now, one thing you did mention before we started is that, you know, you, when you started out, there wasn’t so, you know, a market for these kind of bikes specifically. So you had to work to basically create an awareness and a market for this. Can you talk a little bit about those early days of, you know, how did you even come up with the prototype?

Like, did you kind of Were involved in the design process. Did you come up with prototype? Did you show it to people? And how did you kind of get it into the market?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Yeah, that’s a very good question I mean it was a journey. So I mean first when we when I came up with this concept people were like Why would people use their bike for transportation, you know, like the bicycle market in the west Was mostly about, uh, recreation, you know, that’s when, uh, the Tour de France was happening with Lance Armstrong and mountain biking was really big and especially people in the industry that could not really, uh, being in Europe or in the United States, they couldn’t really understand that someone might want to ride their bike to, um, to get to work or, or just for transportation or that one day might be hard to, uh, drive a car in the city.

Like, you Uh, New York or in Europe. Uh, and in terms of how the process, um, so I kind of sketched like what I want, like this long tail bike, you know, this long extended chassis bike with a huge rack on the back. So if you can picture that, uh, for your, for your listeners. So imagine two wheels that you take a regular bicycle and you stretch it with your hand and you make it maybe 50 percent longer.

And the last, the big part, uh, and the rack part on the back, instead of being about, you know, like 10 or 15 inches is, is, you know, two or three times the length of that. So you have a lot of room for cargo. Uh, then I found a designer engineer and we made some drawings and, and then, uh, and then we went to convince a bicycle maker, uh, that it was a good project for them to take on because.

They had no innovation, you know, someone with a factory in the capacity. And, you know, we, we managed to convince them to convince them and, uh, and they agreed to produce a first run of bicycle. Uh, it was actually 500 bicycles that they produced for us with, uh, uh, no money up front for, for me and the other guy that was working with me at the time.

And, uh, and so that partnership or any mentor? No, they just, uh, I don’t know. They just decided to do it. Um, And, uh, I mean, that was a stroke of luck in some ways. And, and, uh, so they financed the production and then, um, instead of, uh, concentrating on finding money, I concentrated on finding customers. So rather quickly, I was able to sell, uh, those 500 bikes.

Uh without having them in my, uh, in my ownership yet. So that’s kind of how I got started So, uh, I didn’t start with much with much money. I started with uh, So this is often a mistake that people make in business is I mean you have to find money, you know in love situation but you know Um, you really have to find customers.

I mean, that’s that, that’s the key. You know, you, you, you have to, you know, you have to sell your product. You know, it’s not about, it’s not about raising, raising money, but obviously there are plenty of projects or industry, you can’t do anything if you don’t have a little bit of a, of seed money, but you know, the key is really, is really about selling, being able to sell your solution, being software or, or hard good.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Yeah, I mean, that seems like, I mean, you sold, it’s like you were selling your idea, your vision to the manufacturer and then you went out and tried to get the customer. Um, right. Do you consider yourself to be a good salesperson? Like, what was your secret?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: That is a very good question. Um, I guess, I guess I’m probably, I’m probably, I am a good salesperson.

a good salesperson because I was able to, you know, find many customers over the year and keep them and grow a business from, uh, from nothing to, uh, you know, um, one of the pretty active player in this, in this field.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Oh, that’s, that’s awesome. Um, is it like, I mean, what advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?

Like I think that’s, that’s, I mean, this is the ideal situation, right? Because most people when they’re starting out, they don’t have money. And so basically they have to do is sell their idea. Um, Is there any advice you can give to entrepreneurs to be able to better sell that idea? Like, is it passion? Is it writing a patter?

Yeah.

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: I think, I think you have to be, I think you have to be passionate. I mean, and obviously you need, you need to create a good story. And, uh, one thing we were discussing at the beginning is, uh, is what we try to do is create, um, a lifestyle of this, uh, cargo bike thing or utility bike thing, kind of like make it look cool.

You know, I was like, it’s cool to carry a, you know, guitar. It’s cool to carry a kid or it’s cool to carry a surfboard. Kind of using, um, and one of, we got lucky with this product because it’s highly visual. So, you know, when you see it on the street, you can’t miss it. You know, like there was nothing like it at the time.

So people were like, Oh, what is that? People remember and they come to talk to you Uh, so one of the keys is to create a nice package a nice product that that’s where people Are going to remember and create a story around around that

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: and when you launched was that in europe early on and I’m, assuming e commerce came later on.

So were you like did you start out? Um, did you have like a storefront or how did you kind of launch?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: So e commerce kind of existed, uh, already the, the, the problem we have a little bit with e commerce is that we, we make a product that requires, um, one, people want to test ride it and touch it because it’s, it’s pretty expensive.

And there’s also a question of sizing and two, it requires technical expertise sometime to adjust the mechanical part or the electrical part. So it’s a little, the e commerce, unfortunately. It’s sometimes a little limiting for us, uh, but we did use, um, a pretty, um, a digital strategy of website and, uh, emailing and blogs and, and, uh, networking that way.

And we, we, we started selling online pretty early on too. And we’ve always sold online, but it’s not the main bulk of our business.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Your main bulk is through storefronts. How many storefronts do you have right now? Are you distributing through other bicycle, bicycle, um, you know, shops and so forth?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Yeah. So, so we, we sell usually through an independent bicycle retailer in Canada and the United States and, uh, and also in Europe. Uh, so we have about, you know, 200 stores or 150 stores in North America. Uh, they are probably like 350 in Western Europe, I believe. Uh, And then we, we also sell through the website, uh, you know, I mean, Canada and the United States are huge places and often people are pretty far away from a retailer, you know, it’s like if you’re like a hundred miles from a retailer, you like, well, I don’t know, maybe I’ll order online.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: And I’m assuming shipping would be a challenge, right? I mean, this is a pretty big, bulky product, heavy product. Um, And, uh, like, do you, uh, ship it assembled, unassembled? Do you have, like, instructions that people use to assemble it? How does that work?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Yes. So, you know, all the devil’s in the details, right?

Sometimes. So, uh, we, we design a product that will be able to ship ground. In the UPS box and I think the I think the limit if I recall, uh, there’s a certain length of the for the box and I can’t remember what it is now, but we made sure that we’re within those parameters. So we don’t have to ship freight.

So you would ship ground using the UPS or FedEx truck that you see around. Um, and the assembly. I mean, the assembly is not very complicated. You know, it’s not very complicated. So we have a little, you know, assembly manual and some videos and really It’s easier than assembling, uh, you know, a roof rack on your car or, or some other product that you may be receiving in your home.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Um, so the customers in your funnel come, do they come through marketing? Do they come through word of mouth? So you have all these distributors, bicycle distributors that are shops that have your product. Are they who are the ones? selling this item? Are customers coming into these shops already having seen your product somewhere through marketing or like in person?

And like, how do, how do, how do customers know about this product? And you know, what is kind of, I mean, you’re not in the shop to sell it. So like, Are they, have they already done their research beforehand, sold it to themselves, and then they’re coming to pick up from a shop, or the shop does the selling?

Um, how does, how does that work?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Yeah, that’s a good question. So in, in general, like our experience that people either do some research online or they notice something. Uh, what are they on the street? You know, there’s someone that we’re using the product, uh, often at the school, the supermarket, or they do research.

Like, how do I carry my, uh, cello on the bike? You know, maybe we have a blog post that, uh, talks about that. So through search engine optimization, we end up with a good ranking. Uh, and we’ve noticed that all customers, like very often, it takes them a while to make this, uh, purchase decision, like many, many weeks, many months, sometimes half a year.

Cause it’s a, it’s a family decision. You often, it’s a couple decision, you know, it’s like. People’s like, all right, are we really going to do this and not buy a second car, you know, for the family and just do everybody. So there’s a little more than just, all right, just, I like this. It looks like a good, uh, good looking product and just going to buy it.

It takes a little more, uh, in terms of, uh, Um, in terms of decide, uh, deciding how, um, how to use the product. But usually when they show up at the, at a retailer, um, they’re super educated. They know about the product. They really know about the product. And we also were lucky to have many markets. Like I’m thinking, uh, San Francisco or Portland, Oregon, or plenty of other Denver, et cetera, where, uh, people would just see the bikes and, and, you know, in action and just try user ask user to try them.

And so then they will go to the store and purchase the product.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: To me, an application of this, and maybe you already have customers, is our, you know, the bike couriers that are delivering like e-commerce packages or something like in a highly dense city, . I mean, these days it’s like, that’s, that’s seems to me a good application of it where, you know, they can still carry a big amount of packages and not have to worry about the traffic and things like this, like too much.

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Yeah. So it’s funny that, because that’s not a market we’ve been really able to capture. Over the years because it’s a very it’s a pretty funny market, you know, they have they it’s like a tribe They have their own code and you know, it’s like about a certain type of bikes often no brakes. Uh, So we’ve sold bikes to um to people doing deliveries like supermarkets, for example I mean, I remember one in new york where you know, they would just use our fleet of bikes and just You know, they, when people did grocery shopping, they would just load the bike with, you know, whatever they want to get, you know, eggs and, you know, potatoes and pasta and tomato sauce and just go deliver them to people’s home.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Is there any range issues with the electric bikes that you have? Like, do you, do you have a, um, do they come with a certain range, um, specifications and so forth?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: I wouldn’t call it an issue because, you know, when you have a battery, there’s always a range topic, right? That happens with cars or anything. Um, I mean, you know, like around 30 to 60 mile, depending on the battery, uh, uh, setup that we have is, is kind of the range, the range we get for, for product.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Okay. That’s pretty nice.

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: It’s pretty good. It’s pretty good. I mean, and, and take into account that if it’s, you know, if it’s hilly, you’re going to get less, if it’s very cold, you’re going to get less. If it’s very windy, you’re going to get less, uh, uh, and how much, how much pedaling you do. You have, you have to remember all bikes have pedal assist.

So basically the, the electric motor, uh, works when you apply pressure through the pedal. It’s not, the oars are not throttle assist. They’re not like little motorcycles.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: What is your, um, day to day? Now, given that I think you’ve achieved a certain, um, market adoption and, and so forth. Are you still, um, mostly worried about growth?

Are you worried about, uh, uh, well, maybe worry is not the right word, but are you, are you working more on the like product development? Like you’re trying to come up with new, new bicycle types. Um, yeah. Where are you spending most of your time, or is it more kind of like now cruising speed, you know, you, you know, the business has grown to a certain extent, and now you’re kind of like cruising?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Yeah, I mean, that is a good question. I mean, we went through a pretty, uh, massive growth, uh, between 2015 and 2019. Uh, with the market was really growing and I mean, we started from very small, right? Like the very small, pretty small niche, but it was growing at a pretty large pace. Uh, and we’re always behind in terms of, uh.

Of manufacturing. It’s like, we couldn’t make enough. And then COVID happened where like the, the volume, like just really, uh, the demand like boomed and, and it created a lot of friction in our, um, supply chain. And at the time we tried to grow, uh, to grow the company and, and it didn’t really work too well because we, we couldn’t get the product.

And then post COVID starting 2023. Uh, like the demand kind of fell, went back to, uh, previous level 2019. So we had to, we had to scale back a little bit. And now we, uh, we, we on a more modest growth, uh, path, you know, where we’re not expecting to double or triple every, every year. We’re just more like, you know, like, uh, 10 or 20 percent is, is satisfying.

So that goes through opening your market. And in terms of how I spend my time. So over the past few years, I’ve spent a lot of time dealing with supply chain. Uh, and you know, as we know, as we hear in politics these days, uh, around the world, it’s, there’s a lot of friction that’s being created and in the bike industry or other industry, there are a lot of hurdles where.

You know, with tariffs and stuff, and it’s really hard to navigate because it changes all the time and businesses need, you know, whatever the decision is, it’s fine, but you, you need time to adapt. You know, you can’t switch from one country to the next, uh, you know, in three weeks or in six months, I mean, supply chains are really hard to put in place.

Uh, so we’ve, we’ve been a lot of, uh, we’ve been a lot of, um, doing a lot of moving around the supply chain, uh, it’s pretty, it’s pretty, the landscape is pretty complicated at the moment. And as you said, most of my time is dedicating on product, um, right now, um, and still on marketing. That’s kind of how I spend my time.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Yeah. Supply chain is a tricky issue now, right? Like it’s almost like you have to, or every business needs to have like two, you know, Two suppliers on two sides of the world, of the globe, so that, you know, if something doesn’t, it’s not working on one side, you know, you can fall back. And especially now with all the tariff talk and things like this, it’s like, that’s the other challenge.

So, um, are you like, is your main suppliers, are they more in the Southeast, Southeast Asia?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Yeah, so I mean what’s interesting about the bicycle industry and I don’t want to I don’t want to bore Make this boring for you for a listener listener, but the bike industry is is Asian has been Asian for 40 years You know all the Western So I mean this is not talking about India who’s got the most the biggest bike industry bike industry of all that But like all the Western companies moved all their supply chain, you know, in the seventies and eighties to, uh, mostly Taiwan.

And, and, uh, and so all, and a bicycle is many, many parts. It’s like rims and tires and saddle. It’s, it’s a lot of parts that are made in many different factories. And you’ve got this entire ecosystem that has been in Taiwan for, uh, for 40 plus years. And, and, and you can’t relocate. Cause you need the entire system to move.

You know, it’s not like, uh, I was listening to a great podcast, not long ago from this guy who created an American giant, uh, the clothing brand that tried to relocate, make clothing in the eyes in the United States only zipper everything. And it was really hard, but you know, you had to deal with three or four.

Element, you know, in the garment, you know, like zipper and the fabric we have to deal with 30. So it’s really, it’s really hard to relocate the, um, to move the supply chain. So even if we assembled bike in Europe or in Mexico or in Canada, you still have to bring most of your parts from Taiwan or Southeast Asia.

Yeah,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: it’s, it’s a challenging problem. And, um, I think many businesses have to deal with this now. And of course, your, your product is more of a complicated one, I guess. Um, Do you, um, in terms of marketing, what, what kind of effort, um, I know you, you’re online and, uh, and do you, do you have a marketing department that does, uh, marketing efforts?

Do you work with agencies? What kind of marketing do you do? What works well?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Yeah. So marketing is, is a, is such a wide subject nowadays, you know, there’s just so many things you can do, but to me, like the core of the marketing effort is, Uh the website the web presence, uh, it’s like if you don’t have a good website and good web content good seo Uh, then it’s it’s not worth it.

So we we try to make sure that our website And we launched a new one very shortly, uh, trying to make sure a website is as informative as possible and as descriptive as possible with the best photography we, we, we can. And then, you know, from there we do a little bit of, um, you know, digital advertising when needed, we do events, uh, et cetera, et cetera.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Um, I know you have presence in Europe and you’ve mentioned North America. What does your team look like right now? How big is your team and, uh, that helps you manage this business?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Yes. So, so in Europe, there are about, uh, there are about 20 people, uh, Working, uh, out of a French and German office, uh, mostly.

And then we have distributors or partners like in Italy, we have a distributor or, you know, in the UK, for example, and then we have retailer in other country where we work direct with them. Uh, in the United States, uh, there’s a team about 12 people, uh, for North America that, that, you know, takes care of the, takes care of the business operation and, and, and marketing and sales.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: In Europe, is the, um, uh, what are some of the countries that have the biggest market? I’m assuming Netherlands have a big biking culture, right?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Yeah, so the, the biggest biking culture in Europe, in Western Europe are, uh, Germany, it’s Germany. Uh, the Netherlands, obviously, uh, France now, uh, Denmark, uh, what else, uh, Belgium.

Uh, so, I mean, the, the, the market has really, uh, has really changed in Europe compared to 10 years ago. I mean, bikes were popular 10 years ago, electric bikes, but now it’s really, it’s, it’s a pretty impressive trend, uh, all over the continent.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: I’m assuming. India is not one of your markets, but just because that’s because of the pricing and also, um, I think that right pricing would be the big, big barrier.

Although I think that people can probably have a much better use for your product.

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Correct. Like there’s, there’s a use in India. There’s a use in Africa or in some other nation. I mean, interestingly enough, there’s a, I was talking about the industry and the supply chain. There’s a, there’s a famous Indian brand called hero.

Uh, you know, they’ve like, I guess they have two branches, the tractor and whatever, and then there’s a bicycle branch and the guy wants this, uh, was Indian is trying to, uh, you know, it’s trying to establish a, an industrial bicycle Valley in, uh, in India. I can’t remember. The region now, but where he’s trying what I was talking about to to bring Uh some of the industry that was in taiwan or southeast asia to uh to india

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: nice interesting.

Um What is the future vision for your business? Do you? Um, are you seeing your business? I mean you did say that it’s kind of a

Do you see five years down the road your business like continuing to grow organically? Do you see, do you see taking your like adding additional product lines to your business? How do you see your business evolving in the next 5 10 years?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Well, I think there are two factors. One is I believe the need for bicycle for mobility in Europe is going to keep on growing because the city, you know, cities are really congested and governments have decided to close city centers to car traffic.

So people still want to, you know, move around. There’s also a kind of a Big, uh, environmental awareness where people kind of want to ride bikes. Uh, the bicycle infrastructure is really, uh, good or getting better in, in many countries in Western Europe. So, um, I think organically, uh, the market is going to keep on, keep on growing.

And then for our company, Uber, uh, it’s going to be through, um, the quality of the product offering, uh, and also offering some, um, some, some complimentary product.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Um, in every entrepreneur’s journey, there’s always mistakes made, lessons learned. Um, I mean, you’ve been doing it a long time, so I’m sure, you know, I mean, you’re a seasoned entrepreneur now, but what are some, uh, mistakes or lessons that you learn maybe early on or throughout your business journey that, you know, you kind of like, you know, you say that entrepreneurs should definitely be aware of these kinds of things.

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: I mean, that is such a, such a hard question. I think it comes down, you were talking about passion earlier, it comes down to people a lot. I mean, you gotta find, you gotta find great people to work with you, a collaborator and people who are going to be passionate and, and if you feel that the fit isn’t right, uh, you have to, uh, separate as soon as possible.

And, and I think one of, I might’ve made this mistake a few times where, uh, you know, You expect that things are going to work out. And while you have signs and things don’t work out, so it’s really important to make sure like you, you really align with the, uh, the people you work with. And also life is short and you want to just really, you know.

Make thing when you work with people, you just want it to feel nice. You know, to feel, to feel hard. And that’s the same thing with, you know, suppliers or customers and so forth. And yeah, there’s, you know, there’s no reason to, to, to get agro. It’s just, you just don’t want to find the right, the right partner or collaborator.

I think the, the warning about business, what’s hard in business is this whole quest for growth all the time, where like this, this. External pressure to make you want to grow your business all the time. Uh, because you know, the banks are asking you, you know, it’s like, well, what, where isn’t your business growing or potential investors?

Like, well, is the business not growing? And kind of everyone wants to see growth. And, and sometimes that’s not the best thing for a foreign organization. It’s not the best thing for people. In the organization, it’s not the best thing for, um, the owner or even the finances. So, uh, I think having a plan where you, where you try to be, uh, you know, sustainable and things are sustainable for every shareholder stakeholder in the organization is really important.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: No, I think, I think that’s a, that’s a very good, um, lesson, I guess, because right now it’s like when, when a company goes public, I think that, you know, that, that becomes their primary objective. And then they kind of Everything else becomes secondary. Like, you know, they almost stopped thinking about, you know, what’s the impact they’re having on, you know, the people around them or the environment and things like this.

So, um, and infinite growth has not, not, not, not really possible. Yeah,

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: it’s not, it’s not. And it’s funny. I was telling you, I just came back from a trip in, uh, In asia and and a few people at the factory factories told me it’s like they’re always very surprised I still own 100 of the business after all these years and there’s a lot of value in that obviously Uh, it’s it’s really like being independent in your decision.

And that’s that’s really nice and also You know, sometimes suppliers or partners or customers, they’re like, Oh, well, I don’t know, are you going to be able to assume your, uh, responsibility here financially and so forth. But at the same time, they know that they’re able to talk to someone who’s human, you know, and wants to create that connection.

Uh, it makes, it makes wonder, you know, with other people on the other side.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Uh, now I’m going to move on to our rapid fire segment. In this segment, I’m going to ask you a few quick questions and you have to answer them maybe in a word or a sentence or so. The first one is one book recommendation for entrepreneurs and why?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Um, there are a few. I mean, the one that just came to mind because I talked about it while I was in Asia is Shoe Dog from Phil Knight, the founder of Nike. And, uh, I don’t know if it’s a business book, but it’s a great story about a journey in entrepreneurship and how you just have to be ready for it for anything.

And, and that’s kind of what our entrepreneurship is.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Yeah. I mean, isn’t entrepreneurship difficult? It’s like, you know, it takes a special kind of a person, um, an innovative product or idea in the current e commerce retail or tech landscape that you feel excited about?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Um, not, nothing comes to mind at the moment.

Sorry. No.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: You’re not using AI of any kind.

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: I’m using, I’m using, I’m using AI. Um, I mean, it’s, it’s obviously pretty, um, pretty fast, pretty fascinating. And, and, uh, And I’ve used AI, um, lately a lot with, um, legal or not legal topic, kind of legal topic or accounting topic, you know, where you kind of need, you know, like getting the right level of expertise is difficult to, to get sometimes.

And I’ve found that AI is actually, uh, very good at giving you. Uh, clear, clear answer about, uh, a very specific, uh, question that requires a lot of, uh, you know, legal knowledge.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Yeah, yeah. And, and it’s improving, so hopefully it becomes a lot better. Uh, a business or productivity tool or software that you would recommend or a productivity tip?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Um, so obviously software is, is always Uh, and you know, the past few years, I finally was able to find one, uh, kind of combines everything, uh, and it’s Zoho, uh, uh, Zoho suite and, uh, and it’s, it’s actually an Indian company. And I think it, it’s pretty affordable, you know, compared to some of the other, the bigger one, like NetSuite and all that stuff, it’s very easy to set up, very easy to navigate.

And, uh, for any entrepreneur, I will really recommend Zoho because they have really, uh, you know, they have the accounting part, the sharing part, the, the inventory part, uh, the payroll parts, and it’s really well integrated and it works pretty well. It’s user friendly. So, um, that’s something I would recommend.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Another startup or business that you think is currently doing great things? Startup or

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: e commerce is going to be doing a great thing. Uh,

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Could be a startup. It could be another business, another product that you use.

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Yeah. I mean, I, I’ve always been pretty fascinated by, uh, it’s not a startup at all, but Patagonia and how much influence they have over the, uh, they have over the, the, the marketplace and setting trends and, and the use of, of marketing.

And, and I find pretty fascinating when, when you see the number of people wearing their, um, their clothes and so many different type of, uh, environment. Um, so that doesn’t really answer you it’s not really a startup, but that’s really a business that I find pretty pretty fascinating and and how much leverage they’re able to To have

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: yeah, um a peer entrepreneur or business person whom you look up Look, look up to or someone who inspires you.

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Um,

so I mean, there are, there are a few people that have really helped me along in the, in the bike industry that no one would necessarily know in this, uh, among your listener, uh, there’s a guy named, uh, you were talking about the spicy curry earlier, earlier, and there’s a guy named Larry PZ, uh, ran a few companies in the, in bike companies in your estate.

There’s no, not a guy named, uh, Pat canane, uh, that ran a bunch of companies in the state. Have helped me along. Uh, you know, I think, you know, for want to be entrepreneur or people who starting, uh, I think it’s really important to go straight to, uh, some decision maker. They, they, um, they look up to, uh, just take the phone, take the phone.

Usually the best time is after 6 p. m. because they’re alone in the office and they answer. There’s no more, uh, there’s no more gatekeeper. And, uh, and I found like trying to talk to someone with, yeah. We really as leverage in one industry is, is an experience is really a great way to go. And people are so generous with their, with their time.

And I’m really, uh, I mean, I’m really grateful for, you know, multiple people that helped me along this, this journey and gave me information and share the knowledge and experience.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: I mean, that is so interesting. So basically you, you believe in cold calling, like, you know, you basically find and find a number call and introduce yourself or like, do you?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: Oh yeah.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: I’ve

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: done that. I’ve done that many times and I’ve, and I found that, you know, it’s always the later you do it in the day, the more chances you have to talk to the person, because otherwise there’s always a gatekeeper. That’s You know, a secretary that’s like, no, no, he’s in a meeting, he’s doing, he’s busy, something and, and, uh, and, uh, while, you know, usually the, the guy running the show might be late, might be there quite kind of late working on some other stuff.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Final question, best business advice that you have ever received or you would give to other entrepreneurs? Um,

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: business is about dealing with problems and, you know, that’s. I read that, I remember reading that pretty early on in the book. It’s like, Hey, if you don’t wanna deal with problems, don’t get in business because, you know, uh, you know, having a business is a constant flow of ups and downs and, and problems coming to your desk, you know, being, you know, customer payment and supply chain and this and that.

So, um, I think that’s like the main business advice is just, you know, it, it’s just not easy. And also be patient because. You have to, you have to be patient and, and, and go through the, go through the paces of, uh, you know, you know, doing this, you know, doing sales and marketing and then putting the product out there just have to be very patient.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Yeah, I mean, business is like, you know, creating value from nothing is very difficult and I think, you know, um, and you really need to be the biggest cheerleader. You need to be the biggest problem solver and everything to really Build anything, you know, no matter how small or big so

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: well then

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: yeah,

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: and another piece of advice is is, you know, just uh Know your numbers, you know as a as a leader organization You always need to know kind of have the balance sheet or the pnl in your head, you know when you Talking to your customers suppliers or a banker kind of like know, you know, how much you’re in the bank How much you’re making per product how much you’re spending on marketing?

It’s really, uh, really critical to know the numbers because business is all I mean It’s about visions about passions about products about people But ultimately if the numbers don’t work the business cannot sustain itself.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Very true. Very true Um, well ben those were all the questions that I had. Thank you so much for sharing your story for joining me today Um, what is the best way people can get in touch, can buy your products?

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: So, uh, people can visit our website, ubebikes. com, Y U B E B I K E S dot com. Uh, they will find a list of retailers that, uh, distribute our product, uh, across, uh, Canada or the United States or Or Western Europe or Australia for that matter. Uh, so again, you’ve got ubibikes. com. There’s a, obviously social media pages with the Yuba or Yuba bicycles.

And, uh, and I invite them to visit the site and go try the product that, um, might change their, um, their life.

Sushant Misra of TrepTalks: Awesome. Well, Ben, thank you so much again for your time, for sharing your story. Really appreciate it. And I wish you all the very best.

Ben Sarrazin of Yuba Bikes: All right. Thank you so much, Sushant. And, uh, and I’m looking forward to talking to you soon again.