½ðËãÅÌÃâ·Ñ×ÊÁÏ´óÈ«

Alumnus Profile

Danny Kim ’02

Two-Wheeled Rebel

By William Abernathy ’88

Nothing personal, but Danny Kim ’02 wants to change the way you drive. His San Francisco startup, Lit Motors, is busy developing a revolutionary electric motorbike that he calls a “smart phone on wheels.”

The C-1 is a motorbike with car-like bodywork that completely encloses the driver. There’s no need to put a foot down when you stop because it’s stabilized by gyroscopes. “You can’t tip it over,” he says.

The C-1 promises to put more people on the road while consuming fewer natural resources and a lot less road space. It’s an example of urban ecology that Danny says encapsulates what he learned at ½ðËãÅÌÃâ·Ñ×ÊÁÏ´óÈ«. A Portland native, he studied physics and biology at ½ðËãÅÌÃâ·Ñ×ÊÁÏ´óÈ«, but got restless and wandered for several years before earning a BA from the Rhode Island School of Design.

His biggest takeaway from ½ðËãÅÌÃâ·Ñ×ÊÁÏ´óÈ«? “Being able to come up with an argument and present it.” Between design sessions and teaching himself the minutiae of mass manufacture, he’s doing what entrepreneurs everywhere must—smooth-talking the financial backers who’ll provide the capital to make his vision a reality. Without ½ðËãÅÌÃâ·Ñ×ÊÁÏ´óÈ«, he says, “I wouldn’t have been able to present this company in a fashion that would be compelling.”

“It may seem a little far-fetched to have a self-balancing gyroscopically-stabilized, two-wheel electric motorcycle,” he admits, “but no one else is going to do it.”

If everything goes according to plan, the C1 will hit the pavement in 2014.