There are lots of reasons why the Segway failed. Many people have written about it extensively. I liked what Alain Bertaud shared in his “Conversations with Tyler” interview. He compares scooters to the Segway and reveals how the former fits his needs much better than the latter. It’s a case of user-centered design. The scooters meet user needs, while the Segway is still looking for a problem to solve.

COWEN: Why are they better than Segway? Which did not take off. You only see it in the nation’s capital.

BERTAUD: Because I could see bringing my e-scooter here, folding it, and putting it under my chair. I cannot put a Segway under my chair. Segway is just too heavy.

Here are a few more quotes that stood out to me:

BERTAUD: Being born in 1939, I was brought up during the war. I could adjust. I knew that you could adjust your comfort to whatever is available, and you don’t die from it.

The quote above reminds me of “Why Work?” by Dorothy Sayers.

BERTAUD: He will give me a map of the city. He will say, “You have to go there, there, there, there. Here, you probably could have a good lunch. And I meet you tonight at the restaurant with my clients there.” So I will spend the day with my map going around and then in the evening my father will say, “Okay — ”

COWEN: This was a paper map, right? Not GPS.

BERTAUD: Yes, it was a paper map. There was no GPS. He said, “You enter this church there. What did you see on the west, on the left of the entrance?” I better remember that Tintoretto was there. My father always told me, “When you travel, you don’t look enough.” Every time he traveled a lot, he say, “I have not looked enough. I’ve not looked enough.” This was ingrained in me all the time.

Bertaud reminds me of the time I visited Marseille on my way to Mali, Africa and had about 24 hours to explore. I remembered that there was a skate park somewhere in the city that was featured in Tony Hawk Pro Skater. My friend Brandon and I went on a hunt for the skate park and ended up seeing many other sights. We did find the skate park and I did borrow a skateboard to skate, but I’m especially grateful for the little adventure we had finding the landmark.

Source: “Alain Bertaud.” Conversations with Tyler, conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/alain-bertaud/.