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Mike Radenbaugh

Founder & Board Chairman, Rad Power Bikes · 1 appearance on the record.

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founderexecutiveradpowerbikes.com ↗

Mike Radenbaugh founded Seattle-based Rad Power Bikes after converting bicycles into electric bikes as a teenager, growing it into North America's largest direct-to-consumer e-bike brand. He led the company as CEO until late 2022, when he transitioned to Board Chairman to focus on micromobility innovation and advocacy.

15statements → 13claims → 5claims resolved → 60%fully supported → 4.07/5average certainty → 1.53/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 2said about them ↓

3 supported 2 partly supported 0 contradicted 8 not checkable as stated how the 13 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

2 predictions · 11 assertions · 2 insights · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 13 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 5 are resolved, and 8 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Mike argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
In 2014, Most E-Bikes Were Limited by European Regulations
“Most of the e-bikes that were out there in the market were built for European standards, actually, right around 2014, and so they were 250 watts of power, they didn't have throttles, they had really skinny tires”
Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 ▶ 34:45 Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
none yet certainty 3
75% certainty 4
100% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Mike Radenbaugh on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Mike Radenbaugh said on How I Built This that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Prediction Not checkable as stated
Radenbaugh: E-Bike Supply Chains Will Never Exist in the United States
“The supply chains for electric bikes, they don't exist in America. They're not going to exist.”
Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 ▶ 59:10 Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh
Assertion Not checkable as stated
2018 Section 301 tariffs eliminated Rad Power Bikes' entire profit margin
“In mid 2018, right, we were growing up really fast. And we had a lot of bikes on order compared to our balance sheet. And all of a sudden tariffs hit us really hard. E-bikes were part of the section three Oh one tariffs. So like I said, we had all these bikes …”
Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 ▶ 56:58 Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Radenbaugh: Rad Power Bikes holds at least 25% of North American market
“You know, we estimate we have about 25% or more of the North American market.”
Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 ▶ 1:04:47 Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh
Insight
E-Bikes Inherently Drive Multi-Unit Sales Because People Prefer Riding Together
“You know, you don't want to buy one Ski-Doo. You want to buy two so you can go with your friend. You see the same thing with e-bikes, which is, it's a lot more fun to go ride with a pal.”
Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 ▶ 45:52 Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh
Insight
Radenbaugh: Unresolved Co-Founder Tension Inevitably Creeps into Team Performance
“And so one of the big learnings I've kind of taken away from the last awesome five years with Ty has been like, acknowledge the tension and address it head on. Like, don't let it build up pressure because it, you might think it's not creeping out into the rest…”
Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 ▶ 53:28 Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Radenbaugh: Rad Power Bikes saw sales spike 297% in April 2020
“So April of 2020, we've done 297% more bike sales than we did April 2019.”
Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 ▶ 1:02:23 Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Radenbaugh: Pandemic-driven surge in e-bike adoption will not fade for years
“But this is a switch that was, is flipped on and it's not turning off for years to come.”
Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 ▶ 1:03:44 Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh
Assertion Supported
In 2014, Most E-Bikes Were Limited by European Regulations
“Most of the e-bikes that were out there in the market were built for European standards, actually, right around 2014, and so they were 250 watts of power, they didn't have throttles, they had really skinny tires”
Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 ▶ 34:45 Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh
Assertion Supported
Radenbaugh: 750W is US federal legal limit for unlicensed e-bike classification
“750 watts is the federal legal limit for e-bikes to be treated like a regular bike, so you can still ride them. Without having to get a license for it, right? Exactly. You don't need a license, you don't need registration, you don't need a driver, yeah.”
Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 ▶ 36:21 Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh
Assertion Partly supported
Rad Power Bikes raised $320,000 in pre-orders in 30 days on Indiegogo
“Within 30 days, right, we had done, I think over 300 people had signed up, so we did 320,000 dollars in pre-orders.”
Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 ▶ 39:38 Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh
Assertion Partly supported
Radenbaugh: Rad Power Bikes Made $1.5M in First-Year Sales
“We had in the first year, so in, in, in, in, in, in, in, we did a you know, a million and a half in sales. So we did 300,000 on crowdfunding and a 1.5 for the year.”
Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 ▶ 50:12 Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Rad Power Bikes faced chronic summer inventory stockouts from cash constraints
“The second reason, every single summer we were out of stock and we, for long periods of time, weeks on end. So we were cash constrained, like we needed to be able to order more inventory near the tail end of each year to be prepared for the upcoming summer.”
Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 ▶ 55:35 Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh
Assertion Supported
Radenbaugh: Rad Power Bikes generated nearly $100M in 2019 sales
“We were nearly a hundred million in sales last year.”
Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 ▶ 59:27 Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Radenbaugh: Rad Power Bikes grew over 100% annually for five years
“We're a business that has grown a hundred more than a hundred percent per year for the last five years.”
Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 ▶ 1:02:38 Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Radenbaugh: First Rad Power Bikes customer paid with a teepee
“The first customer I had actually ended up trading the bike for a teepee, like an actual, like, teepee that I lived in for a summer on my parents' property.”
Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 ▶ 19:15 Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh

The other half of the tape: Mike Radenbaugh's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 2 times in 1 episode on How I Built This. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Guy Raz 2

Every mention by year

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0112021episodes it came up in
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2021 2 mentions in 1 episode

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
Rad Power Bikes: Mike Radenbaugh Sep 7, 2020 43m
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