What will personal transportation look like in the future? With urban gridlock reaching levels of frustration previously never thought possible, and more and more people moving into cities everyday, it’s becoming increasingly clear that something has to be done. And hopefully something really cool…

Enter the subject of this week’s #fiberforall Spotlight, Inboard Technologies: producers of the world’s highest quality electric skateboards, and local Santa Cruz entrepreneurs. Their product: the M1 Electric Skateboard. It’s a sleek and refined personal transportation board with a top speed of over 24 mph, and in-wheel motors that maintain the smoothness of the regular skateboard experience.

Not only did the company start out by receiving over $400,000 dollars in pre-orders via their Kickstarter page, but they were also featured on the infamous startup pitch reality show Shark Tank (and yes they received an offer). Now they are spending most of their days working to process orders and scale up the business, while also soaking up the Santa Cruz sun.

Eventually the company hopes to be considered the Tesla for rideables, emphasizing the importance of design, and first finding a suitable market from which to grow. And Santa Cruz offers the best of both worlds, with Inboard joining a cadre of other well established and well known lifestyle companies, like Santa Cruz Bikes and Santa Cruz Skateboards.

However, it isn’t just the culture of Santa Cruz that makes it an attractive place to create a new company, it’s also about the infrastructure; which is why we are excited to bring next generation internet to Inboard as soon as possible.

“High-speed fiber-optic Internet is a critical competitive advantage to stay on the cutting edge,” says Inboard CEO, Ryan Evans. “To be able to have 10 times the internet bandwidth allows my organization to be more nimble, respond faster, and be more agile to changing market conditions. If I can adapt faster than my competitor, I’m going to survive… And as a business, that’s what it’s all about.”

We couldn’t agree more Ryan, and thank you for building your company in Santa Cruz.

To learn more about Inboard, or order your own M1, visit their website at https://www.inboardtechnology.com/. And be sure to share this story with your friends to help get the word out about another awesome local company!