- Man, I wish I had somewhere a little bit more exciting
to ride this thing.
Hmm.
That's better.
(upbeat music)
♪ I want you, want you ♪
♪ I wonder where you'll go ♪
- Hey guys, I'm in Santa Cruz, California.
Shopify sent me here to meet up,
hang out with the guys at Onewheel.
If you don't know what Shopify is,
it's basically an online, e-commerce platform,
a fancy way of saying you can make online stores there.
It's really, actually the best and easiest way
to make an online store right now.
I use it for everything.
I use it to sell my presets, to sell my merch,
everything I sell through Shopify.
Highly recommend it.
If you're looking for an online store right now,
definitely check out Shopify.
I'll link it down below.
Yeah, this episode is sponsored by Shopify.
Anyways I'm super pumped to hang out,
to meet the guys at Onewheel
because it's one of my favorite companies,
and the reason why it's one of my favorite companies,
is because out of all the things that I've bought
in the last year or so, it is definitely way up on the list.
If not right at the top.
I really, really enjoy riding around with the Onewheel.
I didn't think I would like it as much as I do,
but I really like it, so I'm excited to see
who's behind the company and also to see
where they actually make the Onewheel.
So why don't I give you guys a tour.
(upbeat music)
Alright guys, I am here at the Onewheel HQ
and you guys gotta meet Jack.
Jack say hi.
- How's it goin everybody?
- [Matti] Who are you, what are you doing?
Wait, what are you doing right now?
That's the question.
- I'm honing my craft.
I run marketing at Onewheel.
Best job in the world.
Arguably, you might have that job,
- Arguably. - But it's very close.
- [Matti] And you've been here for awhile now, right?
- Four and a half years.
- Which nowadays, seems like awhile,
but it's actually not that long.
But for you it probably feels like awhile
- Feels like awhile.
- [Matti] Sweet, so you're gonna give us a tour?
- Yeah.
- [Matti] Is this where the magic happens?
- This is the office.
This is where people actually get done.
- Get work. - Get work done.
- So it's not as exciting as the lab maybe,
but lots of emails are being sent now.
Lots of communication.
- [Matti] The really dirty work happens in here.
- You have customer service, sales, marketing.
Everyone's at lunch also, so this is,
just imagine people are sitting here.
- [Matti] Imagine it's full of people, working hard.
- Peter just sent me some coffee.
- [Matti] Oh, Peter's coffee!
I don't actually drink coffee.
- So check out my channel, a reviews coming over soon.
- [Matti] Link and subscribe.
- Comment below.
Smash that follow button.
So this is our Instagram counter.
It updates every few minutes with new--
- [Matti] Wait this thing updates live?
- Live yeah, and it counts very dramatically,
it's loud, so everyone knows.
- No!
I need to get one of these.
- So go follow us, because we're here
and like we see you, we feel you,
we appreciate you.
Each one of you.
- Literally you can go on Instagram right now
and follow, what is it, is it just OneWheel?
- @rideonewheel and you could be the 734th.
- This'll be in the future so maybe you'll be like
the 140,000th maybe, follower maybe.
- Yeah, if you're the 140,000th, I can't say that,
we'll give you something for free.
- Probably not a Onewheel, but you'll get something.
- No, like, you know, something like that.
- So, you can actually in real time
affect this office, just by following.
That's pretty cool.
I like that.
- Eli, if you're watching; this is one of our employees,
he's in Australia right now, he's supposed to come back soon
we don't know, he's having a great time.
Eli, your desk is here, come back.
We miss you.
- [Matti] Please come back.
- This is Tom Brady, lot of people don't know this;
big Onewheeler, actually Giselle, it's arguable
who's the bigger Onewheeler in the relationship.
Power couple, one of the best Onewheel power couples.
- Mind blown, mind blown, I can't believe it.
- This is what a Trademark in Japan looks like.
It's really dusty, and I broke the frame by accident.
How cool is that?
Look at that.
Japanese trademarks are super cool.
- [Matti] Do you have to get a Trademark everywhere?
Every country?
- You do, yeah.
- [Matti] Oh man, that sounds like a beast of a job.
- It is, we have lawyers who do that.
These are engineers.
- [Matti] Why are you whispering?
- So you get in trouble if you talk loudly in this office
'cause the engineers are really important people
that drive innovation.
And so we try not to distract them too much
- [Matti] Do not distract the engineers
- With cameras and stuff, but they're the driving engine
of this company.
Smart people.
- Smarter than us, that's for sure.
Or at least me.
- Alright, let's go look at the engineering lab.
Yeah, so we're in the Wrigley building,
which used to make all the gum West of the Mississippi River
but now it's bisected into all these super cool spaces
that are making these crazy lamps and heart valves
and guitar straps.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm losing balance.
I was trying to film and hold my sweater
and hold a camera and focus on him all at once.
- He was nailing it this entire day
- I was doing so good until that moment
of loss of balance, back to the tour.
- Okay, so we're in the electrical engineering lab
here at Future Motion.
- This isn't actually where they make the Onewheels, right?
But this is like, research, R and D,
are you guys fixing stuff here; that kind of stuff?
- This is like secret lab, but not the most secret,
secret lab, this is just like, secret lab.
- One of the things that I get stopped and asked about
most when I'm riding the Onewheel is,
did I build the Onewheel myself, and the answer is no,
obviously not, but this is partly where the ideas
and stuff have come from.
- Yes, this is like R&D testing, future stuff.
This is actually what the inside,
this is what the brain of a Onewheel looks like.
Which blows my mind because if you see
what we put them through; people are riding off of ledges
riding on the beach and trails and stuff.
This is what's in there, I don't know how it doesn't break.
If you're at home tring to copy it,
you gotta put this square there
and all the other squares around it.
- [Matti] Yeah, that square is really important too,
I think.
- Torgeir is soldering something over here.
- I make stuff to test all the squares.
- He makes stuff to test all the squares.
You may not notice, but everything about how Onewheel rides
and feels is programmed into it.
So we have programmed what's called the firmware
to respond in each situation in your life, right?
And why it feels so buttery is
'cause we're the best in the world
at programming it like that, so we might look like
a buncha idiots, but we're actually really smart.
I speak on behalf of smarter people than me.
And that's kind of like, part of what's going on in here.
- There's a lot of stuff that's kind of behind the scenes
on the Onewheel that you don't even realize
as you're riding it but there's so much going on.
Every move you make, decisions are being made for you
to make it work and--
- 14,000 times per second, I'm not actually lying.
- 14,000 times.
- If you want to get technical, there are six,
there are sensors that are sensing six axises,
sensing it's exact position 14,000 times per second
and feeding that into a little computer chip
which we programmed how to respond in each situation.
And all that results in just a buttery smooth ride.
So it's pretty nuts, next time you're riding a Onewheel
think about that for a second it will blow your mind.
- 14,000 times a second.
- Thousand, million! - Crazy.
- Alright, so mechanical machine shop.
We got 3D printers, we got all kinds of machines.
This is where stuff gets built.
You want to check out the progression?
- [Matti] Wait, can we see the first Onewheel ever?
- Let's go see the first Onewheel Ever.
- [Matti] You always have a Onewheel everywhere.
- We don't walk.
Yeah.
- [Matti] Oh, okay.
- This is the first Onewheel ever.
- [Matti] This is the first Onewheel ever?
- Call her Old Ironsides.
- [Matti] Oh my gosh, it's a beast.
- Yeah.
So as you can see, big old chain drive motor, right.
So in Onewheels nowadays the motor
is actually inside of the wheel.
That is the motor.
- [Matti] In there, motor.
- You just can't see it 'cause it's hidden,
but yeah it used to be out here.
We used to have these big, lead acid batteries.
So this whole thing weighed like 50 pounds.
- [Matti] Oh gosh.
Scale of one to 10, how fun was that one?
- It was like a four.
It was like, "Whoa!
"I'm doing something interesting!"
- It wasn't quite there, but it had something.
There was something there.
- This one's another prototype.
As you can see these all have switches,
so you had to stand on the switch.
- [Matti] For it to go?
That was the on/off button kind of thing?
- For it to go, yeah.
So at this point, Kyle, founder and CEO,
awesome dude, from Canada.
- Canadian guy? - Rep it!
- Started Onewheel?
- Yep, that's the truth.
- What? - Grew up snowboarding.
- [Matti] Why didn't you tell me this before?
I didn't know this.
- I can't lie.
Grew up snowboarding and wanted to create that feeling
on land so that's kind of what he was doing here.
- [Matti] So he, by himself,
came up with that machine thing.
- It took him eight years,
just of nights and weekends in his garage.
- [Matti] That thing is eight years, oh man.
- I mean, think about it, you try building that.
These are kind of the kickstarter boards.
After that we started this production,
except for the crazy tire of course.
- Snow tire! - Snow tire, limited edition.
- For Canada only. - Canada only, exactly.
Yeah, so this is basically what we were sending people.
Started selling online, that's when we started
selling through Shopify online store.
It's just a really convenient way for us to,
we were like three people at the time
and there's so many hurdles in your way
when you're at that size, sure you have this idea
you have this product, but there are so many hurdles.
So it was super convenient to have setting up your
online store be so easy and just
to not be one of those points of stress.
So we were three people then, and we're 35 or 40 now
and so, yeah, Shopify has just been a great platform
that's allowed us to scale seamlessly, so it's been awesome.
- I gotta say, the Onewheel is probably one of the best
products in the sense that once you start riding it
you don't even have to think about it,
it just becomes an extension of your body.
It almost replaces your legs and instead you have
a Onewheel to ride around.
They're so fun, we gotta go actually ride these somewhere.
Jack, can you take us riding somewhere fun in Santa Cruz?
- Yes, let's go!
- [Matti] Have you ever rode one of these?
- I'm an expert.
I've ridden one since I was two.
I'll show you how to do it Matti.
- [Matti] Gene here is going to try the Onewheel
for the very first time ever.
- Can I just try to stand on it and see what happens?
- Yeah, feel it self engage?
Bend your knees little bit.
- [Matti] Think where you wanna go!
- Whoa!
Let go of me, I'm no child.
This is going pretty fast.
- [Matti] Don't use too much mind power!
- This is going pretty fast!
Am I gonna die?
- I love it when people try the Onewheel for the first time
It's honestly so, so fun you have to try it to understand
what's going on when you ride one of these things.
(upbeat indie music)
- Man that was fun.
That was the first time I really rode trails
and I'd say those are probably
some of the best trails to start with.
Thanks guys, that was sick.
Hi fives, I can't see where I'm high fiving.
Hi fives.
Thanks guys for showing me trails.
- Thanks for coming with us.
- Just got a little wake up right there.
- [Matti] (laughs) Just a little bit?
- I feel alive.
- A little pep in your step?
- Yeah, come on out guys,
come ride some trails with us next time.
- Santa Cruz, Onewheel, these guys.
It's been good.
Man, what a good day, just like really, really nice people.
I love that when you meet the people behind a company
or brand and they end up being just really,
really cool people that you would hang out with
in normal life.
And I love the fact that one guy had this crazy idea,
spent eight years prototyping it
and now we have this thing called the Onewheel
which is insanely fun, so much fun to ride around.
I've never really done crazy trail riding.
They just took me on like, yeah,
it was super fun everything, just such a good day.
Huge thanks to Shopify for hooking this up.
I definitely have to come back to Santa Cruz.
It's a really nice place, lots of stuff to see,
and I feel like, I've been here three days
and I did not have enough time to see everything.
Plus the people are just so great
that I want to come hang out again,
and maybe do some other stuff with Onewheel.
Massive thanks to Shopify, if you have a cool product
that you've been working on, or you want to sell presets,
or merch or whatever, check out Shopify,
definitely recommend them.
The best way to sell stuff online,
so check out Shopify down below.
I think I'm gonna go check out the hotel pool now.
This hotel was pretty nice, The Paradox
I actually, fun little story before I go,
and this has never happened to me before.
I was having breakfast here and
then I was going to pay the bill
and then the waitress said that one of the workers there
had paid for my breakfast.
So nice of that guy to pay for my breakfast.
That's never happened to me before,
yeah just a lot of really really nice people here.
And thanks Hotel Paradox for being a cool place.
Alright now I'm gonna go enjoy the pool
and just relax for a bit.
(upbeat indie music)