Conversations

British actor Hugh Laurie once said that driving a motorbike is like flying all your senses are alive askia hornton ould agree hornton is a co founder of otion a ellington based e motorbike startup hose mission is to make the orld s most beautiful moped class electric motorcycles hile reducing congestion commute times and pressure on the planet riginally from Lo er Hutt hornton and her husband ike ast ood no live mainly in msterdam he tells Sharon Stephenson about orking ith startups smashing the glass ceiling and being a oman in a man s orld

Your upbringing was slightly unconventional?

My mother is utch my parents eren t married and every t o years e d go back to the etherlands for a visit hich as pretty exotic back then hat gave me a huge interest in the outside orld

At 17 you moved to Germany for a year?

I Went on a otary exchange to a tiny village in southern ermany didn t speak erman

as the only foreigner there and most of the locals had never met a foreigner t as my first real experience of putting myself in the deep end and orking out ho to s im personally gre so much that year

You were never what they would describe as a ‘girly girl’, were you?

I read some here that most of our subconscious beliefs are developed before e are can remember being a real tomboy as a child liking trucks and skateboards more than dolls

Its probably hy gravitated to ards male dominated industries ve never felt out of place in a man s orld

You did a degree in marketing and international business at Victoria University... es and then got a ob in the home bre industry he company orked for as trying to target more omen so helped develop make your o n cheese kits and an electric bre system

Was it at university when your love of motorbikes started?

y parents anted me to buy a safe reliable car to get to uni and said

they d pay for half if saved up the rest ut had my heart set on a classic baby blue espa hich

loved ven back then valued design uality and the ease of moped mobility love ho much freedom a moped gives you as opposed to a car hat as also a big dra card for me to go and live in msterdam here no mostly travel by bicycle

That’s a good segue into why you moved to Amsterdam.

was orking for ad illie a i i cheese company that as expanding into urope t had al ays been a teenage dream of mine to live in msterdam so hen got the opportunity to move ith ork umped at it ike and moved there in and e no o n an apartment hich e rent out hen e come back to e ealand hile in uckland e live in a renovated caravan that s parked on ike s parents rural property t s the best of both orlds

How did you get involved with e-bikes?

The t o co founding engineers of otion Luke inclair and endall risto built the treetdog prototype and ere looking for investment y father is an angel investor and he sa the potential He put us in contact and in came on board as a co founder

What’s the attraction? he bikes are electric so they re sustainable and much better for the environment hey re also really beautiful and classic looking o many electric bikes are over accessorised and complex our idea as a bike that you could ump on and ust ride f you can ride a bike then you can ride one of our e bikes

They have been pretty popular, haven’t they?

We have more than orders currently on our aiting list t s been exciting to see people interested in this alternative ay of getting around especially those ho ve never even ridden a moped or motorbike before he bikes are made in ellington and most of our parts are e ealand made

e ant to expand globally so being in msterdam ill help

So many electric bikes are over-accessorised and complex – our idea was a bike that you could jump on and just ride. If you can ride a bike then you can ride one of our e-bikes.

You still help other startups though?

m currently orking ith startups in ustralia the etherlands and e ealand en oy orking ith other entrepreneurs to build cool businesses

You’re also keen to encourage a new generation of women into what’s traditionally been seen as male-dominated industries?

I didn t kno about gender bias hen started my career ust orked hard and didn t let anything hold me back don t agree ith uotas based on gender because they re a bias in their o n right e need a societal change and to change the mindset of

omen hen they re kids so they ant to enter male led and male dominated industries and be seen as e ual f can demonstrate female leadership as ell as encourage other omen to love e motorbikes and this industry as much as dothen considerthata in in

Do you think you’ll ever move back to Aotearoa? eloveourlivesin msterdam but also the facteg et to spend so much time i ne

ealand he plan is to spend half the year in each placeut ike is aoi ne rand it costs a lotto set up the tools for his bus in es st them omen th es got a orkshop on his parents property but also tools in ms te rd a mt some stage ell need to make some kind of compromise and decide here h es going to have hi so in ery