Build something that people love and want: Telo’s electric mini truck.
Credit: Telo Trucks
Telo makes intelligently designed, compact electric vehicle trucks for city living and weekend adventuring. Co-founded by Jason Marks, Forrest North, and Yves Béhar, Telo aims to solve the problem of oversized trucks clogging city streets and reimagining urban mobility.
Jason's experience in automotive safety, Forrest's expertise in EV battery technology, and Yves' acclaimed design skills, fueled by their shared passion for creating desirable products, have propelled Telo from concept to a company with thousands of pre-orders and a community of fans.
Here are some key highlights from the conversation between Jason and Veronique as part of the Xooglers in Climate Founder Series.
Design driven by data and desirability
Credit: Telo Trucks. From left to right Forrest North, Jason Marks, Yves Béhar.
Telo's design philosophy is rooted in understanding what customers actually want. The first concept was based on direct feedback they got from the field.
“We spent the weekend going around Los Angeles and San Francisco interviewing hundreds of people and asking “if I gave you the opportunity to rethink the footprint and form factor of any vehicle that exists today. What vehicle would you want?” 89% of them said, “I just want a small truck, it’s all I want.” So we realized we had this little niche.”
Credit: Inc. Magazine
Feedback now comes from their highly engaged Discord community with over 3000 members: "You can't participate in the Discord channel unless you introduce yourself and say how you would use the vehicle. So our actual understanding of our customer base, has changed dramatically over time."
This direct customer feedback, combined with a clear vision and cutting-edge technology, allows Telo to optimize their design for both functionality and desirability.
“For us, the opportunity to design with the latest EV technology meant that we could create a category-defining and environmentally mighty ultra-compact pickup truck. For city adventurers who want a vehicle nimble enough for city streets and robust enough for outdoor exploring, with enough space for their people and gear, TELO makes EV trucks with best-in-class utility, safety and all-around drivability.”
“In order to build something that everyone really wants to make a great product we needed to have a visual aspect of the vehicle that was alluring for both consumers and commercial customers.”
-Jason Marks
You don’t need to care about sustainability
In today's polarized landscape around electric vehicles (EVs) and sustainability, Jason presents a pragmatic perspective. He argues that the benefits of owning a mini truck go beyond traditional notions of sustainability: “If you think that a mini truck is going to make your life better then you you're going to look past the fact that I may have preconceived notions about electric. Perhaps there are some trade-offs you'll have to make, but ultimately those tradeoffs will be worth it not because you think you're doing better for the environment but because it makes your life better.”
Manufacturing is changing the game for EV startups
Despite the numerous failures in the EV industry, Jason had a clear vision of what would lead to their success: “We can point to why a lot of the EV companies ultimately didn't make it through, a lot of them have a very similar story of trying to get to high-volume manufacturing without having a strong customer base and strong economics. The market and the economics have to come first when building an EV company.”
Credit: Telo Trucks.
Jason highlights three critical factors that have driven Telo's success:
Commoditized components. For example, in the early days, building vehicle inverters required significant resources, with some being as large as a dining table and costing tens of millions of dollars. Today, similar power inverters have become commoditized, fitting in the palm of a hand and available for less than $1,000.
Software: “Software has gotten incredible, not just for developing a vehicle but also for validating a vehicle we like to use the term 100% virtual validation as you can almost build and validate your vehicle entirely in software before you have to actually create something physical and that greatly reduces time and cost developing a vehicle.”
Domestic contract manufacturing, inspired by China's emergence as a leading EV producer, leverages facilities capable of building vehicles for multiple companies at once. This model, which enhances production flexibility and scalability, is gaining traction in the U.S. Telo collaborates with Aria Group, a low-volume manufacturer, embracing this approach to meet their production needs.
“It wouldn’t have been possible for us to build an electric vehicle profitably at low volumes or build a customer base that’s really clamoring for this without those things to come before us.”
Designing Telo’s battery
Telo understands the critical role of battery technology in the EV landscape. Jason emphasizes their commitment to owning this crucial part of the process: "We had the expertise to build battery packs and we knew that it was going to define how our vehicle was. So we build our own battery packs in-house. It's the only thing we don't contract manufacture and will never contract manufacture."
Their focus on efficiency has led to impressive results: "Our core innovation in the battery space is that our battery pack is 50% more space efficient than even Tesla's battery pack. And we can do this because we're not trying to go 0 to 60 in sub 2 seconds."
Credit: Telo Trucks.
Community: the driving force
Telo's vibrant community is a key ingredient to their success. They've created a direct line of communication with potential customers through their Discord channel. They even use a creative system of emojis to manage the influx of feedback: "We have a Discord CRM, which we use emojis to tag certain things. And only when people on the Telo team use those emojis, they get logged in our Discord CRM."
Harnessing expertise
The Telo team is composed of an impressive array of industry veterans who support the company, whether on a permanent or ad-hoc basis, united by their passion for the product. Integrating such a diverse range of influences is a challenge that has been met with a unique solution: engaging these experts by having them share their stories.
“We have this incredible group of people on our team that have built vehicles, built startups, built incredible things. And the number one thing I asked them, instead of saying “what would you do in this scenario”? Is “Tell me about a time where you encountered this at this company. What did you do to solve that problem?” So instead of trying to get direct feedback, ask them to come up with a story to tell about how, when they experienced it and how they thought about the problem. One of the best things that does is it gives you stories to tell other people.”
Credit: Telo Trucks.
Bringing the right investors on board
When it comes to choosing investors, Jason advises, "You should always ask, what's a normal deal for you? What is your sweet spot? What kind of participation do you have after the, after the round?"
Jason also believes that a strong vision is essential for any founder: "Yeah, I think that the vision has to be yours and yours alone and you have to make sure that you are driving that vision. You can always take advice, but you know, fundamentally you have to believe that you're doing this for a reason.”
Telo Trucks is more than just an EV company; they're building a movement. By combining innovative design, strategic manufacturing, a strong community, and a clear vision, they're paving the way for a future of urban mobility that is both efficient and desirable.