Alumnus Shares How Public-Private Partnerships Expanded His Bike Share Company on Bootstrapped

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship produces Bootstrapped, a podcast featuring founders, investors and serial entrepreneurs. The podcast is hosted by Elana Fine, Executive Director of the Dingman Center, and Joe Bailey, Associate Research Professor at the Smith School. Each episode brings a different startup story to life with special guests offering advice and lessons learned on topics that range from fundraising and marketing to team formation and customer acquisition.

On this episode of Bootstrapped, we interviewed UMD alumnus Eddie Inlow MBA ’09, founder and CEO of Shift Transit. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Eddie had extensive experience in strategy and operations, having worked on the leadership team at Under Armour and consulting for Best Buy and Ross Stores. Eddie’s first exposure to the bike share industry was when he worked for Atla Bicycle Share as the General Manager of the Chicago program in 2013, and he later transitioned into the role of COO for the company. It was in 2015 that Eddie went off on his own to found Shift Transit, a comprehensive bike share service provider that collaborates with cities to launch personalized bike share programs. In this episode, Eddie discusses how he tailors his program to each individual city, the rapid evolution of the bike share industry and the challenges of working in the public-private partnership space as an entrepreneur.

Eddie worked as Coordinator of Retail Operations at Under Armour from 2006 to 2007, and he later received his MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business in 2009. Following his graduation, Eddie worked as a management consultant at Accenture from 2010 to 2013 before transitioning to Atla Bicycle Share from 2013 to 2015.

To listen to this episode and gain further insights into the startup world, subscribe to Dingman Bootstrapped on iTunes or download the episodes on the Dingman Center website.