Quote of the day by venture capitalist John Doerr on the Segway: 'It'll be bigger than the internet' a wild miscalculation about the future of mobility

Date:
Sun, 09 Aug 2026 22:00:00 +0000

Description:
Dozens of projects throughout history have suffered from unnecessary hype before failing to capture public attention

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter The world is full of weird and wonderful inventions that never really took off, with the Segway perhaps one of the most overhyped technologies out there. Invented by Dean Kamen, it was once considered the future of how people would move around towns and cities and it had plenty of huge supporters. "If [Kamen] gets what he wants, the company will reach $1 billion in sales faster than any company in history,
and it'll be bigger than the Internet." John Doerr, January 2001 Codename Ginger Speculation ran wild when these leaked comments by Jon Doerr hit the mainstream media at the start of the 21st century. Quote of the day This article is part of TechRadar Pro's QOTD project to provide an insight into
the minds of the brightest and most recognized figures in the technology industry today and in years gone by. Read the full series here . This statement was initially disclosed when a copy of a book proposal by
journalist Steve Kemper was leaked to the media and published on the online tech magazine Inside.com . They were centered around an exotic new invention described only as ' Codename Ginger ' but the trouble was that nobody knew what it was. Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:

What Kamen was working on behind closed doors was, in fact, a two-wheeled, self-balancing personal vehicle that used smart sensors and motors to keep
the rider upright. This was the Segway and, well, we all know how that story ended. Wheels of time Some predicted at the time that cities would be redesigned around the Segway but the product sold less than 150,000 units before production was shuttered. It's now widely considered the most
overhyped invention in history, with high costs and huge regulatory hurdles proving insurmountable obstacles for mass adoption. You may like Quote of the day by Microsoft co-founder and ex-CEO Bill Gates: 'We always overestimate
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isn't a thing a company builds. It's the next chapter of the internet
overall' a prediction that hit wide of the mark

The last Segway was actually manufactured as recently as 2020, with the company now transitioning to other forms of transportation, like e-scooters and UTVs. There are still uses in security and in tourism, but it's largely a redundant technology.

As for Kamen, his most recent venture, DEKA, is focusing its efforts on machines in the biotech space. Specifically, he has recently invented a large-scale regenerative medicine manufacturing and organ preservation
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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/quote-of-the-day-by-venture-capitalist-john-doer r-on-the-segway-itll-be-bigger-than-the-internet-a-wild-miscalculation-about-t he-future-of-mobility


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