Executive summary:
- President of Daymak.
- Sold multi-million dollar deals worth of e-bikes.
- Won several awards for Clean Tech and innovation.
- Selling products that make a difference in people’s lives and impacting the environment in a positive way.
- Developed a variety of products from thought to reality and sold them to over 27 countries.
- Filed multiple patents.
- Daymak’s Team has gone from 1 employee to over 65 employees.
- About to put on the road and drive our own first electric car prototype the Spiritus.
- York University degree BA in Economics.
What is your field of expertise?
My field of expertise is development and distribution of light electric vehicles (LEVs). LEVs include e-bikes, mobility scooters, scooters, ATVs. Everything under 500 lb. We have over 20 years of experience in the field and have sold over 100,000 vehicles.
Describe your journey to where you are today.
I came from the software world (video games). Unfortunately after the .COM bust of 2000-2001 I had to make a change. I always liked toys, i.e. scooters. I tried to buy one for my daughter Daniela and I couldn’t find any so that’s when I decided to insert myself into the business. DAYMAK (D-Daniela A-Aldo Y-Yeganeh (wife) Melissa (second daughter). AK was just to finish the word). I put my life savings which at that point were $10,000 and imported them from China. Unfortunately they were seized at customs because they did not meet Canadian standards (that is why I could not find any). My choice was to destroy them (not a good choice) or ship them to the US. I choose the US and then sold them out from the US. Hard lesson.
So then I decided to import e-bikes. I checked the rules and it said you can import them no issues. In 2002 they were legal to import into Canada but I did not check that you were not allowed to ride them anywhere except private property in Ontario. Which made it impossible to sell them where I lived. So, I had to sell to Quebec where they were legal. Another hard lesson.
So, no e-bikes, no scooters, then I went to mobility scooters. I bought locally mobility scooters from another importer and started selling them. I ask the importer if I could use pictures from his website and he said no problem. Next thing I know I get sued from the owner of the pictures which was someone else. His brand was called Boomerbuggy. So, I go talk to him and convince him that I had nothing to do with the pictures. At this point his son was dying of MS and he was going to close the business and I started buying from him instead. I started moving his units which after a while he gave me all on terms and invested in my business (still one of the largest shareholders of Daymak today.)
Fast foward to 2011. E-bikes became legal in Ontario and most of Canada. We are now the #1 distributor of LEVs. Our clients include Walmart, Costco, Bestbuy, QVC. We have over 150 dealers and we have exported to 27 countries. Products that we have developed including the Shadow Ebikes, the Photon Scooter, the Beast Scooter, EC1 Carbon Ebike, and Boomerbeast.
We are now developing our new series of products called Daymak Avvenire which is made of 6 distinct products that we want to build in Ontario, making us the only manufacturer in Ontario. The products include the Terra Ebike, Foras Etrike covered, Aspero ATV, Tectus Mobility Scooter, the Spiritus Car and Skyrider (personal flying vehicle). We launched early this year and we have racked over $1 billion in pre-orders between orders with deposit and letters of interest from distributors.
What does your company do, for who, and how does it fit into the bigger picture of solving global issues with clean tech?
All of our products are used instead of fossil fuels-based cars, diesel buses etc. E-bikes and mobility scooters today are for a lot people their main transportation to work, to school or everyday life. By using an e-bike or a mobility scooter less cars and buses are required. The impact is extremely beneficial to the environment.
What do you wish you could tell the younger you – what would’ve been incredibly helpful to you ten years ago?
Buy Bitcoin at 1.00 and keep it. Don’t stress. All good and bad shall pass like everything else.
LinkedIn: Aldo Baiocchi