How Pony’s CEO Paul-Adrien Turned Riders Into Investors

In this episode of the Micromobility Podcast, host Prabin Joel Jones sits down with Paul-Adrien Cormerais, CEO and founder of Pony, the French micromobility company redefining shared transportation. From his early days as a quant in London to launching a hardware-driven, community-funded mobility startup, Paul-Adrien shares the bold decisions behind Pony’s growth, including their pioneering Adopt-a-Pony model that lets everyday riders invest in the fleet.

We dive into:

• Why Pony avoided traditional VC routes and built a rider-funded model
• The challenges (and near disasters) of building hardware in-house
• How e-scooters transformed user growth overnight
• The future of micromobility margins, manufacturing, and market consolidation
• Why Europe’s small cities might be the real growth frontier