Emboldened by the low interest rates and mainstream tech hype in 2010s, VCs crowed that dockless scooter sharing would disrupt walking. Scooter startups like Bird and Lime took a page right out of Uber and Airbnb's playbook - move fast, break things, and ask for forgiveness, not permission. Overnight, scooters were dumped onto the streets of every major city. They piled up on sidewalks, blocked traffic, and caused deaths around the world as people flew down bike lanes, walkways, and roads without helmets. There was no real moat in the software or hardware. Yet while municipalities all around the world were still trying to figure out regulation, VCs had already come up with a grand name for this new market.