The “You Be the VC 5.2” feature focuses on Mission Motors, a company in the transportation industry—more specifically the motorcycle part of that industry.

Spend some time studying the motorcycle part of the broader transportation industry and Mission Motors’ unique approach to the part of a broader industry in which it competes. Are there certain environmental trends and business trends that favor Mission Motors’ product? If so, what are those trends and how powerful do you think their influence will be on Mission Motors’ ability to succeed?

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YOU BE THE VC 5.2 Company: Mission Motors Web: www.ridemission.com Twitter: Mission Motors Facebook: Mission Motors Business Idea: Create a high-performance electric motorcycle that is best-of-class in all respects. Pitch: There are a growing number of high-end extreme sports products that enthusiasts and high net worth individuals buy. Mission Motors launched in 2007, just blocks from San Francisco's famous Mission District, with the goal of producing a high-performance electric motorcycle to sell into this category. The initial prototype was built from a converted Ducati 900 SS, which is a high- performance gas powered motorcycle. The prototype was a success from both a design and performance perspective. Buoyed by this early achievement, Mission's founders set out to build a second and higher-performance prototype, with the multiple objectives of reducing weight, increasing power, and increasing energy density by engineering key power train components in-house, as off-the-shelf components weren't up to the task. This prototype evolved into the Mission One Limited Edition, an electric motorcycle the company introduced to the world in early 2009 at the TED conference in San Francisco. This motorcycle, which was sold initially in 2011, can travel 150 miles on a single