Trisha Ballakur is CEO and Co-Founder of Pointz – a bike mapping app that rates roads on a one to five scale of bike friendliness.
Just 24 years old, Trisha has already secured over half a million dollars worth of funding and been named in the 2025 Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Transportation and Mobility alongside her Co-Founder.
We turn to Trisha for her secrets to a successful mobility startup right from its earliest days.
Zag Daily: How does Pointz work?
Trisha: “Pointz is a safer mapping app for bike and scooter riders, and any users of micromobility who want peace of mind. We rank every single road in the US on a bike safety scale and provide routes using crowdsourced data to help riders get from A to B comfortably. You can search up a route just like you would on Google Maps and select one based on your unique customisations, such as a hill or trail preference, and how new you are to biking. With our premium subscription, we also provide 24-hour emergency roadside assistance. Safety is one of the top factors preventing people from completing their short journeys by bike, and our ultimate aim with Pointz is to give riders the reassurances they need to go out and ride.”
Zag Daily: How did you get into running this business so young?
Trisha: “It’s amazing how things have unfolded. I started entrepreneurship with the idea that companies could be vehicles for large impact. When I was 16, we had a local group over here in Boston called ‘TiE Boston Young Entrepreneurs’ where high schoolers could learn how to start a company and pitch in front of VCs and judges for a real cash prize. My team won the Boston championship and came third in the international competition. This made me realise how much I enjoyed business and I knew I wanted to create an impact.
“I then created a mental health app called Illumination which gives teenagers resources and practices to cope after tragedies. When I was studying Computer Science at Brown University, one of my close friends told me that her friend had an idea for a safer bike mapping app but didn’t know how to build the platform. That’s when I met my co-founder. We started building it together in the summer of COVID, using our class credits to take independent studies and build Pointz. Then we got funded by a venture capital firm which meant we could work on this full-time after we graduated. We won competitions from there, got into the Techstars accelerator programme, and started going through this kind of snowball effect where we got more and more funding and recognition culminating in the Forbes feature.”
Zag Daily: Pointz has now raised $520,000 in funding. What makes it such an attractive sell to investors?
Trisha: “I think what’s really appealing is that this is a concept that anyone who’s ever tried to ride a bike in a city would have found useful at some point. There’s a real visceral need for people to feel safe on a bike if they’re going to share a road with cars. And there’s also a huge need with the state of our climate to try to reverse the increasing effects of global warming. I think the progression of active travel in the next 50 years will make or break this space and we need to step up and take responsibility to try and minimise the damage that’s been done. This urgency coupled with an easy-to-use, simple concept is what I think drives the interest amongst VCs.”
Zag Daily: Did you face any challenges when seeking investment as a young, female business owner?
Trisha: “I didn’t realize just how true the stereotypes were until I got into entrepreneurship. The 2% of women-led businesses securing venture capital investment certainly feels true. As much as I have so many supportive folks in the venture community, it’s not hard to see when I meet other founders or go to events that there’s still a huge bias. I think VCs and founders can often forget that we’re all human, and we all have unique strengths, skills, and talents that don’t necessarily fit the exact image of those who have been successful in the past.
“I’m a big proponent of using both your left and right brain. My parents and one of my Professors at Brown, Dr. Patrícia Sobral, influenced me to blend art with science and use it as a touch point for viewing and solving challenges in a different way. I think a lot of times in business there’s a lack of creativity in the sense of approaching ideas from touchpoints of art or from a place of authenticity. The most successful and happy people I know blend their humanity and creativity together, and we need more of that. It’s really been a primarily male-dominated field (a boys club if I dare say) for a long time, but times are changing. There’s benefit from diversity and different cultural backgrounds, and a lot of people are coming to add that creativity and take an artistic view of how businesses are run. I feel grateful that I have such an awesome team and mentors that value my skills and my background. If I was surrounded by the ‘she’s just a young girl, this is how a business should run’ attitude, then the growth I’ve had until this point would have really been stunted.”
Zag Daily: What are your tips for young entrepreneurs seeking investment for their mobility startups?
Trisha: “Young founders can often doubt their ability and not realise how much potential they have. My number one suggestion is imagine if you had no fear of rejection. Channel how you would act in that way and act like that. Take that courageous leap, reach out to everybody, get talking, and listen to your feedback objectively – especially feedback on your revenue model. If you can figure out a great business model, then often that’s enough to convince a VC or investor to get on board and your charisma and courage will take you the rest of the way.
“I would also say bootstrap when starting a company rather than rushing for investment. I think I would have done this differently in hindsight. I’m very grateful for investment, but figuring out the revenue model that will make your business is key and trying to cut your costs initially will accentuate the process. Once you get traction with your business model, then it’s a good time to go to investors. And if you have that courage, then it won’t feel impossible to get what you need regardless of your age, whether that’s funding or partnerships.”
Zag Daily: Pointz works with many partners including Patagonia and Marathon Sports. How do these partnerships work?
Trisha: “Yes, we’re so grateful for our partners like Patagonia, Marathon Sports and a bunch of restaurants and local gems. A fundamental use case for Pointz is not just for areas you already know, but it’s a medium for finding and discovering what’s around you. We’re seeing a lot of young people using Pointz for this – they’re moving to the city and they want to make new connections but they’re not sure where to go.
“This is where all of our partners come in. We can create routes that go through all of these local spots for discovery as a way to highlight bike-friendly businesses. Patagonia for example has an amazing mission which is to spotlight folks who are trying to make pro-climate and car-light changes. We hold events for people who go into their store, give visitors a discount to our premium version Pointz Plus, and we help customers figure out what spots are near them for discovery by bike. Our partners are part of the all-in-one solutions for safe, fun and convenient biking.”
Zag Daily: Why do you think this all-in-one solution for biking is needed?
Trisha: “Safety is one of the biggest obstacles to get someone riding in cities. For so many of my friends in New York City for example, they know how to ride a bike but they don’t. Pointz shows us that Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are also some of the top cities where this is a problem. It’s that fear of having one accident or close call that makes people think riding a bike isn’t an option, or they know how to drive a route but they couldn’t possibly think to bike it. In order to make active transportation an actual lifestyle, it must be convenient and safe. All our paying customers say that, yes, they can use Google Maps to get to a destination, but with Pointz they’re presented with many alternative options to find the one that’s easiest for them. It’s the convenience of the safety that’s going to move the needle for our society to live a car-light lifestyle and attract people who might be uncomfortable but curious at first, to realise it’s not so unimaginable to bike from here to there.”
Zag Daily: Do you have plans to expand Pointz beyond the US?
Trisha: “Yes, I would love to expand to Europe as soon as we can this year. Being a typical American, I’ve learned that not everywhere in Europe is like Amsterdam. There is actually quite a need for safe bike navigation, even if Europe is many steps ahead of the US. The first markets we’d love to enter are the UK, Germany and Western Europe hopefully in the next three to six months so stay tuned.”
Zag Daily: Who is one woman in the sustainable transport industry that inspires you and why?
Trisha: “The number one person who inspires me in the industry is one of the most incredible VCs and the former director of Citi Bike, Laura Fox. Laura is currently the Managing Director of Streetlife Ventures. I met her recently in New York City for a coffee and it was a dream come true. I’m inspired by her humanity-based approach to investing, and recognizing each person as a whole person for all of their abilities, diversities and background which we need a lot more of. And she leads with kindness – something I haven’t seen a lot of. I remember walking down the street in New York City after my coffee with Laura, right before going to the Forbes 30 Under 30 celebration in Chelsea, texting my family ‘oh my god, I just met my idol, that was a dream come true.‘”
