It's clear from the beginning that something is different about this couch. It's a beaten-up gray and has the word "Boosted" written across the back in blocky orange letters—as in Boosted Boards, America's favorite purveyor of electric-powered skateboards. Oh, and instead of feet, the couch has two Boosted longboards supporting it.

The biggest hint that this is no ordinary couch, though, is the guy sitting on the rightmost cushion holding two pistol-shaped remote controls and wearing a big grin. This is John Ulmen, Boosted's cofounder and CTO. "Scoot all the way over," he says to me, "to balance the weight." He's about to start the couch, and he doesn't want me to go flying off.

The couch is outside Boosted's office in Mountain View, California, in the parking lot. Some cars, a basketball hoop, and a skate ramp serve double duty as a makeshift obstacle course. Fingers on triggers like an old-timey cowboy, Ulman squeezes both remote controls and the couch starts moving. He guides us easily around corners and over bumps—this ain't his first couch ride—before suddenly flicking one lever backward and one forward, sending the couch spinning like a top. Ulmen looks over at me and laughs, his shaggy hair whipping in the wind. Then he slows it down and hands me the remotes. My turn to drive. "It's really easy," he says. "We take it out on the street sometimes."

Inside Boosted's large warehouse of an office, Ulmen and his team have Boosted just about everything. The couch, a surfboard, a toboggan, basically anything with a place to sit or stand and room for wheels and a motor. The only thing the company sells, at least for now, is a longboard—essentially a super-sized skateboard with subtle tweaks that make riding easier and more comfortable than the classic style. In four years on the market, the bright orange wheels and black decks of Boosted boards have become staples on the streets of San Francisco, New York, and other cities where nerds don't like their Rockports to touch concrete.