Startup Series: Flux Marine

Today's guest is Ben Sorkin, the Founder and CEO of Flux Marine, a company that offers 100% electric outboard motors. Flux Marine is seeking to accelerate the electrification of the marine industry. We have a great discussion in this episode about the origin story of the company, Flux Marine's product and offering, and their decision to offer the motors as a standalone versus building the boat end to end. We also talk about their go to market strategy and approach, Ben's thoughts on electrification in general and where consumer sentiment fits in, where quality fits in, where cost fits in, where scalability fits in, and of course, where sustainability fits in. We talk about the best ways to finance a company like this and the decisions that Flux Marine has made to date, including their recent $15 million equity round. And we also talk about their key goals for the company, how they stage those goals, what stage they're in now, what's coming next, and their long vision. We also talk about how the ecosystem will play out in general and what the role is of the big incumbents, what the role is of the upstarts, what the role is of the a la carte providers like the motors and what the role is of more of the Tesla or the apple approach end to end. It's an episode that will really make you think, and hopefully you'll learn something as well. And if you're a boater, you'll probably also be eager to get your hands on one of their products when they ship sometime soon. Enjoy the show! You can find me on twitter at @jjacobs22, @mcjpod, and @mcjcollective, and via email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests. Episode recorded May 4, 2022