–Life as a Boating Focussed Ecopreneur–
As many of us race towards adopting new modes of thought concerning environmentally based habits and routines, we are also being presented with more and more choices in the form of products and services from similarly minded businesses.
Such new options more times than not still allow for the preservation of our overall lifestyle, albeit in ways that are more ecologically friendly and responsible.
All of this reflects this ideology that for the sake of creating a sustainably minded future, we need to re-think our current ways of life and living.
Are you in need a clarification? How about an example to drive these thoughts home?
Well, you are in luck. I have a guest who has designed from scratch, an entirely new and climate tech friendly product to replace and majorly improve upon an existing mode of transportation and leisure many of us have experiences with.
Introducing
Tom Ward is a boating focussed ecopreneur and the cofounder and CEO of Epoch Boats, a climate tech company that is building a new generation of recreational boats. These vessels I might add, are not equipped with your standard hull and outboard gas guzzling features you may be familiar with.
Tom and the Epoch team are developing battery electric hydrofoil boats with bidirectional charging capability in an effort to convert boating from being an outsized source of pollution to a net positive for the environment.
Background & Accomplishment
As a lifelong boater, the need for conservation and sustainability has always resonated with Tom.
Before all of this however, Tom had work experiences in the R&D department of a medical device company as well as within OEM electronics industry developing products for companies like Coca-Cola before landing a new product development role with a major marine equipment manufacturer in 2015.
His industry experience included roles ranging from Sr. Director of Engineering to GM. He has built teams from zero and led organizations with more than 100 team members. Tom and his teams have designed, developed, patented, and commercialized multiple products taking them from the whiteboard to scaled production.
The results of said activities represented the realization of several hundred million dollars in new revenue for the firms he’s worked for.
A Chance to Make a Difference
Returning to the present and acknowledging his several years in the marine industry, Tom fully grasped the environmental impact of boating and saw huge opportunity to flip the script. His passion for boating combined with a mission to positively impact our climate lead to the launch of Epoch boats.
Reasons to Listen
In this highly informative talk Tom shares his views on what being a boating focussed ecopreneur means to him and how he and his business fit into it all.
We also hear about Tom’s own company and what makes his market offering so utterly unique and promising from both a practical and environmental perspective.
Based on Tom’s years and experience bringing new products to market, he takes us behind the curtain of how this is done conceptually speaking. He also shares his own unique journey from transitioning from the corporate world to the world of entrepreneurship and all that entailed including insights and stories along the way.
Listeners will also hear about the current state of the marine industry from a circular economy perspective and why it’s not only imperative for it all to shift green but why it makes complete financial sense to do so.
Finally, Tom so kindly shares some fact based assumptions and predictions about where the marine and automotive industries are headed in the not so distant future.
Listen in for all this and more!
A Memorable Quote from the Episode:
“There are scientists and companies that as speak are doing amazing things with lithium batteries and recycling. With current technology we can get about 95% of the active minerals and metals out of those batteries and put them into new batteries.“
-Tom Ward
Check out the Video Conversation:
For those who desire to view the full video conversation of this discussion on being a boating focussed ecopreneur, you can do so via Youtube.
Words of Wisdom:
Hear from Tom as he shares advice to those looking to get into the world of entrepreneurship from an eco-minded perspective.
Discover More
For those interested in learning more about Tom and his work, you can find out more about his company at Epoch Boats. You can also follow him here:
Keep Listening!
I hope you enjoyed the episode. For more, check out additional episodes here!
