💰 Navier: Making Flying Electric Boats

🍀 Navier: America's First Fully Electric Hydro Foiling Boat

In today’s edition, we’re gonna talk about an Indian founder who started a company that manufactures Electric Hydrofoil boats.

Navier 30 is America's first fully electric hydrofoil boat

Navier is a San Francisco-based company that manufactures electric hydrofoil boats. The company was founded in 2020 by two MIT alumni.

Reo Baird and SampritI Bhattacharya

Navier's goal is to build a new type of watercraft that reduces running costs by 90%.

It takes off like a normal boat but at around 16 knots it starts taking flight. This electric boat is 30 feet long and can float above the water.

This makes it move more easily because it doesn't have to push through waves.

It's also way more efficient than regular boats that run on gas—about ten times better, actually.

The founder of Navier imagines a freeway on the water, splitting swaths of people on roads and boats.

Sampriti Bhattacharyya, founder of Navier has a cool backstory.

She was born in Kolkata, India.

She actually failed physics in college and did not go to the top engineering schools in India.

Fed up with her situation, She decided to cold email 540 organizations that had an internship listed online.

She got 4 responses and she was recruited by Fermilab in Chicago as a research assistant.

After Fermilab, She went on to intern at NASA, Master’s at Ohio State, and Ph.D. at MIT.

After 13 years of grinding, She moved to the Bay Area, raised $12 million, and started designing the first electric hydrofoil boat.

The paint point they are solving is that people tend to avoid boats due to sea sickness but with Navier’s boat, you don’t feel the waves as you are above the waves.

Sampriti wants to convert waterways into freeways to increase mobility and reduce traffic from one channel of movement.

Grimes and Sampriti on a Navier test ride

The Pratfall Effect 🧵

Think about Jennifer Lawrence tripping on her way to accept her Oscar in 2013. Did people ridicule her? Nope. They loved her even more!

She went from being an untouchable Hollywood star to "Hey, she's just like us—can't walk in heels!" Her relatability skyrocketed because of that minor hiccup on what was otherwise a flawless evening.

This is called the Pratfall Effect.

In particular, highly competent individuals tend to become more likable after committing mistakes, while average-seeming individuals tend to become less likable even if they commit the same mistake.

Here are a few common examples that might come to mind:

1. Public Speaking: A speaker might stumble over a word or spill water, which could make them seem more human and relatable to the audience.

2. Job Interviews: A candidate who admits to a small mistake but explains how they learned from it may be seen as more appealing.

3. Advertisements: Brands showing light-hearted mistakes in ads can evoke empathy and relatability among viewers.

How does this apply in business?

• Having too many perfect reviews can backfire

• Admitting your flaws can work in your favor

• Being “Perfect” isn’t always a good thing

Useful Links:

• Operating Manuals: by Colin Keeley (Link)

• Beckham Tax Law in Spain (Link)

• Handwrite anything by AI (Link)

• Paraphrase anything with AI (Link)

• Dub your voice to any Celebrity (Link)

• Dub your voice and lips to any other language (Link)

• Merge your face with anyone with a single image (Link)

Memes 😂😂😂

What if UFOs are just billionaires from other planets?

— Douglas A. Boneparth (@dougboneparth)
Oct 21, 2023