#292 She built a flying boat in 10 months. VCs said it would take 5 | Sampriti Bhattacharyya (Navier)

In this episode of Climate Cowboys, host Silas Mahner sits down with Sampriti Bhattacharyya, founder and CEO of Navier, at their headquarters in Alameda, California. While traditional maritime manufacturing remains antiquated and reliant on brute force, Navier is taking a fundamentally different approach: building all-electric hydrofoiling vessels that literally "fly" above the water—reducing drag by 90% and slashing operational costs by 15x. Sampriti breaks down her journey from MIT roboticist to building a generational American maritime company, her vision for a "generalized marine vessel platform" (the Nvidia chip of the sea), and why she chose conviction over hype when VC investors doubted her timeline. ⚡ SUPPORT THE SHOW & JOIN THE MOVEMENT: Become a Paid Subscriber: Unlock exclusive deep dives, founder insights at Climate Cowboys Substack. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 – Intro & What is Navier? Building the Generalized Marine Vessel Platform 02:47 – Why maritime innovation stalled and how efficiency unlocks economies 07:54 – Computing, manufacturing, and robotics: Enabling hydrofoiling tech 11:45 – Sampriti’s origin story: High-energy physics to MIT underwater drones 16:54 – Go-To-Market Strategy: Gathering real-world data with recreational boaters 20:59 – The "Nvidia Chip" of the sea: Separating the base layer from the payload 27:07 – Overcoming VC skepticism and ignoring funding hype 35:03 – 3 Guiding Principles: Scale, Range, and Reliability 46:07 – The Video Game Analogy: Choosing to play on "level seven" 55:54 – Rebuilding American maritime and the frontier builder spirit 01:03:50 – Expanding the frontier with optimism over "hall monitor" energy 🤝 SPONSORS: Lehmann’s Terms: Master your message for high-stakes media, investor pitches, and stage appearances. Learn more at ltmediatraining.com. Climate Finance Solutions (CFS): Secured over $1.6B in grant funding with a 90%+ success rate. Discover grant opportunities at ClimateFinanceSolutions.com. Roosevelt Talent: Headhunting and talent acquisition for frontier and CleanTech startups at half the price. Find your next hire with Roosevelt Talent. 🔗 CONNECT & FOLLOW: Connect with Silas Mahner on LinkedIn Follow Climate Cowboys on LinkedIn This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit climatecowboys.substack.com/subscribe