Episode 102: Start-Up Best Practices for Fundraising and Growth with Kevin Noertker
Kevin Noertker
Kevin Noertker is the CEO and co-founder of Ampaire, a company that’s transforming the future of aviation through hybrid-electric propulsion. Kevin and his co-founder, Cory Combs, started Ampaire in 2016 with the vision of reducing aviation emissions by creating market-driven, hybrid-electric aircraft solutions. Before launching Ampaire, Kevin brought his engineering expertise to stealth aircraft, satellite development programs, and even NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. With a passion for applying big aerospace innovations to pressing environmental challenges, Kevin is at the forefront of aviation's push towards a more sustainable future.
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Most of those people were not really investing in the, you know, the fully electric future of aviation. They're more investing in the individuals. They're saying, like one of my best friends, in college, his father, even way back then, he said, Kevin, when you start your first company, I'll come in with a seed check. And so I called him on it and he was happy to provide, you know, I think it was a 50,000 check to help us.
Startup founders would agree that because of some of the external dynamics, whether those interest rates increasing or some volatility in the stock market or geopolitical challenges, or potential change over in leadership across whether it's state or national.
You’re listening to Prospecting on Purpose, where we discuss all things prospecting, sales, business, and mindset.
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Today we're joined by Kevin Noertker co-founder of Ampaire, a company that's transforming the future of aviation through hybrid electric propulsion. Kevin and his co-founder Cory Combs started Ampaire in 2016 with the vision of reducing aviation emissions by creating market-driven hybrid electric aircraft solutions.
Before launching Ampaire, Kevin brought his engineering experience to stealth aircraft, satellite development programs, and even NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. With a passion for applying big aerospace innovations to pressing environmental challenges, Kevin is at the forefront of aviation's push towards a more sustainable future.
Kevin, I'm so excited to talk about how you've built Ampaire up until this point. We have a lot to learn from you. Welcome to the show.
Thanks, Sara. I really appreciate being here.
Yeah, I'm excited, you know, just to kind of orient our audience a little bit. We're going to talk about building a business and a business with very ambitious goals. But before we get into some of the business back end, give us a little bit more background on Ampaire. What's the background? What are you guys doing? What's the ultimate goal?
Yeah. So, I mean, we founded Ampaire back in 2016 really with this vision of how does electrification, apply into aviation we've, we've seen that there's this drive towards sustainability and increased efficiency across all modes of transportation and this, Aviation is a very hard industry to solve some of these problems, and we saw the writing on the wall that just like electrification transformed ground transportation, we're going to see the same thing in air travel. So we founded the company on these audacious goals of everything that flies going fully electric someday.
And the big question is how do you actually get there, right? And that's what we've spent the last eight and a half years figuring out and ultimately implementing now as the world's leading company in hybrid electric propulsion that upgrades the existing fleet of airplanes that are already out there. As well as goes into those new built planes, the Jetson future that everybody dreams of.
So, as we've thought through the company, we've really made a few key strategic decisions as we went along. The first one was around really what is the product? We decided we'd start with propulsion. The energy efficiency of the airplanes rather than going to a brand new design of an airplane.
So the difference between a propulsion and airplane product sounds subtle, but it's quite important when you think about the hundreds of thousands of planes that are already flying and your ability to build systems that integrate into those existing vehicles. Second key strategic decision was when we said, though the future vision is absolutely toward all-electric, we really need a bridge technology for the foreseeable future and that bridge is and the form of hybrid electric propulsion. A lot like your Toyota Priuses were, you know, you watch the last few decades of ground transportation, hybrid electric propulsion enables you to kind of reduce the risks that you would otherwise have for adopting new technologies, whether that's going to remember your first electrified car, probably a lot of range anxiety, am I going to be able to get to where I want to go and come back Or charging infrastructure limitations or anxiety.
When I get there, is there going to be a place to plug in? How do I know I'm not going to run out of charge along, the way? Yeah. How do I integrate a charger into my home? There are these questions that over the last few decades have started to be resolved, especially in major city centers.
I'm based in Los Angeles. There are plenty of chargers around. You can upgrade your local home with infrastructure. So we take for granted that infrastructure is available, but the vast majority of the world, even still today on the ground needs those infrastructure-independent solutions. So at Ampaire, we decided again, propulsion, but hybrid electric propulsion is the way to get there, and so that's squarely where we're operating, and we see that as the gateway technology toward all the planes up from the, you know, 10 seaters all the way to the 100 plus seaters, applying this technology in meaningful ways, cutting the emissions out of aircraft, so reducing fuel burn better for the environment, great economics for the operators, and we hope it'll enable us to scale and do some really good, good for the world.
Well, I feel like that's as a just a regular person who, you know, is learning my terminology hybrid electric propulsion. One of the things I think the average person understands is that the biggest, you know, daint to your own personal carbon footprint is flying commercial airlines. Like, we know that it's a polluter. But I also don't think it's going away. So I think it's very compelling that you found a problem and I like this is why I wanted to chat business with you, Kevin, because you immediately honed in on, okay, the strategy for building the businesses, identifying the product and what's the appropriate market fit and then also what's the foundational steps to get there and I think the analogy of, you know, the hybrid electric and electric vehicles on the ground makes a lot of sense for the average person.
Oh, I was going to say, it certainly helps, you know, sometimes advanced technologies are, challenging for people to wrap their heads around, but the reality is that the principle behind it is relatively simple, straightforward, and easy to understand and so I think, you know, as a building a company, it's important to find those analogies that help people become familiar with what you're working on and that familiarity builds comfort and that comfort builds accessibility and hopefully support.
Yeah, because you guys aren't just cracking some little nut. You're cracking this giant thing and so that's why I was excited to talk to you today because, you know, I think about my business and its sales training. It's consulting. It's like a one-woman show at this point. And then it's you guys have to run out and raise so much capital. You have to find clients that are monsters in the space and get in the door with some really heavy hitters. I'm just so interested to hear about how did you start from the fundraising side like, what was your initial plan to get money?
Yeah. I'll say the fundraising is one of the more challenging things for any company, especially, I mean, the earliest stage of startup companies, this is often what differentiates the ones that succeed from the ones that ultimately don't. And until you are a financially stable cash-flowing business, if you're relying upon venture capital or other forms of investment, it is an at-risk position, and quite challenging. But for many companies, Ampaire included, it is a necessity. You have to go and capitalize, especially the earlier stage of research and development, product development, entry into service, production, scale-up.
This requires investor dollars, in many cases. So we began as many startup companies do with your friends and family around. Of course, the founders putting in money out of our own pockets to really get off the ground and then going to everybody we knew. Most of those people were not really investing in the, you know, fully electric future of aviation. They're more investing in the individuals. They're saying like one of my best friends in college, his father even way back then it said Kevin when you start your first company I'll come in with a seed check and so I called him on it and he was happy to provide You know, I think it was a $50,000 check to help us continue.
Now we were blessed to have a network of supporters who were willing to bet on us before there was anything really material other than ourselves and that is how we got off the ground with just the first kind of formative stages of ideation and figuring starting to test product market fit and then we progressed over the years into more traditional venture capital and larger angel investor, Individuals type investments and even talking with, you know, larger strategic companies. So people or companies whose success in the industry could be improved or enhanced by our success. So with the strategic alignment, justifying strategic investments to date. We have brought in about 55 million dollars worth of capital About half of that has been from investors. So about 30 million from investors about 25 million from government contracts and grants that help us progress and accelerate our research and development efforts. So it's definitely been a heavy lift and it's not it's not done yet.
I'm hopeful in just a few years though we're going to be an You know, cash-flowing and profitable business and, won't have to be on the same kind of venture capital, fundraising train.
Well, so, there were a lot of important takeaways from that. I think the first is - The bill, the path is long and it doesn't happen overnight, especially when you're building something important, and valuable.
I also liked the story about, people betting on the founders because that's a big part of the business. Like the person who's leading it and who's the visionary and who's taking the action, like you, they have to be a, I don't want to say heavy hitter, but they have to be someone who has enough confidence in themselves to do it and I think it's so cool that you and Cody were able to do that. One of the things that I also found was interesting is that you held that person accountable. I think that's one thing that people feel nervous about. And it's like if somebody is offering to help, you take their help.
Yeah. I think that it is not about asking for favors. It is about finding, finding those people who are genuinely interested in partnering with you and taking them up on the offer. Because in fact, in many of these cases, you are helping them like you are giving them something to believe in.
Many people never were so audacious as to go and start their own company and maybe, just maybe they're interested in living vicariously through your trials and challenges and successes and, this gives them something to be proud of. So it is when you think about it as walking hand in hand with each of these other people, whatever they might be offering, then all of a sudden it becomes much more accessible to have those conversations and you're not pushing anything on anybody. It's truly about being supportive and collaborative and working well with others.
I think that's such an important point. Everyone has value to give whether you recognize it or not at the time. And I love the fact that sure, you're asking for money, but in exchange, this is so much, you know, there's a lot more, there's other forms of currency besides money and I think that gets lost in the business mix sometimes.
I think sometimes it does.
Talk to us a little bit about, like, I think this is a nice segue into talking about mentoring too because obviously, I'm guessing you've never done a lot of these things. You're doing things for the first time. So how are you being resourceful in figuring it out, solving problems, and finding mentors? Where do you go to when you need help?
So, you're absolutely right. This is my first company and though I'm eight and a half years in I'm still learning new things every single day I think it all begins with the humility to recognize that you don't know everything upfront. The confidence to recognize that you can and have to move forward in spite of not knowing everything You still have to make decisions and progress in the context of imperfect information and to bring people along with you that have expertise or experience or just who can lend a helping hand in a hard moment. What I've realized is there's no pure hierarchy of mentors or mentees or experience, everyone has a different life experience. Everyone's shape of that experience looks different and so I can call upon people who actually have even less experience than me in some areas, but have a very precise understanding of something that I don't yet understand. So it's not really an absolute measure. It’s one of the first real is it is always relative in specific areas.
So, for example, last week, I was up in the San Francisco Bay Area, mentoring some startups around mergers and acquisitions and exit strategies, talking about how I think about that, how I help organizations or how the companies we've acquired. We've tried to make that successful and the kinds of principles that I've used for that or similarly, when I've got a challenge around how do I strategically think about this issue that I'm going to be addressing, I'll call up somebody in my network who may have some ideas on it. I've also realized that it's not just about the individual that you know. You don't have to know, you know, the CEO of some big company in order to get support.
You can actually just talk to the person who you think might be closest to the answer. And then, I love the question of, given what I'm thinking through, who do you think I should be talking to? Because this enables people to open up their network, open up if they want to help, but might not have the direct answer.
Enables them to say, Hey, you know, Sara over there has a lot of context in this. Let me make an introduction to her because maybe she'll be able to help. And if you think about this, this expands that network of support and is a great way to find your way toward mentors. The last piece that I always keep in mind is that it's as much about giving back to these networks as it is receiving from them, and so I spend a bit of my time mentoring, and supporting, whether it's backing the Tech Stars accelerator for about six now I've been mentoring companies and tech stars, Los Angeles, clean tech incubator, elemental accelerator, and so many others great groups of people.
It is not just about what you receive from networks, it is truly about what are you providing into them. How are you supporting your peers or newer companies or other entrepreneurs and that's how I think, ultimately build the strongest support group and both benefit and contribute the most.
Yeah. Well, I love that you talked about, like, humility in your leadership and what you're building, but then the confidence to just keep moving through, even if you don't, even if you don't know where you're at right then. And then I also really liked, tell us your question one more time, Kevin Given what I'm thinking through.
Who do you think I should be talking to? Or who do you know who would love to hear about what we're working on?
That's a good one.
Right? it's the simply stated fact of what you're looking for, right? You're looking for people who might have experience. Who do you know who's gone through something like this before?
It is the honest question, and it's probably the easiest request. People love making introductions between people that they like and respect. And so, giving people the opportunity to do so is, you know, it's a gift for everybody, and hopefully it helps everyone involved, too.
Yeah, I think that's one of the most underutilized tools that people have in their toolbox is the ability to expand their network. So I really appreciated you sharing that, and one of the things that you also talked about is, you're talking about product service, fundraising, building a team, hiring, you know, you're wearing a lot of different hats as a founder, what is that? I'd be interested. What's the most challenging hat for you to wear?
Yeah. Oh, I mean, the most challenging part of this, is just the sheer volume of things that you have to manage simultaneously. I firmly believe that individuals and teams are most productive when they're focused, when they've got one audacious thing that they're working on and they are able to commit themselves fully and in a focused way to achieving it.
The startup founder experience is not so fortunate to be able to focus like that. Oftentimes you're pulled in many, many directions, and many of those which you can't write off or ignore. So, you end up replying to emails or talking to your customers. Obviously, that's incredibly important, or potential strategic partners or looking at those people who you might not have a direct need to engage with today, but you know, it'll take years of relationship building to get there so you spent time. Of course, managing the team and as one of the founders, it's critical, your role in the dynamic of the team, the culture of the organization, the ethos of why you are where you're at in addition to capital raising and all the other things that are required. So it's balancing all of those things and and knowing what to really what to say yes to and what to say no to those are some of the most challenging aspects and ultimately just requires that you have very clearly understood principles for what are you trying to achieve and what are the key actions that will help you achieve those top three objectives and that helps you find clarity and focus along with it.
Second is capital raising, especially in these last few years. I think most, startup founders would agree that because of some of the external dynamics, whether those interest rates increasing or some volatility in the stock market or geopolitical challenges or potential changeover in leadership across whether it's state or national politics. There are some dynamics that make it more challenging to raise capital as a startup company where people may allocate their investable dollars into lower risk or higher, you know, higher interest rate accounts, for example.
So, this then puts pressure on those aspects and it's not necessarily directly in your control, but it's something that causes a greater challenge when looking at your kind of capital formation for the company.
So what would you recommend, like, if people are listening, how do you juggle all the balls? Like, how do you, I appreciated having clear principles, a clearly defined objectives. Any other tips you can share on how to kind of stay sane during times of overwhelm?
Yeah, I like to structure my time, so I kind of live by my calendar. If it's on my calendar, I'll do it. If it's not on my calendar, I will likely forget. And so I think that this is a tool which I use to trigger good habits and so like for any habit there's a cue like that causes you to think about taking some sort of an action that cue for me oftentimes is a block in my calendar to say oh you're right, past me told future me that I needed to be focused on these things and so now I've got a 90-minute block To focus on this specific thing, nobody could have scheduled in on that part of my calendar. I'm able to then, I've cleared out time and that intentionality is one way to get through the otherwise clutter of what might turn into a day that is more haphazardly structured.
I've also heard from many people that works well if you structure tracks within your days or have each day specifically focused on one of your big goals, maybe there's a fundraiser like Monday, Wednesday, or fundraising days, and Tuesday is your team focused day and then the other days or where you handle customers or ad hoc.
I've never achieved that kind of focused structure, but I've heard that some people have, and it sounds pretty glorious, honestly.
People have shared that with me too. It's like just set aside a whole day to do content and it's like, no, that doesn't work that way. I mean, for me at least. But, but I do like the idea of having a more organizational approach and, you know, a past you looking out after the future you. Let me ask you, when you are in your deep focus work, do you like to turn off your notifications or can people reach you if they need you?
I generally, I mean, I don't know if I'm turned off the notifications, but I don't see them when they pop up. So when I get into the flow of things, it's pretty wild, like I will, especially if it's like an evening, I put my head down working on something and go hours without looking up, without seeing the text about, you know, dinner being ready or something like that.
It's, you know, it's a skill. It's also a concern when you can lose track of time, and it's phenomenally productive and if you were able to provide that level of isolation, I would say I don't wear my Apple watch anymore. I have my phone is perpetually muted and many of the times with notifications off because there are so many things that are here to pull your attention away.
It's I think more productive and sometimes they even do schedule it in. Check email or like, or build in a little refresh break. And that's when I'll go in and do those things. But otherwise, it's impossible to focus with the amount of noise and notifications that are coming in on a, you know, moment-by-moment basis.
Well, I think it's honestly, it's kind of nice to hear you say that because, it's like a nice little reality check too, you know, no matter what you do for work. The noise is here, you know, and it's not going away. So like, I appreciate you find, you know, sharing some tools with us that work for you.
I also really loved the networking component that you mentioned. I think that that's probably one of the reasons why Ampaire is where it is, because you have the ability to like, pull from these different resources and really do it. You seem so calm to me all the time, Kevin. Like you just are like a duck on the water and everything's rolling off your back, but the little feet are peddling. Like how do you do anything to like stay calm and sane?
Yeah. Absolutely. So I found that meditation is super important. I've also got into, you know, like stoic-type quotes about acknowledging the things and focusing on the things that are within our control and understanding what's not within our control.
I definitely, I think, mindfulness techniques and empathy for yourself is an important one because you'll never be living up to, your own goals and oftentimes there will be others who also expect more and you have to understand how to be collected and thoughtful regardless of the, the challenges and volatility.
The second piece is as you're building a company, you will have a team of people who look up to you, look up to your energy levels, your dynamic, and, we'll either intentionally or not set their own dynamic based on yours. And so with the obvious volatility that comes with the challenges of building a company, you need to figure out how to ride through that more steadily than just catching the enthusiasm or the troughs, and this, I find myself being a pretty steady ship for the organization, almost to the extent that my team has to remind me to celebrate when some of the big things happen to take a moment and, and have, have those joys along with it. Because again, I think, You know, the, the captain of a ship needs to be phenomenally steady-headed, along the way.
And I appreciate you talking about mindfulness and giving yourself some grace. Because every good leader talks about it and then I feel like people don't prioritize the time to implement. And then they're wondering why they're all over the place. It's like, well, people are telling you how to handle this.
Like it's the information's out there. So I appreciate you echoing that and I think you have so much to celebrate. I've been following your company probably since 2016, and it's been so great to see how much you've grown. Where can people find you? If they wanna learn more about Ampaire.
you should definitely look online Googling Ampaire Hybrid Electric, or going to ampaire.com. You will find a lot of great information, videos, and amazing aerial footage of our hybrid electric planes flying. We also fly our planes around, so maybe we'll be landing at an airport near you. And so, follow us on social media, you'll hear more about those types of opportunities as they come out.
Awesome. And I'll link it all in the show notes. And one day when we're all flying electric planes, we're going to have Kevin and his team to thank. So thank you for doing your part to help our planet. We appreciate it. And thank you so much for lending your expertise to the Prospecting on Purpose audience.
Thank you, Sara.
Connect with Ampaire
Website: https://www.ampaire.com
Connect With Kevin
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinnoertker/
Twitter: https://x.com/kevinnoertker?lang=en
Connect with Sara
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/
