Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
iHeartMedia Presents CEOs you should know. Welcome to CEOs you
should know. Today's guest Matt Moore, founder and CEO of
Volar Boats. Welcome Matt, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Mike.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I understand you're feeling a little bit under the weather today.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Yeah, just a little bit. But my co founder, Dustin Tupper,
sitting right here, so if he has to jump in,
we'll be all right.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
So we have emergency back on us.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Right.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Well, I appreciate you even though you're under the weather
joining us today. So tell us a little bit about
Volar boats. They're one hundred percent electric, right.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yes, sir. So, we Dustin and I worked for Scout
Boats for almost ten years each. About three years ago
we started Valar and we knew that we want to
do something a little bit different. If you if you
go down Highway seventy eight in Summerville, there's you know,
five or six boat companies on the same street within
(00:54):
you know, ten mile radius. We wanted to make sure
you know that we we stood out in some fashion. Right,
all those companies are great, but you know, we didn't
really want to get into the weeds of the same thing.
So we we landed on electric propulsion pretty quickly and
it kind of just went from there.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Now, what are some of the unique challenges that you
faced powering a boat with electric propulsion.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yes, that's actually super interesting question. We took a bit
of a different approach from a few other electric boat
companies in the world. But we, you know, Dustin and
I grew up here. We're local to Charleston where boaters.
I grew up racing sailboats, power boating around. Dustin you know,
same thing. And you know, we we worked in the
(01:42):
industry for forever and it was our domain knowledge. So
it's what we do best. And we can make a boat.
We can build fiberglass and composits and shape. We didn't
know a ton about how to build an electric drive system.
So we went out and we founded another co founder
and business partner who who does and so he helped us.
(02:06):
Brian Robinson is his name, and so that kind of
makes up the three co founders of the company, myself, Brian,
and Dustin, and you know, Brian brings a lot of
that electrical knowledge to it. So that's that's kind of
a long, long answer for a short question.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
I guess, Yeah, Well, is the now is the structure
of the boat to hole anything like that? Does that
have to be different under electric propulsion to accommodate batteries
or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
It does. So, you know, the first question that we
always get, and it was the first question that we
brought up, was range. So how far can it go? Right?
It's it's always the first question. We get to answer
that question. Really fast, it'll go thirty thirty three miles
at eighteen miles an hour, and then obviously if you
go slower than that, you can go further. If you
go faster than that, it'll go le's But that's with
(02:54):
our smallest battery pack sixty kilo a lot. So that's
just a little sidebar. But when we build the boat
we have to be very conscious of range. So in
that same regard, we had Dustin and I great boat builders.
Brian brings the electrical knowledge. But then we said, all,
how can we make this the most efficient hall possible?
So we knew we had to build out a full
(03:15):
carbon fiber. So the boat is one hundred percent carbon fiber,
reduces the weight by three times as much. Sorry, I'm
looking over at Dustin for verification. He's a smart one
of the group, but we h so full carbon fiber boat.
It's very very light, it's about thirty five hundred pounds,
(03:36):
and we added a hydrofoil in between the hulls, so
the boat it's a semi it's called a semifoil. So
what it does is it lifts the boat out of
the water a little bit, gets almost all the boat
out of the water, just rides on like an airplane wing.
And that's what gives us that range.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Well, that's pretty interesting. What are the advantages of an
electric boat over you know, a gas power.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
That's so there's the there's a ton here. This is
this is something that you really have to ride on
the boat to understand it. But the first thing everyone
notices and this is actually something we didn't design for,
which was pretty interesting. We made that. We made that
hydrofoil for a range and efficiency. We wanted to make
sure that we could go as far as we needed
(04:18):
to go. But what that does is when it comes
up on a hydrofoil, it acts like an air ride suspension,
so you have it's a smooth I mean, Dustin and
I have been boaters our entire lives. Worked for a
road company. It's the smoothest riding boat you've ever been on,
so that's a huge, huge advantage. It's great for you know,
put your family on, my daughter who's three, riding around
(04:41):
on a run around doing whatever she wanted to do,
and pretty rough harbor the other day. But where we're
really shine. The biggest advantage is going to be the
torque aspect of it. So obviously, like you know with
a car, if you hit the gas pedal, it goes
really really fast right out of the gate. Same thing
with our boat, but at low end steering. We have
(05:02):
joystick ability, so you can switch from a standard wheel
on a boat with throttles, you can switch it over
to the joystick. And because you have that immediate response
of the torque, you can move the boat within you know,
a very very small range of precision. So it's a
very We called it an approachable boat. It's for anybody.
(05:24):
If you're not you know, as you know, if you're
not into boating as much, but you want to get
into boating, this is a great boat for you. It's
easy to dock, it's easy to take to the standbar,
it's accommodating for everybody.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
How about portability. Is it easy to trailer?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Very very easy to trailer. We pulled it everywhere. We're
taking it down to Florida, we're in Virginia. It's it's
it's quite easy. The batteries are the heaviest thing in
the boat, but everything else is wildly light.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Now, what about charging? Do you need any kind of
special charging station or charging equipment to keep it charged
up or can you do that on your house hold power?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
So this is one this is the one area that
ev Marine has over automotive. It's it's probably the only
thing that they are actually more advanced than is charging.
And that's because the infrastructure is already at most marina.
So if you go down to Safe Harbor or really
any marine in Charleston Patriots Point, they're going to have
(06:22):
shore power dock pedestal. So on that shore power dock pedestal,
they'll have a fifty AM two hundred and forty volt
plug and they all we all we have to do
is plug right into that. So we already have the
charging infrastructure for what we need built in. And that
was just kind of a nice little perk. But you
(06:43):
can also we're charging at my house right now, charging
on my wife's electric car charger.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Oh that's cool. And you know, and how did the
industry receive you was were they helpful? Were they welcoming
or you know where they're like, oh, here comes a
major competitor, we'd better be worried about this. Or were
they you know, were they were they welcoming?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, and as a whole, I would say they've been
incredibly welcoming. You know again, Dustin Dustin, and I especially Dustin,
he's had he was the director of engineering its gout,
so he's got you know, contacts, you know, within the industry,
and he's done a really good job of bringing all
of them in into it. They've everyone's been super super supportive,
(07:26):
even you know, our family from Scout, you know, we
were very appreciative of them. But it's a different market, so,
you know, it's it's not going to com it's not
in the same competitive market as the boats around here.
We've got a bit of a different market.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Approach, sure, And you know, let's shift gears a little
bit and talk about you personally, because it is called CEOs,
you should know. So we try to get, you know,
to know each CEO a little bit better personally. So
you know, tell us about what the philosoph if he
is that that drives you each day.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, so I I would say for myself, and I apologize.
I know this is CEOs you should know, but it's
it's really about you know, Dustin and I did this together.
So I'm going to kind of talk about both of
us here, but we we compliment each other very very well.
You know, I maybe a bit more of a risk taker,
(08:24):
a bit more of a dreamer, and you know, Dustin
is very organized and make sure that the ship keeps
keeps running every day. But you know what drives me
is you know that this is what I grew up doing, right.
I grew up boating. I grew up my every every
day in the summer, you know, I either it was
teaching sailing or I was out on the water. And
we found something that we were good at. Right, we
(08:48):
found our domain knowledge and we wanted to give it
a shot, and we wanted to we wanted to grow
something into you know better, you know better what we perceive,
you know, in the voting environment of you know, a
better option for more people.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Well, since Dustin is the co founder, Dustin Tupper, and
you've referred to him. I feel kind of funny just
letting Dustin sit there in the background. Yeah, so let's
invite Dustin into the conversation. Well, thank you, guys. I
appreciate it absolutely, Dustin. So, you know, give us your background.
You also worked at Scout Boats? Were you also in
(09:27):
the UH in the yacht division?
Speaker 3 (09:30):
So I was director of engineering for Scout, Like Matt said,
almost ten years there. Most of our time overlapped, so
we UH kind of help guide Scout as it grew
drastically during our time there. Sometimes on opposite ends of
the UH of the spectrum, production and engineering don't always
(09:50):
get along, so we learned to work together and make
Scout what we think is a better place and strengthen
our friendship through that as well.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Well. Matt had when he introduced you said that you
were the second best looking founder of the company. So
do you agree with that sentiment.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
I'll let them have it, you know, that's all Beaud's
the eye of the boulder.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
That's right. So, you know, it's just very interesting when
you're dealing with a startup. I mean there's so many
unique challenges from you know, getting the initial idea off
the ground to protecting your your design and your intellectual
property to getting funding. What did you find was the
(10:38):
most difficult thing that you had to achieve out of
you know, any of those steps, and I'm skipping a
bunch of steps, but you know, what did you think
was the most difficult obstacle to overcome?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
I don't, I don't know if it's one particular obstacle.
I agree with Matt that we have a good yin
and yang to some extent of risk taker idea, you know,
driver and cautious, patient, organized approach. But even for me,
I think the biggest obstacle is that patience with each step.
(11:14):
When it's your own idea in your own company, you
even need dream big and think it's all going to
work out perfectly, and just trying to keep that patience
through each step of the development, the design, the debut
we recently kind of debuted on social media less than
a month ago, and the sales portion, so every step
along the way has been exercising in patience and fortitude
(11:38):
to make sure we keep pushing it along. That's why
it's good that we're have each other to keep pushing
it and break through those times.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
And yeah, and if you ever had to like prop
each other up. Was there any time where one of
you or you know, and you said there was three
of you where one of you or maybe all of
you were like, you know what, we're throwing the hat in.
I am sick of this something not putting up with
this anymore? Uh? You know? Or did you always have
(12:06):
that motivation that you were going to make this work
no matter what.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I'm seven here and take this one. I'm pretty excited
about this answer. Uh. But we my wife and I
let me back up really quick. My wife and I
have this tactic we use, you know, when with our
daughter and when we come home every day, it's like
kind of what percentage do you have it? It's not
always fifty to fifty it it can't be so like
(12:31):
if I'm having a bad day, I walk out till Brittany,
and Brittany got ten percent today, she'd be all right,
I got you for the ninety. And so we kind
of take that same approach of you know, everybody doesn't
have it every day, but the other one, the other
one's gonna take up the slack. We're gonna we're gonna
figure out how we can get to you know, seventy
five percent every day. That's what we got to do,
(12:51):
you know, more than half.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yeah, I agree, we as never one person picking the
other up. I would say none of us are have
ever said we're ready to quit, so we haven't hit
have that roadblock. But as always with an issue, whether
it's design, a business relationship, a sales contract, some frustration
that the other two help pick each other, pick the
(13:13):
other one up, and drive through it. So it's been
a very good relationship in that regard.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Well, you know, I like that philosophy of you can't
be one hundred percent every day and somebody's got to
pick up the slack. And I like the philosophy of
just coming right out with it and saying, you know what,
I'm not anywhere near one hundred percent today? Can you
pick that up for me? And that's a great way
to approach things and to stay efficient and effective. What
(13:43):
kind of advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs who are,
you know, not necessarily in the boat business, but looking
to start any kind of business or get a startup
off the ground where they have a unique idea or
a passion that they want to pursue.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
I think, I think The first step is believing in
your dream and yourself the most. You have to do
that because that's what's going to get you through those
tough times. So believing in yourself on hum percent self confidence,
and then learning that patience really just that patience to
(14:24):
let some things come to you, but drive on others
and keep pushing through them.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Now, what about resources? You know, where did you find
Because certainly, and especially when it comes to entrepreneurship or
anybody really running a business, you can't wear all hats effectively,
and there's going to be some you know, there's the
old saying, you don't know what, you don't know. Where
(14:50):
did you guys go to? Did you have any kind
of mentorship or what was your greatest resource? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
For sure. You know I would say a our greatest
resources with each other, you know, Me, Dustin and Brian,
the three of us. But we you know where we
learned it from, right, I think was first and foremost,
especially for Dustin and I, you know, from our from
our families growing up. You know, my dad and his
dad both you know, kind of drove drove, you know,
(15:19):
drove their own destinies and that's kind of been ingrained
in us for our entire lives, so that that's where
it really started. And then you know, we continue that
growth through Scout and wildly appreciative for for everything they've
done for us and been supportive of us. And we've
had little advice you know here and there. But you
brought up a point a second ago where it's like,
you know, you can't know everything, and we've approached that
(15:42):
at this you know, with this company, and we've done
that through this idea of a bar stool, right, and
a bar stool has three legs, four legs, five bucks,
however many it is. Right. We know, we bring the
boat building composites, you know, how to make it look good,
et cetera. Right, we've got Morellian Melvin who made the
(16:06):
foil system for us. We've got two different great drive
companies who build our motors. If you pull any of
those legs out, the barstool falls over. Right. So we
don't think we have to know everything. We just have
to know how to put it all together correctly.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Well, and that's a great point. I mean, you have
to be a good administrator, right.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, for sure, you know. With that being said, Dustin
and I we share a desk. So we also believe that,
you know, it doesn't get done unless you're out there,
you know, hands on. And we learned that at Scout.
You know, Steve preached us to us all the time,
be out on the floor building the boat. So these
first two boats we've made, you know, Dustin and I
have made with our own hands and with a lot
(16:45):
of help from some good people. But you know, super
super hands on is a good philosophy for us.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Now, you had mentioned that both of your fathers were
self driven, Matt, what did your father do?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
So my dad from here, he started a rubber and
plastics recycling company called Easy Gardener or excuse me, he
bought Easy Gardener and created Phoenix recycled products. They would
make like tree rings. I don't know if you ever
seen him in lows, they like go around the bottom
of a tree and a rubber Matt, so like he
(17:19):
owned the patent on that. And then I won't speak
for Dustin.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
But so my family from a big family up in Somerville,
all construction contractors, commercial residential, so you know, smaller, smaller business,
not necessarily meeting your large size, but running your own
business construction that hands on approach to working with the
(17:45):
guys out there, just learning learning through that.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
If you if you go anywhere in Summerville and go
to a crowd of people and just shout the name
Tupper as loud as you can, you probably have like
five people turn around.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
So did did either one of you or both work
for your father's Oh?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, I actually never worked for my dad, but I
know Dustin did. Yeah, my dad just yelled at me.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
That was my primary work experience in the construction field
until even after college, then got into manufacturing textiles, and
then that scout.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Well, I mean, I think it's important to It's not
a disadvantage to have not have done it, but it's
certainly an advantage to get to see from the inside
the challenges that business owners face when it's your parents
and you know a lot of people. I mean, I
kind of experienced it both ways, right, So for a
(18:39):
long time, it was my dad who came home at
the end of the day. That's when you saw him.
He even would you know, he'd jokingly say, I'd say
what are you doing here? He'd say, I'd live here, right,
because because he was gone all the time running the business.
And then when you get older, you get to go
experience the other side of that and see what it's cakes.
(19:00):
The frustrations that you see your parents in a different light,
and you see what the dedication that it takes to
have to that you have to commit to run a business.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
No doubt, and shout out to all the moms out there,
wouldn't be alive without them.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yeah, absolutely, Well I was going to get to that next.
What about your mother's.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
So my mom, actually, my mom and dad both owned
Phoenix together. So my mom was that she did all
the accounting, so she worked every day with my dad.
But you know, thank thank god she's here. I wouldn't.
I do not believe I would be walking the surf
without her.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
I agree with that for you, but I also agree
on the mom. My mother helped with all the.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Books, an organization for the construction companies as well, and yeah,
kept us, kept us all organized and together for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Now, what do you guys do when you're not working?
You mentioned that you used to sail together out in
Charleston Harbor and you've been friends since you were kids.
Do you still sail? Do you still race? Do you?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
So? I grew up racing saleboats Dustin not as much
say about racing, but you know, in our in my
free time, I you know, play a lot of golf now,
but that's that's mostly what I do, play golf and
hang with Margo, my daughter.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Yeah, we both have kids.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
I got two boys, three and five, so were have
our hands full of Matt has a second on the way.
So kids are are the life takeover. It's the best
thing in the world. But it's also takes a lot
of time.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
It's hard to have a hobby when you have kids.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Well, congratulations, thank you, and more sleepless nights on the
west right.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
That's right. I'm not a great sleeper anyway, so it's
no problem.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Well, I appreciate both of you being here today. Matt
Moore and Dustin Tupper founders of volar boats, electric propelled boats,
electric propelled and it certainly sounds like a cool product.
And I'm gonna have to come to a ride with
you guys one of these days anytime you want.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
We're thinking about going out today, know what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
That's right, Well, that would be excellent. I see I
can peel myself.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Out right and anybody anytime go to our website and
schedule a test ride. We're obviously in the area and
we're glad to get people on the boat. That's where
we do believe we can show we have the best
boat is getting out there on it.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Yeah, putting your feet on the boat is the best
way to learn about it.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
And if they want to find out more about your product,
where should they go vlar boats dot com and that's
v O l a r E Boats dot com right, correct,
Thank you. And then do you have a showroom?
Speaker 3 (21:25):
We don't. We have a facility in Somerville, not quite
showroom ready.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
We have my front drive my driveway, so we usually
just put it in it. Uh, we just put it in,
you know, at the landing and people come down and
ride it.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Well, that's cool. And then do you do you post
on social media where you might you know, be able
to come see the boat.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah? Absolutely, We've got Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, We've got
them all. So just search for Lar boats, v O
l a r E Boats and little pop up.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
All right. Cool, Well, thank you guys, I appreciate it,
and good luck.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Thank you so much for the time.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah, thank you, Michael, you've been listening to iHeartRadio CEOs
you should know, heard every time Tuesday and Saturday morning
right here on this iHeartRadio station.
iHeartMedia Presents CEOs you should know. Welcome to CEOs you
should know. Today's guest Matt Moore, founder and CEO of
Volar Boats. Welcome Matt, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Mike.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I understand you're feeling a little bit under the weather today.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Yeah, just a little bit. But my co founder, Dustin Tupper,
sitting right here, so if he has to jump in,
we'll be all right.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
So we have emergency back on us.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Right.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Well, I appreciate you even though you're under the weather
joining us today. So tell us a little bit about
Volar boats. They're one hundred percent electric, right.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yes, sir. So, we Dustin and I worked for Scout
Boats for almost ten years each. About three years ago
we started Valar and we knew that we want to
do something a little bit different. If you if you
go down Highway seventy eight in Summerville, there's you know,
five or six boat companies on the same street within
(00:54):
you know, ten mile radius. We wanted to make sure
you know that we we stood out in some fashion. Right,
all those companies are great, but you know, we didn't
really want to get into the weeds of the same thing.
So we we landed on electric propulsion pretty quickly and
it kind of just went from there.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Now, what are some of the unique challenges that you
faced powering a boat with electric propulsion.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yes, that's actually super interesting question. We took a bit
of a different approach from a few other electric boat
companies in the world. But we, you know, Dustin and
I grew up here. We're local to Charleston where boaters.
I grew up racing sailboats, power boating around. Dustin you know,
same thing. And you know, we we worked in the
(01:42):
industry for forever and it was our domain knowledge. So
it's what we do best. And we can make a boat.
We can build fiberglass and composits and shape. We didn't
know a ton about how to build an electric drive system.
So we went out and we founded another co founder
and business partner who who does and so he helped us.
(02:06):
Brian Robinson is his name, and so that kind of
makes up the three co founders of the company, myself, Brian,
and Dustin, and you know, Brian brings a lot of
that electrical knowledge to it. So that's that's kind of
a long, long answer for a short question.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
I guess, Yeah, Well, is the now is the structure
of the boat to hole anything like that? Does that
have to be different under electric propulsion to accommodate batteries
or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
It does. So, you know, the first question that we
always get, and it was the first question that we
brought up, was range. So how far can it go? Right?
It's it's always the first question. We get to answer
that question. Really fast, it'll go thirty thirty three miles
at eighteen miles an hour, and then obviously if you
go slower than that, you can go further. If you
go faster than that, it'll go le's But that's with
(02:54):
our smallest battery pack sixty kilo a lot. So that's
just a little sidebar. But when we build the boat
we have to be very conscious of range. So in
that same regard, we had Dustin and I great boat builders.
Brian brings the electrical knowledge. But then we said, all,
how can we make this the most efficient hall possible?
So we knew we had to build out a full
(03:15):
carbon fiber. So the boat is one hundred percent carbon fiber,
reduces the weight by three times as much. Sorry, I'm
looking over at Dustin for verification. He's a smart one
of the group, but we h so full carbon fiber boat.
It's very very light, it's about thirty five hundred pounds,
(03:36):
and we added a hydrofoil in between the hulls, so
the boat it's a semi it's called a semifoil. So
what it does is it lifts the boat out of
the water a little bit, gets almost all the boat
out of the water, just rides on like an airplane wing.
And that's what gives us that range.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Well, that's pretty interesting. What are the advantages of an
electric boat over you know, a gas power.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
That's so there's the there's a ton here. This is
this is something that you really have to ride on
the boat to understand it. But the first thing everyone
notices and this is actually something we didn't design for,
which was pretty interesting. We made that. We made that
hydrofoil for a range and efficiency. We wanted to make
sure that we could go as far as we needed
(04:18):
to go. But what that does is when it comes
up on a hydrofoil, it acts like an air ride suspension,
so you have it's a smooth I mean, Dustin and
I have been boaters our entire lives. Worked for a
road company. It's the smoothest riding boat you've ever been on,
so that's a huge, huge advantage. It's great for you know,
put your family on, my daughter who's three, riding around
(04:41):
on a run around doing whatever she wanted to do,
and pretty rough harbor the other day. But where we're
really shine. The biggest advantage is going to be the
torque aspect of it. So obviously, like you know with
a car, if you hit the gas pedal, it goes
really really fast right out of the gate. Same thing
with our boat, but at low end steering. We have
(05:02):
joystick ability, so you can switch from a standard wheel
on a boat with throttles, you can switch it over
to the joystick. And because you have that immediate response
of the torque, you can move the boat within you know,
a very very small range of precision. So it's a
very We called it an approachable boat. It's for anybody.
(05:24):
If you're not you know, as you know, if you're
not into boating as much, but you want to get
into boating, this is a great boat for you. It's
easy to dock, it's easy to take to the standbar,
it's accommodating for everybody.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
How about portability. Is it easy to trailer?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Very very easy to trailer. We pulled it everywhere. We're
taking it down to Florida, we're in Virginia. It's it's
it's quite easy. The batteries are the heaviest thing in
the boat, but everything else is wildly light.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
Now, what about charging? Do you need any kind of
special charging station or charging equipment to keep it charged
up or can you do that on your house hold power?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
So this is one this is the one area that
ev Marine has over automotive. It's it's probably the only
thing that they are actually more advanced than is charging.
And that's because the infrastructure is already at most marina.
So if you go down to Safe Harbor or really
any marine in Charleston Patriots Point, they're going to have
(06:22):
shore power dock pedestal. So on that shore power dock pedestal,
they'll have a fifty AM two hundred and forty volt
plug and they all we all we have to do
is plug right into that. So we already have the
charging infrastructure for what we need built in. And that
was just kind of a nice little perk. But you
(06:43):
can also we're charging at my house right now, charging
on my wife's electric car charger.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Oh that's cool. And you know, and how did the
industry receive you was were they helpful? Were they welcoming
or you know where they're like, oh, here comes a
major competitor, we'd better be worried about this. Or were
they you know, were they were they welcoming?
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, and as a whole, I would say they've been
incredibly welcoming. You know again, Dustin Dustin, and I especially Dustin,
he's had he was the director of engineering its gout,
so he's got you know, contacts, you know, within the industry,
and he's done a really good job of bringing all
of them in into it. They've everyone's been super super supportive,
(07:26):
even you know, our family from Scout, you know, we
were very appreciative of them. But it's a different market, so,
you know, it's it's not going to com it's not
in the same competitive market as the boats around here.
We've got a bit of a different market.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Approach, sure, And you know, let's shift gears a little
bit and talk about you personally, because it is called CEOs,
you should know. So we try to get, you know,
to know each CEO a little bit better personally. So
you know, tell us about what the philosoph if he
is that that drives you each day.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, so I I would say for myself, and I apologize.
I know this is CEOs you should know, but it's
it's really about you know, Dustin and I did this together.
So I'm going to kind of talk about both of
us here, but we we compliment each other very very well.
You know, I maybe a bit more of a risk taker,
(08:24):
a bit more of a dreamer, and you know, Dustin
is very organized and make sure that the ship keeps
keeps running every day. But you know what drives me
is you know that this is what I grew up doing, right.
I grew up boating. I grew up my every every
day in the summer, you know, I either it was
teaching sailing or I was out on the water. And
we found something that we were good at. Right, we
(08:48):
found our domain knowledge and we wanted to give it
a shot, and we wanted to we wanted to grow
something into you know better, you know better what we perceive,
you know, in the voting environment of you know, a
better option for more people.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Well, since Dustin is the co founder, Dustin Tupper, and
you've referred to him. I feel kind of funny just
letting Dustin sit there in the background. Yeah, so let's
invite Dustin into the conversation. Well, thank you, guys. I
appreciate it absolutely, Dustin. So, you know, give us your background.
You also worked at Scout Boats? Were you also in
(09:27):
the UH in the yacht division?
Speaker 3 (09:30):
So I was director of engineering for Scout, Like Matt said,
almost ten years there. Most of our time overlapped, so
we UH kind of help guide Scout as it grew
drastically during our time there. Sometimes on opposite ends of
the UH of the spectrum, production and engineering don't always
(09:50):
get along, so we learned to work together and make
Scout what we think is a better place and strengthen
our friendship through that as well.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Well. Matt had when he introduced you said that you
were the second best looking founder of the company. So
do you agree with that sentiment.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
I'll let them have it, you know, that's all Beaud's
the eye of the boulder.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
That's right. So, you know, it's just very interesting when
you're dealing with a startup. I mean there's so many
unique challenges from you know, getting the initial idea off
the ground to protecting your your design and your intellectual
property to getting funding. What did you find was the
(10:38):
most difficult thing that you had to achieve out of
you know, any of those steps, and I'm skipping a
bunch of steps, but you know, what did you think
was the most difficult obstacle to overcome?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
I don't, I don't know if it's one particular obstacle.
I agree with Matt that we have a good yin
and yang to some extent of risk taker idea, you know,
driver and cautious, patient, organized approach. But even for me,
I think the biggest obstacle is that patience with each step.
(11:14):
When it's your own idea in your own company, you
even need dream big and think it's all going to
work out perfectly, and just trying to keep that patience
through each step of the development, the design, the debut
we recently kind of debuted on social media less than
a month ago, and the sales portion, so every step
along the way has been exercising in patience and fortitude
(11:38):
to make sure we keep pushing it along. That's why
it's good that we're have each other to keep pushing
it and break through those times.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
And yeah, and if you ever had to like prop
each other up. Was there any time where one of
you or you know, and you said there was three
of you where one of you or maybe all of
you were like, you know what, we're throwing the hat in.
I am sick of this something not putting up with
this anymore? Uh? You know? Or did you always have
(12:06):
that motivation that you were going to make this work
no matter what.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I'm seven here and take this one. I'm pretty excited
about this answer. Uh. But we my wife and I
let me back up really quick. My wife and I
have this tactic we use, you know, when with our
daughter and when we come home every day, it's like
kind of what percentage do you have it? It's not
always fifty to fifty it it can't be so like
(12:31):
if I'm having a bad day, I walk out till Brittany,
and Brittany got ten percent today, she'd be all right,
I got you for the ninety. And so we kind
of take that same approach of you know, everybody doesn't
have it every day, but the other one, the other
one's gonna take up the slack. We're gonna we're gonna
figure out how we can get to you know, seventy
five percent every day. That's what we got to do,
(12:51):
you know, more than half.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yeah, I agree, we as never one person picking the
other up. I would say none of us are have
ever said we're ready to quit, so we haven't hit
have that roadblock. But as always with an issue, whether
it's design, a business relationship, a sales contract, some frustration
that the other two help pick each other, pick the
(13:13):
other one up, and drive through it. So it's been
a very good relationship in that regard.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Well, you know, I like that philosophy of you can't
be one hundred percent every day and somebody's got to
pick up the slack. And I like the philosophy of
just coming right out with it and saying, you know what,
I'm not anywhere near one hundred percent today? Can you
pick that up for me? And that's a great way
to approach things and to stay efficient and effective. What
(13:43):
kind of advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs who are,
you know, not necessarily in the boat business, but looking
to start any kind of business or get a startup
off the ground where they have a unique idea or
a passion that they want to pursue.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
I think, I think The first step is believing in
your dream and yourself the most. You have to do
that because that's what's going to get you through those
tough times. So believing in yourself on hum percent self confidence,
and then learning that patience really just that patience to
(14:24):
let some things come to you, but drive on others
and keep pushing through them.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Now, what about resources? You know, where did you find
Because certainly, and especially when it comes to entrepreneurship or
anybody really running a business, you can't wear all hats effectively,
and there's going to be some you know, there's the
old saying, you don't know what, you don't know. Where
(14:50):
did you guys go to? Did you have any kind
of mentorship or what was your greatest resource? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (14:58):
For sure. You know I would say a our greatest
resources with each other, you know, Me, Dustin and Brian,
the three of us. But we you know where we
learned it from, right, I think was first and foremost,
especially for Dustin and I, you know, from our from
our families growing up. You know, my dad and his
dad both you know, kind of drove drove, you know,
(15:19):
drove their own destinies and that's kind of been ingrained
in us for our entire lives, so that that's where
it really started. And then you know, we continue that
growth through Scout and wildly appreciative for for everything they've
done for us and been supportive of us. And we've
had little advice you know here and there. But you
brought up a point a second ago where it's like,
you know, you can't know everything, and we've approached that
(15:42):
at this you know, with this company, and we've done
that through this idea of a bar stool, right, and
a bar stool has three legs, four legs, five bucks,
however many it is. Right. We know, we bring the
boat building composites, you know, how to make it look good,
et cetera. Right, we've got Morellian Melvin who made the
(16:06):
foil system for us. We've got two different great drive
companies who build our motors. If you pull any of
those legs out, the barstool falls over. Right. So we
don't think we have to know everything. We just have
to know how to put it all together correctly.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Well, and that's a great point. I mean, you have
to be a good administrator, right.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
Yeah, for sure, you know. With that being said, Dustin
and I we share a desk. So we also believe that,
you know, it doesn't get done unless you're out there,
you know, hands on. And we learned that at Scout.
You know, Steve preached us to us all the time,
be out on the floor building the boat. So these
first two boats we've made, you know, Dustin and I
have made with our own hands and with a lot
(16:45):
of help from some good people. But you know, super
super hands on is a good philosophy for us.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Now, you had mentioned that both of your fathers were
self driven, Matt, what did your father do?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
So my dad from here, he started a rubber and
plastics recycling company called Easy Gardener or excuse me, he
bought Easy Gardener and created Phoenix recycled products. They would
make like tree rings. I don't know if you ever
seen him in lows, they like go around the bottom
of a tree and a rubber Matt, so like he
(17:19):
owned the patent on that. And then I won't speak
for Dustin.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
But so my family from a big family up in Somerville,
all construction contractors, commercial residential, so you know, smaller, smaller business,
not necessarily meeting your large size, but running your own
business construction that hands on approach to working with the
(17:45):
guys out there, just learning learning through that.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
If you if you go anywhere in Summerville and go
to a crowd of people and just shout the name
Tupper as loud as you can, you probably have like
five people turn around.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
So did did either one of you or both work
for your father's Oh?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, I actually never worked for my dad, but I
know Dustin did. Yeah, my dad just yelled at me.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
That was my primary work experience in the construction field
until even after college, then got into manufacturing textiles, and
then that scout.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Well, I mean, I think it's important to It's not
a disadvantage to have not have done it, but it's
certainly an advantage to get to see from the inside
the challenges that business owners face when it's your parents
and you know a lot of people. I mean, I
kind of experienced it both ways, right, So for a
(18:39):
long time, it was my dad who came home at
the end of the day. That's when you saw him.
He even would you know, he'd jokingly say, I'd say
what are you doing here? He'd say, I'd live here, right,
because because he was gone all the time running the business.
And then when you get older, you get to go
experience the other side of that and see what it's cakes.
(19:00):
The frustrations that you see your parents in a different light,
and you see what the dedication that it takes to
have to that you have to commit to run a business.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
No doubt, and shout out to all the moms out there,
wouldn't be alive without them.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yeah, absolutely, Well I was going to get to that next.
What about your mother's.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
So my mom, actually, my mom and dad both owned
Phoenix together. So my mom was that she did all
the accounting, so she worked every day with my dad.
But you know, thank thank god she's here. I wouldn't.
I do not believe I would be walking the surf
without her.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
I agree with that for you, but I also agree
on the mom. My mother helped with all the.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Books, an organization for the construction companies as well, and yeah,
kept us, kept us all organized and together for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Now, what do you guys do when you're not working?
You mentioned that you used to sail together out in
Charleston Harbor and you've been friends since you were kids.
Do you still sail? Do you still race? Do you?
Speaker 2 (19:57):
So? I grew up racing saleboats Dustin not as much
say about racing, but you know, in our in my
free time, I you know, play a lot of golf now,
but that's that's mostly what I do, play golf and
hang with Margo, my daughter.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Yeah, we both have kids.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
I got two boys, three and five, so were have
our hands full of Matt has a second on the way.
So kids are are the life takeover. It's the best
thing in the world. But it's also takes a lot
of time.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
It's hard to have a hobby when you have kids.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Well, congratulations, thank you, and more sleepless nights on the
west right.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
That's right. I'm not a great sleeper anyway, so it's
no problem.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Well, I appreciate both of you being here today. Matt
Moore and Dustin Tupper founders of volar boats, electric propelled boats,
electric propelled and it certainly sounds like a cool product.
And I'm gonna have to come to a ride with
you guys one of these days anytime you want.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
We're thinking about going out today, know what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
That's right, Well, that would be excellent. I see I
can peel myself.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Out right and anybody anytime go to our website and
schedule a test ride. We're obviously in the area and
we're glad to get people on the boat. That's where
we do believe we can show we have the best
boat is getting out there on it.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Yeah, putting your feet on the boat is the best
way to learn about it.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
And if they want to find out more about your product,
where should they go vlar boats dot com and that's
v O l a r E Boats dot com right, correct,
Thank you. And then do you have a showroom?
Speaker 3 (21:25):
We don't. We have a facility in Somerville, not quite
showroom ready.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
We have my front drive my driveway, so we usually
just put it in it. Uh, we just put it in,
you know, at the landing and people come down and
ride it.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Well, that's cool. And then do you do you post
on social media where you might you know, be able
to come see the boat.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Yeah? Absolutely, We've got Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, We've got
them all. So just search for Lar boats, v O
l a r E Boats and little pop up.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
All right. Cool, Well, thank you guys, I appreciate it,
and good luck.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Thank you so much for the time.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah, thank you, Michael, you've been listening to iHeartRadio CEOs
you should know, heard every time Tuesday and Saturday morning
right here on this iHeartRadio station.
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