Startup Spotlight #19: Watfly

Watfly is eliminating the barriers around aviation to democratize everyday flight.

Aug 12, 2020

I got the chance to speak with Gonzalo Espinoza Graham, co-founder and CEO of Watfly, about what he’s working on at his startup, and any advice he has for emerging entrepreneurs.

Watfly is eliminating the barriers around aviation to democratize everyday flight. We are often said to be building flying cars because, like a car, their aircraft will be affordable, inherently safe, practical, and anyone will be able to operate them.

Startup Spotlight: Watfly

Watfly cofounders (from left to right): Abinesh Chandrasekar and Gonzalo Espinoza Graham.

Problem: Flight is the most time-efficient means of transportation, but aircraft are expensive to own and operate. Flying is hard to learn, accidents are still too common, and it’s plagued by impracticalities such as the need for a runway and jet fuel.

Market: We can talk about the 2,500 general aviation aircraft sold in the US in 2018, or the 25,000 helicopters out in the wild today. We see our products being successful in those markets, as well as gaining traction in the recreational and luxury vehicle market.

Solution: We are building an electric, vertical take-off aircraft that is easy to fly and does not require a pilot license. Our product is powered by state-of-the-art EV powertrain components and computer processors.

Team: I started Watfly in my senior year at UWaterloo in 2019 with our CEO Abinesh Chandrasekar. We were classmates, originally met at our school’s Formula SAE team where we designed and built race cars, and later overlapped at Tesla.

Recent Success:

Graham: Pre-selling aircraft: We applied the same framework used in software and consumer electronics, sell it before you build it, and applied it to aircraft successfully. Critical to our success was building an online brand and presence, leveraging media articles, our website, social media, and a daily log of the state of our prototypes. The first pre-orders came from within our circle, we asked successful entrepreneurs within our vicinity who have had exits out for coffee. We knew these folks were into tech, cool toys, and had money. We managed to sell over $1M worth of aircraft within a week and have kept the momentum going. This is my version of doing things that don’t scale.

Recent Struggle:

Graham: Fundraising. Most VCs talk about building the future and tackling the biggest challenges but very few actually go through and fund this vision. The reality is that the risk tolerance of most funding channels is well below flying cars, so we learned to bootstrap and de-risk as much as possible.

Founder Advice:

Graham: When building that is entirely new, I’d say the best piece of advice is to ignore all advice and keep a strong bias towards action. Truth is no two success stories are the same, no one really knows what is going on at the cutting edge of tech, and your intuition as an operator is much better than the intuition of someone who did something similar years ago, or even a spectator. Keeping an action bias is crucial to always keep moving and trying new things, don’t just read and talk about it, go do it!

Three Cool Founders You Should Know About:

Graham: Here are three founders you should check out next!

Noah Debrincat, Founder of SannTek: SannTek is at the leading edge of the rapid drug detection market.
Gavin Thompson, Founder of Pheonix: Pheonix is an online clinic for men.
Roger Kirkness, Founder of Convictional: Convictional is the first B2B trade enablement network allowing buyers and sellers of physical products to source, onboard, integrate and grow.

Who should I profile next? Leave your suggestion in the comments:

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