Episode 5

#5: Coffee Talks with Mik & Trav - Transitional challanges

Episode 5 of Growing With It - #3 Coffee Talk with Mik & Trav

Picking up from the second Coffee Talk we dive back into the story of AirFlight. Mikkel and his team successfully flew their flying car, garnering significant media attention, including a front-page regional newspaper story and national television coverage. This led to inquiries from the Danish wind industry, suggesting an unmanned version for wind turbine maintenance. Despite the emotional challenge of pivoting from their dream flying car to an unmanned crane, they secured a $125,000 grant, which allowed them to bring a co-founder back to Denmark and continue development. The process involved careful financial planning and grant application strategies, ultimately leading to a significant boost in their startup's momentum.

Key take-aways:

Pivoting from the flying car to the unmanned flying crane was a difficult but necessary decision based on market demand.
Securing grants was crucial for funding the development of the new prototype and bringing Mikkel back home to work full-time.
Celebrating wins and reflecting on the emotional journey is important, as entrepreneurship can be fast-paced and overwhelming.
Being razor-sharp on financial projections, customer identification, and grant application details was key to securing funding.
Redistributing equity after a co-founder stepped down was a challenging but important step to move the company forward.

Chapters:

Chapter 1: Flying Car's First Media Coverage [0:00:00 - 0:02:12]

Chapter 2: Transition to Unmanned Flying Crane [0:02:13 - 0:07:57]

Chapter 3: Challenges and Emotional Impact of Pivoting [0:07:58 - 0:11:38]

Chapter 4: Securing Funding and Moving Forward [0:11:39 - 0:16:57]

Chapter 5: Reflecting on the Journey and Future Plans [0:16:58 - 0:22:44]

If you wanna learn more about our "Elite Founders Fundraising" program, DM us on our socials listed here:

Mikkel on LinkedIn: https://growing-for-it.captivate.fm/mili

Travis on LinkedIn: https://growing-for-it.captivate.fm/trali

Mikkel on Insta: https://growing-for-it.captivate.fm/mikkel

Travis on Insta: https://growing-for-it.captivate.fm/travis

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