Jake Hawksworth, CEO of Hypercraft, shares how he’s scaling a hardware-first startup in a software-obsessed world — and what SaaS founders can learn from it. From defining your ICP to ignoring investors (when you have to), this episode is packed with unfiltered insights on building complex, capital-intensive businesses the smart way.
What can SaaS founders learn from someone building literal engines? A lot more than you'd think.
On the latest episode of Knocking to 10, I sat down with Jake Hawksworth, CEO and co-founder of Hypercraft — a startup building turnkey electric and hybrid powertrains for racing, defense, and commercial vehicles.
Jake’s not your typical founder. He’s raised capital for a hardware-first company in a venture world that’s allergic to hardware. He’s chasing billion-dollar deals with a customer list of less than 50 companies. And he's scaling through manufacturing and software in parallel — with a plan to own both the edge device and the data.
Here are 5 big takeaways from our conversation — especially relevant if you're building anything complex, expensive, or non-obvious.
Jake’s market didn’t want software. They wanted powertrains — the literal engines that move vehicles. So Hypercraft started there.
“Our customers were used to buying hardware. They weren’t ready to buy software or data services — so we made powertrains our Trojan horse.”
Lesson for SaaS founders: If your ICP doesn’t yet buy the thing you’re trying to sell — find a wedge that looks familiar, then use it to expand. You don’t have to start with disruption. You can earn it.
In the first 12 months, Hypercraft sold to defense, marine, mining, and commercial customers. It nearly broke them.
“It almost destroyed the company. But we learned fast where we fit — and where we didn’t.”
Jake now focuses on a short list of ~1,000 global OEMs — and only needs 20 to hit $1B in hardware revenue.
Lesson: It’s okay to explore broadly early on — but learn quickly, narrow fast, and build a clean ICP list. You don’t need everyone. You need the right few.
In hardware, it’s dangerously easy to become an engineering services firm — building one-off custom solutions for every client.
“We had to resist the pull into bespoke builds. The more defined our product became, the easier it was to say no.”
Lesson for software leaders: If your product isn’t tightly scoped, your customer will scope it for you. The more you standardize, the faster you scale — and the more scalable your revenue becomes.
Jake’s most controversial take? Sometimes, you have to tune out your investors.
“Investors always have influence. But if you follow their vision instead of your own, you’ll build something optimized for ROI, not resilience.”
Hypercraft raised during a terrible fundraising climate for hardware. AI was hot. Mobility was cold. But Jake stayed the course — building a product his market actually needed.
Lesson: Listen to your investors. But don’t build their thesis. Build your business.
Jake’s team nearly ran out of cash between 2023–2024. Why? Because vehicles take years to develop — and revenue doesn’t follow right away.
“You’re in business as long as you can cashflow to the next day. We had to get creative just to stay alive.”
Lesson: Long sales cycles, big enterprise deals, and upmarket moves all take longer than you think. Forecast conservatively. Cash is strategy.
Find your wedge. Build for focus. Stay alive long enough to win.
