How to Build a Hardware Company in a Software-Obsessed World: Lessons from Jake Hawksworth
Jake Hawksworth is the CEO and co-founder of Hypercraft—a company bringing turnkey electric and hybrid powertrains to life for the racing, defense, and commercial vehicle industries.
He’s designed 500+ products, holds 8 patents, and has helped generate over $250M in product revenue. But here’s the twist: Jake isn’t building the next SaaS unicorn. He’s building electric powertrains—physical products—in a world obsessed with AI, cloud, and software multiples.
In this episode of Knocking to 10, Jake shares what it takes to scale a hardware startup, how to position yourself in a legacy-dominated industry, and why venture investors often get it wrong when it comes to deep tech.
The Market No One Was Serving
When Jake launched Hypercraft, he didn’t chase Tesla or the next EV startup. Instead, he looked at the 40 million vehicles built annually by small-to-midsize OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and saw a trillion-dollar gap.
These companies—building everything from boats to off-road vehicles—had no modern path to electrification.
Big OEMs like Ford and GM were spending billions on R&D. But the rest? Still buying diesel engines and stitching together old tech.
Jake’s Play: Provide a modern, full-stack powertrain system for underserved OEMs that couldn’t build it in-house.
“The best companies aren’t always the most innovative. Sometimes they just modernize an industry that’s been stuck for 50 years.”
A Trojan Horse Strategy for Hardware + Software
Hypercraft’s wedge wasn’t just selling batteries and motors. It was using hardware as a Trojan horse to introduce a smarter vehicle platform.
Customers were used to buying engines. So that’s what Jake sold. But under the hood was a vision for software-defined mobility: telemetry, diagnostics, and edge computing all packaged in the system.
Lesson for Founders: Meet your customer’s current behavior—then use that to introduce future value.
Saying No Is a Privilege You Have to Earn
In the early days, Hypercraft said yes to everyone: defense, marine, mining, startups, scale-ups.
“We got pulled in every direction. We nearly got ripped apart.”
But Jake didn’t see that chaos as failure. He saw it as a high-velocity way to test markets, tighten product scope, and build ICP clarity.
Now? Hypercraft knows exactly who it's for—and has the confidence (and capital) to say no.
How to Sell When You Only Need 20 Customers
Most SaaS companies need thousands of users to scale. Hypercraft only needs 20–50 OEMs to hit $1B in hardware revenue.
That changes everything about the go-to-market motion.
No cold email blitzes. No demo-qualified-lead scorecards.
Instead: trade shows, deep technical credibility, and outbound targeted at high-value accounts—each worth millions.
“We don't need a wide net. We need a precise spear.”
Surviving the 5-Year Gap
Hardware buyers don’t move fast. OEMs take 3–5 years to develop a new vehicle. That means Hypercraft’s big wins won’t show up as revenue until year 5+.
Jake’s team had to get creative with early cash flow. They leaned on engineering services—knowing it wasn’t scalable long-term—to stay alive.
Takeaway: If you’re playing a long game, build short-term cash buffers that align with your product strategy (but don’t become your business model).
A Word on Investors: Ignore the Trends
Raising money for hardware is hard. Raising it during an AI hype cycle is nearly impossible.
Jake doesn’t sugarcoat it:
“Venture capital is trend-driven. And mobility isn’t sexy right now.”
His advice? Don’t chase what’s hot. Stick to your thesis. Stay real about capital needs. And be prepared to survive without investor approval.
Final Advice for Founders
- Build in parallel. Don’t wait for perfect sequence—progress on product, positioning, and partnerships at once.
- Standardize to scale. The sooner you narrow your product, the easier it is to say no and grow.
- Own your stack. Hypercraft isn’t just hardware—it’s software, data, and long-term defensibility baked into one.
Learn more at hypercraftusa.com
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