As someone wiser than I once said: “you’re part of the solution or you’re part of the problem”.
It’s that simple. If you’d like an invite to the party, download our complete Investor Package here. There is also a link further down the page, with a complete description of what is included.
(Below) The Pocket Rocket, our 18-foot prototype for the Hurricane Hunter, which is our robotic oceanographic hurricane research sailboat. 
The Problem We Are Solving:
Being able to predict oceanic weather accurately is a critical part of protecting the environment, because the world’s weather is generated out on the world’s oceans.
Gathering oceanographic data and oceanic weather data, especially from inside hurricanes, is costly using conventional methods, and that limits the scope of conventional efforts and the accuracy of conventionally-generated weather forecasts. Robotic data-gathering vessels are generally known as ASV’s (Autonomous Surface Vessels), and are the most affordable way of getting this data.
We call our ASV the Hurricane Hunter The Hurricane Hunter provides an effective oceanographic and oceanic weather data-gathering platform at a fraction of the cost of conventional methods or currently available ASV’s, and will catalyze and drive major improvements in weather prediction and oceanography. This in turn will reduce the thousands of lives lost yearly, and billions of dollars of property damage done, due to storms worldwide.
What is the Hurricane Hunter?
Our Hurricane Hunter is an ASV that has: 3 to 12 times the speed, 2 to 4 times the instrument payload, and 8 to 35 times as much electrical power as our competitors
It’s unsinkable, easy to transport and deploy, can be towed with a family car and launched anywhere. It can go in an inexpensive 20-foot container and ship anywhere in the world.
Who our customers are:
University Oceanographic Departments; Private Oceanographic Institutions; US Government Weather Institutions, such as NOAA, NCAR US Navy Marine Forecast Center/Joint Typhoon Warning Center, and USCG; NGO’s; STEM High Schools and Technical Schools; Security For Islands Or Waterfront Properties.
Our Customer Value Proposition:
Why would our customer prefer our offering? Compared to our three competitors, our product has: 3 to 12 times the speed, 2 to 4 times the instrument payload, and 8 to 35 times as much electrical power for research instruments. It can continue doing research when our competitors have to power down because their batteries are too low.
It’s unsinkable; the competition can sink. It’s easy to transport and deploy: it can be towed with a family car and launched anywhere, rather than requiring an expensive small ship and a crane to launch. It fits into an inexpensive 20-foot shipping container that can go anywhere in the world. All of these factors mean that customers will generate far more research data in a much shorter time period more affordably, than by using currently available technology.
Our Investor Value Proposition:
Our technology delivers far more value to the customer, and they are going to love us; this is good for investors. We can sell it profitably for a bit more than half what the competitors cost, and although the competition only offers leases, we sell OR lease.
Our product is Green. Not just-for-our-marketing green, but the kind an investor can get serious carbon credits for. The entire construction process is carbon-negative. They sail and generate all their own electricity from solar panels and hydro-generators, and thus their operation is carbon-negative.
Our competitors each have one product; we have six products. None of our products is even in the same market as theirs; just as a personal computer is not in the same market as an electric typewriter.
We estimate a sustainable $150-225 million TAM for our products at the end of Manufacturing Year 3, and a 10X to 15X exit for our investors at the end of Year 3 to Year 5.
Here’s a cute little video of our 18-foot Hurricane Hunter prototype “The Pocket Rocket” sailing in Kawaihae Harbor in Hawaii:
Here is a link to download our complete Investor Package. It includes a 2-page Executive Summary, a 24-page business plan, a 23-slide PowerPoint deck, a 7-page written narrative of “What We’re Doing”, a first and second-year’s sales projections spreadsheet with customer names listed, and an “Expenditures Timeline” spreadsheet that details our costs and timeline for developing the autonomous boat and building 15 of them.
If you’re interested in seeing more videos of these boats, our YouTube video channel has over 80 videos of us building and sailing them.
Please feel free to email me, Tim, at skipper at oceanpeople dot org with any questions or feedback you’d like to offer.
With Warm Aloha, The Ocean People Family: Tim, Susanne, Victor, Jack, Lucky, and Rose