Chance Claxton - Pancake Motors and Entrepreneurialism
Manage episode 513351705 series 3402614
Chance Claxton is a serial entrepreneur, a brand builder. Her most recent works involves axial flux motors, known as pancake motors. They are lighter weight, lower cost, and highly efficient electric motors. Her company, Orbis Elecric, has been working with the VW Group and other automotive OEMs to put these motors inside wheels. They can be positioned in two rear wheels or in all four wheels for high torque and high horsepower applications.
Orbis is working in several verticals: The motors are also being employed in the refrigeration systems in refrigerated trucks, driving down costs and boosting efficiency. Recently, Orbis Electric has promoted its motors for cooling systems in AI data centers. Chance explains that this is a booming market, there are lots of eyes it. Thus there is great interest and fundraising capabilities in deploying this type of innovation and efficiency in that energy-intensve vertical.
Ted delves into Chance's diverse career, unearthing lessons learned in her path of entrepreneurialism. She began with a company designed to make Italian lines of furniture easily accessible, a company aptly called Design Within Reach.They developed an online catalog and then managed manufacturers in Italy to deliver the products.
For 13 years, Chance was at the helm of U Konserve. That company was and still is about packaging to avoid food waste. With kids in school, she thought there must be a better solution than disposable ziplock bags. This career aligned with her sustainability values. U Konserve known for reusable containers and food wraps. It ultimately sold to a bigger company, teaching her about scaling up, and knowing when to step aside. It's all about timing she said more than once.
Another job taught her when to throw in the towel. With a business partner/inventor, she decided to make the ultimate mask to protect from Covid. They were manufactured it in China. She was just about to release just as the requirements for masks in America were lifted! She called that venture a swing and a miss... all back to timing. Remarkably, she and that inventor went on to develop automotive breaks. Orbis Brakes has the goal of disrupting the $30 billion brake industry. Orbis makes an inside-out form of disc brake, a ring with lots of ventilation. The motor fits right inside; the wheel encompasses the whole system. Chance explains how the brakes not only cut material costs, but also reduce nano-particulate pollution.
Orbis Electric is focused on the motors and how to commercialize them. She describes the two test vehicles supplied b by Volkswagen to prototype the in-wheel motor system, one being an ID4 modified in California and then extensively track tested. Her company is working to develop alternative magnet materials, decreasing costs while increasing the sustainability of products.
Chance discusses raising capital, a big piece of the equation. It's not easy being a self-funded company, constantly working to balance opportunities and resources. Thus the current data center focus. You have to go where the money is... matching that with areas of huge potential. She describes how one-third of world's electricity is wasted by inefficient motors and their operation. Many are not "smart motors," they are running all the time even when not needed.
The conversation ends with more advice and reflection: Timing, staying in lane, defining your path, sticking with it, and radically shifting if need be. She discusses passion, a key ingredient in being resilient, so critical for entrepreneurial paths... perhaps more important than eduction and specialization. And passion need not be singular... it can be applied in lots of different ways at different times. You can't know it all, she implores, but there's so much you can learn by rolling up your sleeves.
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