Exploring Financing and Investor Support for a Venture-Backed RV Company

Toby Kraus and Ben Parker are co-founders of Lightship, an all-electric RV. Their first model, the L1, is a tow trailer with a sizable solar array on top, electric heat pump HVAC, an induction stove in the kitchen, an 80 kilowatt hour battery and an EV range extending or gas mileage boosting feature wherein the tow trailer provides some on-road power to the vehicle that's pulling it. 

Ben is a former mechanical design engineer at Tesla who contributed to the Model 3. Toby also worked at Tesla, first in finance then as product manager for the Model S. He later assumed an executive position at Proterra, an electric bus company. Despite Proterra's recent bankruptcy, it played a pivotal role in advancing large vehicle electrification. In 2020, Toby and Ben teamed up to establish Lightship and unveiled the L1 for pre-orders in March 2023.

This conversation not only covers the founders' backgrounds and the L1's feature set, but also how they have sized the RV market, how the electrification of the RV will help drive the electrification of the pickup truck sector overall, and how the L1 can serve as a power source to a home when it's not in use as an RV. MCJ Collective is proud to be a multi-time investor in Lightship via our venture capital funds, and we still learned a lot during this conversation. 

In this episode, we cover: 

• [03:06]: Ben's background and Tesla experience
• [05:43]: How electrifying food trucks led Ben to work on RVs
• [09:07]: Ben's experience in Formula 1 student racing
• [10:37]: Toby's background: finance, Tesla, Proterra, and Eclipse
• [16:46]: RV categories and the market landscape
• [20:30]: The role of aerodynamics in trailer design 
• [23:08]: Potential for Lightship L1 to unlock electrification in pickup trucks
• [25:05]: The hodgepodge of fossil fuel systems in legacy RVs
• [27:20]: Prioritizing a game-changing product with sustainability as a bonus
• [28:24]: An in-depth overview of the Lightship L1 trailer's sleek design
• [30:58]: Details of the L1’s solar paneled roof, HVAC, and stove
• [34:51]: Pricing and target customer demographics 
• [40:23]: Addressing range anxiety with existing RV campground infrastructure
• [42:25]: Lightship L1’s battery and potential as a home backup power source
• [49:50]: Tackling the problem of embedded emissions with durability
• [53:51]: How Lightship finances their business

Get connected: 
Toby Kraus LinkedIn / Ben Parker LinkedIn
Lightship LinkedIn / X
Cody Simms LinkedIn / X
MCJ Podcast / Collective

*You can also reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on Aug 10, 2023 (Published on Aug 24, 2023)

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant