Seakeeper

PMY: How important is innovation in the market you compete in?

ANDREW SEMPREVIVO: At Seakeeper, we see ourselves as our own biggest competitor. We work every day to build the best product we can and then go back to the drawing board to see how we can do it even better. When we launched our first M7000 gyro, we knew we had the best gyrostabilizer on the market, but we pushed ourselves to make that unit more efficient. This innovation came full circle with the launch of our Seakeeper 6, which provides comparable stabilizing power while taking up 40 percent less space, drawing 25 percent less power, and costing roughly half as much as the original model. We are always working to figure out how we can pack more stabilizing power onto smaller boats as well. Our current product line can stabilize boats as small as 30 feet and we hope to have something for boats as small as 20 feet by 2020.

PMY: How have your customer demands shifted in recent years?

ANDREW SEMPREVIVO: As Seakeeper products have become standard in many mid-size boats, we have received increased interest and demand in models for smaller boats. To respond to this demand, we released the Seakeeper 3, which stabilizes boats as small as 30 feet. Since boats in this range have different use requirements, we figured out how to run this model using only 12-volt DC power and developed a leaning post installation option so that the unit can be mounted on deck level. We believe that demand will increase as we get into boats as small as 20 feet since that is where many people get their start boating and boat roll can be a major deterrent to novice boaters.

PMY: How does your passion for boating and business feed innovation?

ANDREW SEMPREVIVO: For me, there is nothing better than being on the water and I believe that by removing boat roll and the anxiety that goes with it—which now limit boating participation—boating will become more popular and our industry will expand. Most people’s first boating experience is on smaller boats, 20 to 30 feet, and at Seakeeper we want to make sure their first experience is awesome, not marred by seasickness or anxiety. This has fueled our drive to continue introducing smaller products, and finding solutions that make them suitable for the needs of smaller boats, making Seakeeper accessible to the heart of the marine market.