After the HyperSport, with Jay Giraud - Part 3

The Exit: Regrets, Lessons, and the Road Ahead

We’ve ridden with Jay Giraud from teenage breakouts to the birth of the HyperSport. But building a dream isn’t all instant torque and zero-to-60 thrills. This week, we hit the hard corners: money, investors, CEO pressure, and the day Jay finally had to step off the throttle.

Missed the previous parts?

Part 1: Finding the Line - How Jay Giraud Rewired the Motorcycle World

Part 2: 200, 200, 200 - Building the HyperSport Dream

From Vision to Vexation: The Hard Truths

Jay and the HyperSport

From the very start, Jay knew he was in for a scary ride. The moment he committed to building the HyperSport from the ground up, the challenges stacked up — technical hurdles, funding pressures, and the relentless grind of proving an idea that seemed almost impossible. Every day brought a new obstacle, a fresh reminder that creating a world-class motorcycle wasn’t just ambitious — it was a behemoth of a task that would push him and his team to their limits.

"When you actually think you're gonna go after those three numbers, 200, 200, 200, you're like, "This is gonna be..." I mean, there's no words. I already built an electric vehicle company. I know how hard it is. And I didn't want to do it again. But it was the only way to fulfil the mission. It took six months of soul-searching with Dom to come to terms with what we were going to have to do, the pivot. From making the safety system to making the whole bike. And I knew it would take hundreds of millions of dollars."

In day-to-day life, Jay was constantly chasing investors, managing fundraisers, and keeping the financial engines running. It wasn’t glamorous, and it certainly wasn’t why he got into the game. What he really wanted was to run the company, to focus on building the bike and the business itself, steering both without being trapped in endless meetings and spreadsheets. The challenges weren’t just technical — they were financial, operational, and relentless.

"I prefer to be running the business versus not running it as effectively because I was so busy fundraising all the time. I like to manage the supply chain, manage the customers, manage the marketing, manage the team, manage the operations, improve the culture of the company... you know, being the spokesperson, doing the media. Those are the things I should be doing, but I spent all my time just fundraising."

"95% of the time I was reporting back to our shareholders, which is a huge undertaking. We had 400 shareholders before we went public. And 20% of them were emailing me weekly, and 10% of them were calling me weekly - "What's happening? How are you getting on? What's the development status?" They're repeating everything over and over. And you're like, "Well, I'll send you a shareholder update soon.""

"That's one of the pitfalls. If you're trying to do something big in the modern world, you need investment money unless you're a prince and you've got billions in the bank. The result is, suddenly you're answering to everyone else. And they're not in the trenches, but they do want to be an armchair quarterback. Not all of them, but some of them, and they have strong opinions about how you should fundraise your next round, where you should plant your business, and where you should do your manufacturing. Some of them know a lot about it, and they can be really helpful, but most of them - "Well, I've invested in similar companies like this before." - But it's never the same."

The Curse of a CEO

Being a CEO isn’t just a title. Every decision lands squarely on your shoulders, every misstep magnified, every success owed as much to luck as to skill. Running a company means juggling investors, deadlines, and the relentless grind of bringing a product to life. The job doesn't stop when the shop closes or the laptop powers down; it follows you home, into your sleep, and into every waking hour.

"The genesis and the DNA of every company are totally unique. The moment in time, where it exists, the people it hires, and all of those things make it what it is. It's its own unique beast each and every time, with its own challenges and struggles."

"How you should raise money, and whether you should go public, and on what exchange, and what the structure should look like, and what's the methodology, and how much you need. Lots of people have lots of opinions. It's the curse of the CEO. They have to hear all the noise and still hear their own voice louder and find the path through. And stay true to what they know is right, and battle on it.

It's almost impossible to know what's right when everyone else has an opinion. And it's their money you're playing with while appeasing and satisfying the worries and concerns of the people, the shareholders, the customers, your staff, your board, the pre-orders, the market, and the public - who are often the loudest. And the media who are asking the questions and everybody running off with their assumptions about what we should be doing."

The Road Ahead

December 2024 marked a turning point for the company. Jay Giraud stepped away, officially framed as a “mutual decision,” but anyone paying attention knew it was more complicated than that. Behind the scenes, it looked almost like the newly appointed post-IPO board laid down an ultimatum. Jay chose to walk, though not without contesting the terms of his exit — a move that sparked a legal battle and laid bare just how tense things had become at the top.

In his absence, Dom Kwong, co-founder and former CTO, was rehired—following his 2022 resignation—as interim CEO. The company hasn’t had it easy. Financial pressures, a shrinking team, and ongoing legal wrangling have made the path forward rocky. The hurdles highlight a harsh reality: moving from scrappy start-up to sustainable enterprise is never smooth, even with a game-changing bike in the garage.

Now, Jay is focused on what comes next: exploring new ventures and finding ways to make an impact without being shackled to the daily fires of running a company. The ride isn’t over — it’s simply shifting into a new gear, one where experience, vision, and hard-earned lessons steer the way forward.

"I'm coaching. I'm coaching entrepreneurs to help them avoid all of my mistakes. Everything in life is a lesson, and I'm still learning the biggest life lessons right now from that experience."

Lessons in the Rearview

Every rider knows that at some point, you look back over the miles and ask yourself: did I take the right turns? For Jay, the question isn’t hypothetical — after years of pulling together a bike that could be game-changing, navigating investors, wrestling with every challenge imaginable, and not making it to mass production, the thought of “do I have any regrets?” is never away. It’s a question that cuts deeper than lap times or funding rounds, digging into the choices that shaped not just a company, but a life.

"Regrets? Plenty. Mostly about how much personal risk I took to make it work, and the number of times I sold stocks, equities, and investments to bridge the company. Having lost all of that with nothing to show for it, I feel I took as much financial risk as any of my shareholders, and I took eight years' time risk as well. And all the personal risk too. There were birthdays I missed, my kids, family events, and all those sacrifices."

"Companies make mistakes. Bill Gates is famous for saying half the decisions he ever made were wrong. No matter what, no matter how many times you start-up, you're going to make tons of mistakes. They're the ones you learn from, but you still regret them. Hindsight's a beautiful thing. But hindsight's always 20/20, and that's just the nature of it."

In the end, maybe that’s the real legacy — not the bike, not the battles, but the courage to keep building when everything’s on the line. For Jay Giraud, the throttle’s still open. The road just looks a little different now.

But big questions still linger: What happens next for Damon? For the investors who backed the dream, and the riders still waiting for their bikes? The road ahead for the company remains uncertain—a test of whether the vision can outlast the man.

We’ve lined up a sit-down with Dom Kwong, Damon’s current CEO — coming soon — to ask the questions everyone’s thinking, and a few they’re not. Stay tuned for the next drop.

Ride safe, folks.

Author's Notes:

Although this three-part series follows Jay Giraud’s personal journey, it inevitably intersects with the story of the company he built. Through every conversation, one thing stood out above all else — Jay’s unwavering conviction in the HyperSport project. His belief in the 200, 200, 200 dream hasn’t dimmed, even after stepping away.

He fiercely defends the vision with the same energy that first sparked it into existence. And that’s what makes this story worth telling — not just the bike, but the belief behind it. Whether you share his optimism or question the road ahead, one thing’s clear: Jay still believes the HyperSport can redefine what an electric motorcycle can be.

For me, it’s been an eye-opener — a reminder that conviction, even when tested, is the engine of innovation. Like many others, I hope we get to see the HyperSport become more than a promise.

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You can find Jay on his YouTube channel - Founder Whisperer - and if you're a new or experienced founder yourself, you can ride on Jay's advice through his coaching services. He can be contacted via LinkedIn