From Knoxville to Chattanooga: Endeavor Composites taps into another mobility hub with CO.LAB accelerator
As much as 30% of manufacturing production can end up in a landfill, representing more than $1 billion worth of fibers annually. Their technology creates an opportunity to capture some of that material and turn it into new, high value composite products.
What if waste could become the raw material for the next generation of high-performance products? That’s what Endeavor Composites is working on. At its core, Endeavor repurposes post-industrial fibers into new markets, making high-quality composites affordable for all.
Teknovation has covered Endeavor for many years. Founder and CEO Hicham Ghossein developed his expertise in composites through the University of Tennessee, and later took part in the Innovation Crossroads program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he worked on scaling and commercializing carbon fiber nonwoven technology.
Within the past year alone, Endeavor Composites has taken over Skynano’s Louisville space as its new manufacturing facility and saw one of its employees, Matthew Sausen, recognized as an honorable mention for IACMI’s Inaugural Rising Star Award.
We’re always glad to keep sharing Endeavor’s story because of the innovative work the company is doing and the milestones it keeps hitting — the latest being its spot in CO.LAB’s mobility accelerator. Here’s our interview with Ghossein on what’s new, and why an accelerator still matters to a company that’s years into business.
Q: What’s changed at Endeavor since our last big update?
The cool thing this time is that I’m not a solopreneur anymore. I used to be the founder AND the company. Now Endeavor is growing into its own, and I’m just an employee. My skillset as a PhD isn’t running a multi-million-dollar, revenue-generating company. It needs marketing, finance departments, HR. I’ve been separating myself from Endeavor and letting it stand on its own, and it’s truly been great. We’re at about eight full-time employees, three part-time, and a few interns. Hopefully that means more jobs and more factories as we open to new markets. I’ve done accelerators before, but this time other team members are participating and bringing perspectives I don’t have. Accelerators aren’t just about relearning the business model. They’re about the network, the people, the community. It takes a village.
Q: Compared to others in this cohort, you already know Tennessee well. What’s it been like going between Knoxville and Chattanooga?
This city has always been close to my heart because of the vibe, the restaurants, the way it’s spread out — it’s a true sister city. The close proximity has really helped us as well. That was one of the key reasons we wanted to participate. The team can come and go as needed. Knoxville is a shipping and mobility hub, and so is Chattanooga. Having that access and expanding our presence within different cities in Tennessee is important. Compared to the other companies in the cohort, we’re also about five years ahead since we’re seven years old. But we’re still learning from them, because every founder brings certain lessons and different perspectives. Hopefully I am helping them as well.
Q: Here’s a question we might not have asked, even after all the times we’ve covered Endeavor. Where does the name come from?
Everyone was congratulating me on my new ‘endeavor,’ and I’m obsessed with the space shuttle Endeavour. I went on a tour to NASA as part of grad school. They funded some work we did and invited us to the space shuttle launch. There, Endeavour was sitting in the processing bay, getting ready to head to a museum down in California. I was one of the last civilians to walk through it. NASA gave us a gift as a souvenir, and it turned out to be tied to Endeavour. My best friend later got me a little model of it to put on my CEO desk. The name was chasing me. And now, one of our products is ceramic tiles like the ones that go on the space shuttle. It’s a full circle moment.
Follow Endeavor Composites on LinkedIn here.
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