Nathan Staron was paddleboarding in the Rocky Point area of Tampa Bay a decade or so ago when a serendipitous encounter put him on the unexpected trajectory of becoming the CEO of a multimillion-dollar lithium battery company.
“I was just out paddleboarding, and I always ask people what they do for a living, just spark conversation,” Staron explains.
In this instance, he came upon a six-person raft that had a battery connected to a trolling motor. But the battery was dead. Staron offered to tow the group back to shore and began chatting up the raft’s owner, who said he owned a battery company.
At the time, Staron had completed aviation school with the goal of becoming a Medevac pilot. By the end of that initial offshore conversation, he decided to shift into the world of battery distribution.
Fast forward eleven years, Tampa-based Lithium…
