What Sea Potential does

Sea Potential is a private LLC founded in 2019 and headquartered at 450 Alaskan Way S in Seattle, Washington. With 1-10 employees, approximately 3-5 according to the input, it was co-founded by Ebony Welborn and Savannah Smith and develops maritime education and workforce pathways intended to increase Black, Indigenous, and People of Color representation in the maritime industry. Its portfolio includes marine-science field trips, a summer day camp, boat building, career exploration, community events, paid mentorship, corporate consulting, and aquaculture manager training delivered with Washington Sea Grant.

The company's revenue mechanisms include corporate consulting services and grant-funded managed services, while its youth programs are free. Its go-to-market relies on direct program delivery and partnerships with maritime, education, heritage, funding, and community organizations. No pricing, customer count, contract values, software platform, proprietary model, or other technical architecture is disclosed.

Name

Sea Potential

Legal name

Sea Potential, LLC

Website

https://letsseapotential.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Sea Potential is a Seattle-based maritime workforce development organization offering youth education, community programs, career exploration, mentorship, and corporate consulting to expand Black, Indigenous, and People of Color representation in the maritime sector of the Pacific Northwest.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Maritime Workforce Development and Youth Education

akta.pro primary industry

Oceans, Coastal & Marine Resource Management (BPADALAI)

Keywords

• Maritime workforce development
• BIPOC youth programs
• Inclusive workplace consulting
• Ocean justice education
• Community-led maritime training

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Consulting Services: Sea Potential offers consulting to companies seeking to build inclusive workplace cultures in the maritime industry, including DEI workshops, training, and organizational culture support. This appears to be a primary revenue-generating service line alongside grant funding.
2. Grant Funding: Sea Potential receives grants from foundations and government programs. Seattle Foundation's Black Joy and Wellness Fund is explicitly named as a grant source that supported the organization's team retreat.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Sea Potential cultivates a full cycle of BIPOC representation in the maritime industry by running free youth maritime programs (ages 12-18), intergenerational community events, mentorship opportunities, and paid corporate consulting plus manager training for maritime employers. Its work centers on a heart-based, culturally responsive framework that combines ocean justice education with inclusive workplace culture guidance.

Product overview

Sea Potential operates as a unified platform offering youth maritime programs and corporate consulting services. The product portfolio includes youth programs for BIPOC youth ages 12-18 (Aquabilities, Between The Tides, Sharp Sisters, Get Into It: Maritime!), community programs (Pod Pop-Ups), mentorship services (Program Mentor), corporate consulting, and aquaculture manager training. All offerings are connected through Sea Potential's mission to cultivate full-cycle BIPOC representation in maritime through heart-based relationship frameworks and social justice approaches.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Aquabilities After-school field trip program for BIPOC youth ages 12-14 in Seattle, providing hands-on experiences with marine science professionals and exploration of marine science careers at workplaces including fish libraries and marine mammal hospitals.
• Between The Tides Two-week summer day camp for BIPOC youth exploring Seattle's beaches through tidepooling, meditation, art activities using organic materials, and connections with marine science professionals.
• Sharp Sisters Program co-hosted with Tacoma Community Boat Builders for girls and gender-expansive youth to explore woodworking, watercraft building, and community connection through hands-on projects and water experiences in the Tacoma area.
• Get Into It: Maritime! Career exploration program for BIPOC youth in the Tacoma area, providing hands-on field trips and activities with maritime professionals including ferry engineers, boat builders, and ship captains.
• Pod Pop-Ups Single-day intergenerational community events open to all BIPOC community members featuring activities such as squid jigging, tidepooling, boat excursions, and aquarium tours, held bi-monthly in Greater Seattle and Greater Tacoma areas.
• Program Mentor Paid mentorship opportunities for BIPOC community members aged 21 and over to support youth participants in Sea Potential programs, with stipend compensation ranging from $825 to $1,475 depending on program.
• Corporate Consulting Services Workplace culture consulting for maritime companies to support inclusive and innovative maritime futures, including heart-based relationship training, social justice frameworks, and diversity and inclusion programming, delivered directly by Sea Potential co-founders.
• Aquaculture Manager Training Manager training course for aquaculture employers developed alongside Washington Sea Grant, covering employee physical and mental health, housing, transportation, retention, next-generation workforce development, and supporting diverse employee populations.

Quantifiable outcome

• Pre- and post-program surveys show significant increases in youth's sense of connection to peers, likelihood to spend time on boats for fun, sense of connection to the environment, and likelihood to pursue a maritime career.

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Tacoma Community Boat BuilderscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSea Potential partners with Tacoma Community Boat Builders to co-host the 'Sharp Sisters' program — a woodworking and watercraft program for girls and gender-expansive youth ages 15-18 in the Tacoma area. The partnership enables Sea Potential to extend programming to a specific demographic and geographic area that aligns with their mission.
• Center for Wooden Boats (CWB)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSea Potential partnered with CWB to launch its inaugural culturally relevant sailing program in summer 2024. CWB provided the venue, wooden boats, and sailing instruction. Sea Potential brought culturally responsive curriculum, BIPOC guest speakers, interpreters, and meals. The partnership exemplifies shared commitment to expanding BIPOC access to sailing.
• Washington Sea Grant (WSG)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerSea Potential co-created and co-facilitated the Aquaculture Manager Training with Washington Sea Grant, designing curriculum around employee retention, mental health, housing, transportation, and supporting diverse workforces. This is an ongoing partnership with a second iteration planned for winter 2025.
• Friends of Waterfront SeattlesupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerSea Potential co-created the 'Timelines to Tidelines: A Waterfront Storytelling Event' with Friends of Waterfront Seattle and multiple heritage organizations, creating a community event that reframed dominant narratives around BIPOC relationships to water.
• Black Heritage SocietysupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-creator of the 'Timelines to Tidelines' waterfront storytelling event. Black Heritage Society contributed to the cultural programming and community engagement aspects of the event focused on celebrating Black water histories.
• The Wing Luke MuseumsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-creator of the 'Timelines to Tidelines' waterfront storytelling event. The Wing Luke Museum contributed to the cultural programming, bringing expertise in preserving and sharing Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander histories.
• Wa Na WarisupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-creator of the 'Timelines to Tidelines' waterfront storytelling event. Wa Na Wari, a Black-led cultural center in Seattle's Central District, contributed to programming focused on Black water culture and community storytelling.
• Maritime Washington National Heritage AreasupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-creator of the 'Timelines to Tidelines' waterfront storytelling event. Maritime Washington National Heritage Area contributed maritime history expertise and a platform for sharing underrepresented water cultures.
• Teaching with Small Boats AlliancesupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerSea Potential attended and presented at the Teaching with Small Boats Alliance Conference, where staff shared insights on culturally relevant sailing curriculum. This conference supports professional development and network building for small boat education organizations.

Scale indicators2 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Year Up: National workforce development nonprofit providing skills training and corporate placements for young adults from underrepresented backgrounds; comparable as a scaled provider of employer-connected talent pipelines for non-technical roles that maritime employers could tap.
• Per Scholas: National nonprofit providing tuition-free tech and skilled-trade training to adults from underrepresented backgrounds; comparable as a sector-specific workforce intermediary that, like Sea Potential, combines employer vetting, wraparound supports, and direct hiring partnerships.
• Urban League: National civil rights and workforce development organization serving African American and other underrepresented communities across the US; comparable as a broader DEI workforce intermediary that could partner with or compete against maritime-specific organizations like Sea Potential in serving BIPOC talent pipelines.

Direct peers

• National Marine Sanctuary Foundation: Nonprofit supporting NOAA's national marine sanctuary system through education, conservation, and community engagement; comparable as a marine-focused nonprofit working at the intersection of ocean stewardship and public education/outreach.
• Living Classrooms Foundation: Mid-Atlantic nonprofit providing hands-on maritime, environmental, and workforce education for underserved youth and adults; comparable in mission to combine vocational exposure, water-based experiences, and career pathways for underrepresented communities.
• Center for Wooden Boats: Seattle-based nonprofit providing hands-on maritime and sailing education to the community; Sea Potential launched its inaugural culturally relevant sailing program in partnership with CWB in summer 2024, and both serve overlapping audiences around maritime access and youth education in the Puget Sound region.
• Maritime Blue: Washington-based maritime innovation accelerator and cluster organization that participated in Sea Potential's 2022 funding round; both operate in the Pacific Northwest maritime ecosystem with a focus on workforce innovation and inclusive growth in the blue economy.
• The Maritime Aquarium: Connecticut-based aquarium and maritime education nonprofit serving school-age and community audiences; comparable as a mission-driven organization that uses marine science and water experiences to broaden access to maritime careers and literacy.
• Washington Sea Grant: Federal-state marine research and education program at the University of Washington; partnered with Sea Potential to co-create the Aquaculture Manager Training and shares the broader coastal workforce and marine literacy mission in the Pacific Northwest.
• Sea Education Association: Woods Hole-based nonprofit offering semester-long tall-ship oceanographic programs; directly comparable to Sea Potential as a maritime education provider, and Sea Potential team member Ángel Quimbita previously studied abroad with SEA on a tall ship.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@Sea.Potential/playlists
• Facebookfacebook.com/hashtag/seapotential?source=feed_text&epa=HASHTAG
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sea-potential
• Instagraminstagram.com/sea.potential/?hl=en

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sea Potential