{"id":1220,"date":"2025-06-30T10:27:55","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T09:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/?p=1220"},"modified":"2025-10-01T10:32:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T09:32:01","slug":"1220","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/2025\/06\/30\/1220\/","title":{"rendered":"IESE 40under40 Cristina Aleixendri: Powering the future of shipping with wind and purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Cristina Aleixendri didn\u2019t set out to change the shipping industry. An aeronautical engineer by training, she simply saw a massive challenge\u2014maritime decarbonization\u2014and an opportunity to apply her expertise in wings and airflow to an entirely different mode of transportation.<\/p>\n

Today, as co-founder of bound4blue<\/strong><\/a>, Cristina is helping ships return to their roots by reintroducing wind power through rigid suction sails. Her startup\u2019s technology offers a practical, scalable way for vessels to reduce fuel consumption and emissions\u2014by up to 40%\u2014with ROI in under five years. And it\u2019s not just about sustainability: with evolving regulations and rising fuel costs, Cristina makes a clear call to ship operators to \u201cconsider wind propulsion as an alternative fuel source.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting there, though, wasn\u2019t easy. From countless rejections to industry skepticism, Aleixendri and her co-founders were told they were crazy. But she persevered, motivated by moments like seeing the smile on a customer\u2019s face after the first successful installation. \u201cThat photo told me everything,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n

A 2022 <\/em><\/span>IESE\u2019s 40under40<\/em>, Aleixendri\u2019s story is anchored in values and resilience. She credits a high school math teacher for sparking her engineering journey and sees success not as a title or metric, but as staying true to one\u2019s purpose.<\/p>\n

In both life and business, she lives by a clear motto: \u201cLive with purpose, align your actions with your values, and persevere through challenges\u2014you\u2019ll find your way.\u201d<\/strong> That, and one more powerful habit she\u2019s adopted in recent years: \u201cSpeak less and listen more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cristina Aleixendri is not only helping ships sail more sustainably\u2014she\u2019s proving that with vision, grit, and values, anything is possible.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49 Explore Cristina\u2019s venture, bound4blue<\/a>
\ud83d\udc49 Learn more about IESE 40under40<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cristina Aleixendri didn\u2019t set out to change the shipping industry. An aeronautical engineer by training, she simply saw a massive challenge\u2014maritime decarbonization\u2014and an opportunity to apply her expertise in wings and airflow to an entirely different mode of transportation. Today, as co-founder of bound4blue, Cristina is helping ships return to their roots by reintroducing wind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2424,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,240],"tags":[],"coauthors":[116158],"class_list":["post-1220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entrepreneurship","category-innovation"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t