Episodes
-
Dr. Tanya Ramond of Sapienne Consulting talks about deeptech ventures and commercialization strategies.
OUTLINE
(00:00) Introduction (00:45) Career path (03:50) Transitioning from academia to industry (05:17) Transitioning from corporation to startups (08:06) From PhD to MBA (13:15) Definition of deeptech (14:56) Dual opportunities – ROI and impact (16:57) Risks and uncertainties (19:26) Mitigating risks (23:53) Quantifying returns and impact (26:00) Resources (28:02) Colorado deeptech ecosystem (31:55) Product-Market fit (34:17) Traps founders fall into -
Fred Rostami of GreenLIB talks about recovering and recycling materials from lithium batteries.
OUTLINE
(00:00) Introduction (00:33) Fred’s career path (01:21) GreenLIB’s elevator pitch (01:55) Common and state-of-the-art battery materials recovery tech (03:42) Technical and economic challenges associated with materials recovery (04:43) Recovery vs. recycling (05:16) Recovery/Recycling vs. extraction of new materials (07:06) Innovations in improving efficacy and efficiency of materials recovery (08:14) Factors that make innovation slow (08:58) GreenLIB’s technology (12:52) Regulatory environment (14:29) Commercialization (17:26) GreenLIB’s team (20:52) Entrepreneurial journey (22:03) Challenges, uncertainties, risks (23:58) Mistakes (26:01) Fun aspects of being an entrepreneur -
Missing episodes?
-
Jaehee Sweeney of BEI talks about battery technologies, including BEI's products.
OUTLINE
(00:00) Introduction (00:26) Career path (04:12) Energy storage (07:38) Lithium-based batteries (10:17) Lithium metal batteries (11:39) Ideal battery (12:32) BEI technology (13:32) Distinctiveness and stage of BEI batteries (15:59) Comparison with current solutions (16:04) Charging characteristics of BEI batteries (17:38) Safety characteristic (18:55) Scalability of manufacturing (19:05) Commercialization and adoption (20:30) Prohibiting factors (20:52) Battery value ecosystem (22:53) Market opportunity (23:24) Uncertainties and risks (23:44) Risk mitigation (24:25) Impact -
Jeff Rosedale of BakerHostetler speaks about how deeptech entrepreneurs can navigating the IP landscape and integrate IP with business strategy.
OUTLINE
(00:00) Introduction (00:25) Jeff’s professional background (04:10) Dialogue between scientific advancements and legal frameworks (07:22) How law firms are addressing evolving technologies (09:05) Emerging trends (11:13) Integrating IP and business strategy (14:59) How startups can effectively maneuver IP landscape (16:52) Valuing IP (20:07) Examples of how valuation affects growth and outcome (21:56) Collaboration and IP assignment (25:23) Logistics of licensing IP (28:19) Factors that determine licensing fees (30:08) Pitfalls during licensing and managing conflict (32:05) Advice for entrepreneurs -
Bryce Meredig of Citrine Informatics talks about leadership and the business of science.
OUTLINE
(00:00) Introduction (00:28) Career path (02:06) Academia vs. business (03:15) Deeptech startups vs others (04:48) Integrating science and business (06:08) How to overcome challenges with integration (07:27) Scientific leadership (10:00) Group and organizational dynamics (11:20) Leadership qualities (13:10) Interaction between scientists and non-scientists (15:42) Managing conflict and fostering cohesion (22:10) Effective communication (29:10) Mistakes (33:05) Future -
Pavle Jeremić of Aether Bio talks about protein engineering, lithium extraction, and advanced polymers.
OUTLINE
(00:00) Introduction (00:29) Pavle’s professional background (01:12) Motivation for founding Aether (04:31) Aether’s technology and product lines (06:45) Uniqueness of Aether’s technology (13:08) Importance of Aether’s technology (14:45) Monetization strategy (16:22) Failed strategies (19:41) Market segments (21:14) Value of market opportunity (22:45) Capturing value (24:41) Challenges and risks (27:53) Long-term vision of Aether -
Rodrigo Alvarez-Icaza of Elysium Robotics talks about actuation, movement, and robotics.
OUTLINE
(00:00) Introduction (00:39) Rodrigo’s professional background (03:04) Motivation for founding Elysium (04:17) Elysium’s technology (05:45) Limitations of current robotic systems (07:02) Suite of robotic technologies (08:09) Actuation (10:19) Technical performance metrics (12:06) Target applications (14:38) Traction (15:50) Milestones (16:20) Economics and affordability (17:45) Market opportunity (19:20) Scalability (20:17) Challenges (21:26) Long-term implications (23:40) Vision -
Mahmood Shirazy of Calogy Solutions discusses thermal management systems of electrical vehicles (EV) systems, transitioning from scientist to entrepreneur, and the state of the deeptech ecosystem.
OUTLINE
(00:00) Introduction (00:36) Mahmood’s career (02:32) Calogy’s technology (04:09) Value proposition and uniqueness of technology (06:45) Examples (09:02) Broader impact (11:39) Value of opportunity (12:58) Go-to-market and monetization strategy (15:21) Traction (16:44) Challenges and barriers (18:43) Growth and expansion plans (20:45) Anticipated risks (23:26) Journey from scientist to entrepreneur (25:44) Fundamental differences between academia and business worlds (28:15) State of deeptech ecosystem -
Chad Wasilenkoff of Helicoid Industries talks about commercializing advanced, proprietary composites for sporting goods, automotive, and aerospace applications.
OUTLINE
(00:00) Introduction (00:33) Chad’s professional background (05:25) Helicoid’s technology (07:42) Significance and potential impact of Helicoid’s technology (10:17) Trends in composites industry (13:04) Applications in sporting goods, automotive, and aerospace markets (15:56) How Helicoid captures value it creates (17:27) Helicoid’s monetization and pricing strategies (19:47) Helicoid’s traction (21:53) Challenges and barriers to commercialization and common mistakes entrepreneurs make (26:09) Regulation (27:41) Anticipated risks and uncertainties (29:49) Long term vision of Helicoid -
The team behind TrueAlgae – Angela Tsetsis, Nathaniel Jackson, Taka Kamezawa – talks about commercialization of algae-derived metabolites, which have potential impact across multiple fields, including medicine and health, food and nutrition, and materials science and biofuels.
OUTLINE
(0:00) Introduction (0:33) Angela Tsetsis (02:05) Taka Kamezawa (03:12) Nathaniel Jackson (04:08) Origin of TrueAlgae (05:15) Core technology and product (08:31) Production and manufacturing (09:31) Quality and safety (11:10) Value proposition of product and target market (16:16) Commercialization and monetization strategies (18:36) Value ecosystem and market participants (20:36) Traction and partnerships (21:12) Value creation and capture (22:56) Challenges, risks, and uncertainties (25:59) Barries moving forwards (29:24) Incumbents and disruption (30:11) Long-term vision of TrueAlgae -
Martin Mulvihill of Safer Made, a VC firm, talks about investing in startups that eliminate the use of hazardous chemicals in consumer products and supply chains.
OUTLINE
(00:00) Introduction (00:40) Marty’s career path (03:10) Motivation for becoming a VC (04:38) Safer Made’s origin, mission, and vision (05:40) Safer Made’s investment thesis (06:05) How Safer Made thinks about and measures impact (07:02) Safer Made’s portfolio companies, including P2Science and Repurpose (08:58) How Safer Made sources and evaluates investment opportunities (10:46) Safer Made’s value add beyond capital (12:01) Safer Made’s LPs
(12:27) What makes an excellent deeptech VC (14:07) Safer Made’s risk appetite and desired rate of return (16:28) Chemical industry and its emissions (17:25) Chemical industry’s positive and negative impact on society (20:40) Fossil fuel consumption and driver for its reduction (22:28) Unintended consequences of increased plastic production (24:51) Doubling of chemical industry and curtailing negative effects (27:57) Role and responsibilities chemical industry has in advancing sustainability (29:51) Safer Made’s relationship and interaction with chemical corporations (31:00) Regulation -
Philip Taynton of Mallinda talks about a new class of plastic materials and the journey of spinning out university research.
OUTLINE
(00:00) Introduction (00:39) What Mallinda is commercializing (01:09) Vitrimers (02:25) Applications (04:07) Negative impact of non-recyclable materials (05:39) Barriers to making vitrimers ubiquitous (08:07) Gorilla glass (09:17) Commercialization of vitrimers, Mallinda’s business model (11:40) Market opportunity (12:25) Market segments (14:12) Challenges in the startup journey (16:14) Assistance from the deeptech startup ecosystem (18:32) Vision of Mallinda’s future -
Robert Creighton of Windlift, a startup commercializing an airborne wind energy system, talks about harnessing wind to generate energy.
OUTLINE
(00:00) Introduction (01:44) Rob’s professional journey (04:06) History of wind energy (05:28) Wind vs. traditional sources of energy (06:27) Challenges with offshore wind energy (07:57) Advantages of offshore wind energy generation (09:35) Origin of Windlift (12:02) Windlift's airborne wind energy system (14:48) How Windlift addresses challenges associated with traditional wind energy systems (16:27) Examples of Windlift’s system’s versatility (18:25) Makani and Google X Moonshot Factory (21:23) Windlift’s collaborations (22:40) Windlift’s partnerships with government agencies (24:35) Future of Windlift in defense and civilian sectors (26:27) Wind energy and regulation (28:47) Contribution to clean energy movement -
Ben Schrag of the National Science Foundation talks about deeptech and how the government helps advance innovation.
OUTLINE:
(00:00) Introduction (00:56) Ben’s career path (02:39) NSF’s mandate regarding commercialization of scientific invention (04:39) SBIR and STTR programs (06:31) Origin of SBIR/STTR (08:33) Inventions that SBIR/STTR programs funded (09:55) Disruption (11:00) Statistics and criteria (13:25) How decisions about funding are made (15:10) Successful companies that NSF funded (19:29) Successful chemical startups that NSF funded (22:22) Collaboration (23:50) Trends as seen from the front row seat to innovation -
I speak with Tyler Ellison of ChemDirect about disrupting and digitalizing the chemical supply chain and logistics.
OUTLINE:
(00:34) Tyler’s background (01:07) Nova Molecular (01:25) Chemical supply chain and logistics (02:48) Fragmentation (03:26) Challenges within chemical supply chain (05:19) Barriers to digitalization of chemical supply chain (07:01) Regulation (07:19) ChemDirect (09:29) Motivation for founding ChemDirect (10:41) Financing (10:55) Target markets (11:51) Suppliers (11:55) Barriers startups face (13:16) Opportunities (14:14) Use of AI/ML (16:51) ChemDirect’s differentiation and competitive advantage (18:03) Future of ChemDirect -
I speak with DC Palter of Tech Coast Angels and Chemical Angel Network about investing in clean technologies.
OUTLINE:
(00:00) Intro (0:55) DC’s interest in Cleantech and motivation for investing in Cleantech (4:49) Current trends in Cleantech investing (10:43) How DC evaluates startups (13:33) Difference between Cleantech and software investors (16:24) Difference between entrepreneurs with and without technical training (21:24) Resources and ecosystem for Cleantech startups (24:30) DC’s book “To Kill a Unicorn” (25:36) DC’s blogs (27:09) Troubled companies and frequency of occurrence (33:10) Hype and charismatic entrepreneurs (33:28) What DC hopes to accomplish by publishing a mystery novel about startups -
This episode features Bahruz Mammadov, CEO of BERKM, and John Standish, Technical Director at the Association of Plastic Recyclers, who share their views on the history, current state, and innovation in plastic packaging.
OUTLINE:
(00:00) Intro (01:02) State and scale of plastic packaging (02:49) Plastic recycling (04:03) Factors that promote and limit collection of plastic (05:36) Technical and economic limits to recycling (07:28) Greenpeace (09:31) Association of Plastic Recyclers (10:34) Regulation (12:36) Innovation (16:06) BERKM technology (17:56) Application and market potential (18:44) Current state of BERKM’s technology (20:53) Vision for BERKM’s future (22:02) Financing -
This episode features Mark Vreeke, the co-founder of the Chemical Angel Network, who shares his views about investing in deep tech ventures. Aaron Santos, co-founder of DNP123, joins me as co-host.
OUTLINE
(0:00) Introduction to Mark and Aaron (1:16) Definition of deep tech (2:12) What is fueling investment into deep tech (3:21) Misconceptions about deep tech (4:04) Challenges in deep tech investing (4:35) Risk mitigation (5:12) Deep tech ecosystem (6:58) Academia to entrepreneurship (8:47) Mark’s background (11:17) Advice about starting a chemical venture (12:24) Why Mark started Chemical Angel Network (14:50) Chemical Angel Network’s mission, investment philosophy, and portfolio companies (18:50) How to evaluate early stage deep tech startups (20:44) Obstacles deep tech startups face (23:18) Future of Chemical Angel Network (24:28) Fun question! -
I speak with John Sears of Innovators Legal about intellectual property, business strategy, and deep-tech startups partnering with corporations to co-create value.
(0:00) Introduction (0:43) Role of IP in early stage companies (4:31) Common types of IP (7:28) When to protect inventions by patents vs. keeping trade secrets (10:03) Challenges when protecting IP (16:37) Logistics of protection (19:47) Fast track examination (23:01) Valuation of IP (25:16) Best way for startups to work with strategic partners (32:47) Challenges encountered during strategic alliances (43:11) Consequences of failing to protect inventions properly (48:51) Innovators Legal (50:28) Combining IP and business strategies -
I speak with Alexis Bazzanella of the Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (DECHEMA) and the International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre (ISC3) about sustainable chemistry and multinational collaboration.
(0:49) Definition of sustainability (2:25) Holistic approach to sustainable chemistry (5:06) Adoption of sustainable chemistry principles (8:07) Role of legislation and regulation (9:57) Role of private sector and the public (11:14) Technologies that enable sustainable chemistry (13:48) Approach chemical companies take to achieve sustainability (16:09) International Sustainable Chemistry Collaborative Centre (20:02) Projects supported by ISC3 (22:37) Challenges (26:55) Future of ISC3 – hubs - Show more
