From the Startup Battlefield stage to the International Space Station: geCKo Materials built a sticky product
For a successful deep tech startup, the laboratory breakthrough is only the first step. To spin out an innovative technology into a scalable business, a founder has to navigate a complicated legal process. This week on Build Mode, Isabelle Johannessen speaks with Capella Kerst, founder and CEO of geCKo Materials. Kerst was a Stanford PhD student, working on bio-inspired adhesives — materials modeled after the microscopic hairs that allow geckos to stick to walls. She wasn’t looking to be a founder but when she had a major breakthrough that made it possible to make the material rapidly and reliably, she knew it was a viable product. But translating a lab discovery into a startup is less about the “eureka” moment and more about everything that comes after. “I…
