Deciding When Research Should Become a Startup with Omar Zahr
About this episode
Omar Zahr discusses the challenges of deciding when research should become a startup and the factors that contribute to making a technology company-ready.
One of the toughest calls in technology transfer isn’t deciding whether a discovery is interesting or even promising. It’s deciding whether that discovery should become a company at all. There’s a big difference between a strong piece of research and something that can support a venture-backed startup, and most of the real work happens in that space in between. My guest today is Omar Zahr, Chief Technology Officer at TandemLaunch, a venture creation firm that builds companies around university technologies in collaboration with global industry and academic networks. Omar started his career as a researcher at McGill University, where he completed a Ph.D. in Materials Chemistry before moving into venture development. Over the years, he’s worked at the intersection of deep tech, founders, and university IP, helping shape early-stage research into companies that are actually investable and positioned for growth. We talk about how to evaluate whether a technology is truly “company-ready,” what it takes to build a business around early-stage science, and why not every invention should become a startup. Omar also shares how TandemLaunch approaches founder pairing, how investor…
Keywords
- research commercialization
- venture creation
- investable companies
- founder pairing
- tech transfer
More episodes of AUTM on the Air
- Cleaning Up Forever: How AI and Membrane Science Are Taking PFAS Out of Our Water with Dr. Yongsheng Chen
- Startup Success Starts with the Problem, Not the Tech with Marc Filerman
- Building Strong Industry Academic Partnerships with Mark Fairey
- A Father's Mission: How Danyelza Became a Life-Saving Therapy for Pediatric Neuroblastoma with Dr. Nai-Kong Cheung, Dr. Yashodhara Dash & Dr. Imke Ehlers-Surur
- Tokenizing the Future: How Brilliance Is Creating a New Model for IP Ownership and Investment with Chris Hack and Geoffrey Smith
- The Industry Side of the Table: How Samsung Evaluates University Partnerships with David Chang
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the AUTM on the Air podcast page.