How geCKo Materials Turned a Lab Breakthrough into a Scalable Deep Tech Startup

About this episode

The episode discusses how Capella Kerst transformed a Stanford PhD breakthrough into a scalable deep tech startup, addressing the challenges faced by deep tech founders.

Deep tech founders face a unique challenge: turning breakthrough science into a scalable startup. From navigating academia and IP to fundraising, manufacturing, and product-market fit, the path from research lab to real-world impact is anything but straightforward. This week on Build Mode, Isabelle Johannessen sits down with Capella Kerst, founder and CEO of geCKo Materials and 2024 Startups Battlefield runner up. geCKo Materials is building a bio-inspired adhesive with applications across robotics, manufacturing, and even space. In this episode, they explore how she turned a Stanford PhD breakthrough into a venture-backed deep tech company. This conversation covers: How to turn academic research into a scalable startup The challenges of moving from Stanford PhD to founder and CEO What it takes to raise capital as a deep tech and hardware startup Why commercialization and manufacturing are the hardest parts of innovation How to identify real-world use cases and achieve product-market fit Following recent episodes on building teams, this conversation focuses on the foundation behind every startup: transforming breakthrough technology into a viable business. Apply to Startup…

People in this episode

Host: Isabelle Johannessen

Guest: Capella Kerst

Topics covered

• deep tech
• startup
• innovation
• fundraising
• manufacturing
• product-market fit

Keywords

• bio-inspired adhesive
• robotics
• manufacturing
• capital raising
• commercialization
• real-world use cases

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: geCKo Materials, Stanford, TechCrunch

Books & works: Build Mode

More episodes of Build Mode

• Best of Build Mode: Scaling Company Culture · June 11, 2026 · 18 min
• Best of Build Mode: The Founder Mistakes That Cost Time, Money, and Growth · June 4, 2026 · 27 min
• Best of Build Mode: Cofounders, Conflict and Compatibility · May 28, 2026 · 21 min
• The 7-Failure Rule: How Forethought AI Found Product-Market Fit with Co-Founder Deon Nicholas · May 14, 2026 · 46 min
• Maintaining Momentum and Morale During the Long Road to FDA Approval with Robhy Bustami, BioticsAI · April 30, 2026 · 32 min
• Don't stop hiring humans. Stop hiring the wrong humans with Jaspar Carmichael-Jack, Artisan · April 23, 2026 · 37 min