{"id":78180,"date":"2026-04-16T20:03:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T20:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/from-the-startup-battlefield-stage-to-the-international-space-station-gecko-materials-built-a-sticky-product\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T20:03:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T20:03:26","slug":"from-the-startup-battlefield-stage-to-the-international-space-station-gecko-materials-built-a-sticky-product","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/from-the-startup-battlefield-stage-to-the-international-space-station-gecko-materials-built-a-sticky-product\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Startup Battlefield stage to the International Space Station: geCKo Materials built a sticky product"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\">\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\" class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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 \u2014 materials modeled after the microscopic hairs that allow geckos to stick to walls. She wasn\u2019t 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"tcembed-iframe tcembed--megaphone wp-block-tc23-podcast-player__embed\" height=\"200px\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm?e=TCML1690845998\"><\/iframe>\n\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But translating a lab discovery into a startup is less about the \u201ceureka\u201d moment and more about everything that comes after.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI got up the courage to really address my advisor in a very like we need to have a serious conversation about me spinning out this company and starting it,\u201d Capella said. And that conversation was the beginning of a long process of building geCKo materials.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here is a roadmap for founders spinning a product out of academia.\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\"><strong>Reach out to prior contributors. <\/strong>Connect with all the people who\u2019s work lead up to the big breakthrough. Kerst offered these contributors the options to join the company, become advisors, or receive compensation.<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\"><strong>Ensure you reach the requirements for the licensing process. <\/strong>Kerst started conversations with Stanford\u2019s office of Technology licensing early and she learned to spin it out, she\u2019d need to complete her PhD. These early conversations also helped her prepare for the process to come.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\"><strong>Form the company and lawyer up. <\/strong>In this case, Stanford provided a list of lawyers Kerst had to use. \u201cI spent time interviewing lawyers and finding out about case studies, what other people got, what did you push, what didn\u2019t work, what got pushed back on. And so I just learned a ton, picked my lawyer, and then we went at Stanford.\u201d said Kerst, \u201cI was like, I want a good deal, because I want this to be a big company, and I think it\u2019ll benefit everybody.\u201d<\/li>\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\"><strong>Transition fully into the founder role. <\/strong>Once the licensing agreement is finalized, it\u2019s time to shift from PhD to CEO.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Five years later, geCKo Materials is continuing to scale and develop new ways to apply its adhesive technology which is being tested in applications ranging from robotics and manufacturing to automotive and even space. The company\u2019s material is already in use on the International Space Station, and Kerst says the long-term vision includes replacing traditional attachment methods like Velcro or suction systems.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-techcrunch-inline-cta\">\n<div class=\"inline-cta__wrapper\">\n<p>Techcrunch event<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-cta__content\">\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"inline-cta__location\">San Francisco, CA<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"inline-cta__separator\">|<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"inline-cta__date\">October 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Apply to Startup Battlefield:<\/strong> We are looking for early-stage companies that have an MVP. So nominate a founder (or yourself): techcrunch.com\/apply. Be sure to say you heard about Startup Battlefield from the Build Mode podcast.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>TechCrunch Disrupt: <\/strong>If you\u2019re thinking about applying to Startup Battlefield, then October 13 to 15 in San Francisco, we\u2019re back for TechCrunch Disrupt, where the Startup Battlefield 200 takes the stage. So if you want to cheer them on, or just network with 1000s of founders, VCs, and tech enthusiasts, then grab your tickets.\u00a0<em>Isabelle Johannessen is our host. <\/em><em>Build Mode<\/em><em> is produced and edited by Maggie Nye. Audience Development is led by Morgan Little. And a special thanks to the Foundry and Cheddar video teams.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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.\u00a0 This week on Build Mode, Isabelle Johannessen speaks with Capella Kerst, founder and CEO of geCKo Materials. Kerst was a Stanford PhD [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":78181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_daextam_enable_autolinks":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/BM-s2e9-featured-pic.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}