Ep 73 - Winning Grants, Landing VCs and Building in Deep Tech, with Elise Strobach

In this episode, Elise Strobach, co-founder and CEO of AeroShield, joins Shubha Chakravarthy to share her journey from lab discovery to clean tech startup founder. Drawing on her experience as a mechanical engineering PhD at MIT, Elise discusses how a breakthrough in transparent silica aerogels evolved into a venture-backed company tackling one of the world’s biggest energy inefficiencies—heat loss through windows.

Tune in to listen to Elise's thoughtful and actionable takes on:

1. How the path to commercialization happens in the real world
2. The big, unsuspected factor that can make your breakthrough marketable
3. Key pivot points that drive commercialization impact in the research phase, and how to capitalize on them
4. How to do customer interviews the right way
5. The surprising secret to making your innovation attractive in the commercial market
6. What big adverse events can teach you, and how to turn them to your advantage
7. A killer strategy to optimize your grant outcomes
8. How to use grant applications to also build customer traction 
9. How to build your execution roadmap when dealing with uncertain funding outcomes
10. A secret to overcome imposter syndrome

and much more!