1. What is your career history?

In 1995, right out of graduate school, I started my first company, Phoenix Integration, at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center. I ran the company for about ten years before I sold it. I had received my Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at Virginia Tech, but I wanted to shift gears from aerospace engineering to biotech and life sciences. For a large part of my career, I have worked with early-stage startup companies and have focused on the areas of life sciences, cancer diagnostics, and research. I’ve started two other companies and throughout my career have served as CEO and consultant for multiple positions across the United States, including San Francisco, California; Denver, Colorado; Northern Virginia; and Rockville, Maryland. I was invited to come to the Corporate Research Center and stepped into my new role in July 2020.

2. What did you learn from launching your first company?

Never give up. When I started Phoenix Integration, everything was new, and anything we tried to do was the first time we tried it. I had a great partner, and we were able to successfully divide the work. We learned from our mistakes and got a little bit better each year. Having options is important; don't bet on just one thing.

3. What is your favorite part of your role at the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center?

The best part of this job is being able to interact with all the inventors and entrepreneurs who are working on new technologies. Talking with the excited entrepreneurs who are creating a business out of a new piece of technology they’ve created – that, to me, is the fun part. I get to work with a diverse array of technologies as well, which keeps it fresh.

4. What was the initial inspiration behind the Flexible Lab Space Assessment project?

The Corporate Research Center had traditionally always built on demand, so if somebody wanted a lab they had to pay to have it built, which is very expensive. It is also very prohibitive for small startup companies, who want to build labs but don’t have enough funds. Small startups would approach us and say they couldn’t afford to build a lab but would rent if we had a space available. From time to time, a company might leave and that would free up some lab space, but our lab space is usually 100 % occupied. What we wanted to do through this project was create something more accessible for small companies. We wanted to build labs they could rent affordably and make it easy for them to get started.

5. Was there anything you found from the project's market analysis that surprised you?

The lack of capacity. This product does not exist within 200 miles of Blacksburg. What's surprising is how much demand we have. We have a backlog of about nine companies that want this kind of space, and yet, we can't find this space anywhere in the region. That fact gave us a lot of confidence to make the decision to go forward with this project.

6. One of the Lab Space Assessment’s products is a design concept for the laboratory space. Could you describe the process behind creating the design?

A team of engineers and consultants looked at how a small company would want to operate and what they would want in their personal space. We also thought about what kinds of companies would be in the space. Along with companies who want wet lab space, we could also have somebody who wants dry lab space to build electronics, drones, or sensors. We wanted to make it as appealing to as many types of startups as possible. Also, interested businesses don’t have to be startups and might find that economically, it’s better for them to be in the space than try to build their own labs.

7. How do you hope the additional lab space will affect start-ups and companies in the region?

I'm hoping this product will provide initiative for people who want to move forward with startups, because they'll see that it's easy to get going. Also, we work with the entrepreneur proof of concept program created by the LINK + LICENSE + LAUNCH group at Virginia Tech. This lab space is very amenable to people going through a proof of concept program. I'm hopeful also that it will help companies win more grants, as they'll have a place to go for a short period of time. In the lab, they will be able to collect valuable information, helping them to write a more compelling grant to win more money.

8. You are working with many stakeholders and partners in the region. What have you enjoyed most about getting to collaborate with these organizations and individuals?

What has been most fun is creating this revolution. We purposefully name it that because we've got a lot of young new leaders stepping into the area. It's so much fun to work with people where you have good chemistry and you complement each other's skills. Everyone has a role to play, and everyone has a lot of respect for and loyalty to the team of revolutionaries building this.

9. What is your favorite part of being a GOVA Grantee?

GO Virginia provides a platform to build what we want to do. It provides great validation to get started, do capacity studies, create prototypes, and then demonstrate what our vision is to investors and the Commonwealth of Virginia, which makes it easier for us to go out and raise more money.

10. If you could invent anything, what would it be?

A time machine.