From the Startup Battlefield stage to the International Space Station: geCKo Materials built a sticky product
By Maggie Nye
Published on April 16, 2026.
Islele Johannessen and Capella Kerst, founder and CEO of geCKo Materials, discuss the process of turning breakthrough science into a scalable startup. They discuss how to navigate academia and IP, including fundraising, manufacturing, and product-market fit. Additionally, they discuss the challenges of moving from a Stanford PhD to a successful CEO and how to identify real-world use cases and identify product-specific uses.
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