Cover of Lab to Market Leadership with Chris Reichhelm

Lab to Market Leadership with Chris Reichhelm

Lab to Market Leadership with Chris Reichhelm

By: Deep Tech Leaders
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Summary

With over 25 years of experience in recruiting leadership teams and boards for advanced science and engineering companies, Chris Reichhelm, CEO of Deep Tech Leaders, offers an insider’s perspective on the pivotal decisions and strategies that shape the success of startups embarking on the lab-to-market journey.

This podcast doesn’t just celebrate innovation for its own sake; instead, it highlights what it truly takes to build, scale, and sustain a successful deep tech company. Through conversations with entrepreneurs, investors, executives, and other key players, Chris will explore the management disciplines, cultures, and behaviours essential for commercialising and scaling deep tech innovations. Each episode will aim to unravel the complexities behind turning rich, research-intensive IP into commercially viable products across various sectors like computing, biotech, materials science, and more.

'Lab to Market Leadership' is for those who are ready to learn from past mistakes and successes to better navigate the path from innovation to market. Whether you're an entrepreneur, an investor, or simply a deep tech enthusiast, this podcast offers valuable lessons and insights to enhance your understanding and approach to building groundbreaking companies that aim to solve the world's biggest problems and improve our way of life.



Learn more about Lab to Market Leadership: www.deeptechleaders.com

Follow us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/deeptechleaders

Podcast Production: www.beauxhaus.co








© 2026 Deep Tech Leaders Economics Leadership Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Why Customer Traction Matters Far More Than Another Perfect Experiment

    Why Customer Traction Matters Far More Than Another Perfect Experiment
    29 Oct 2026

    In this episode of Lab-to-Market Leadership, Chris sits down with Ben Dolman, Founder and ex-CEO at Holiferm, to unpack how a PhD project became a commercial biosurfactant business serving more than 200 customers worldwide.

    Ben explains why Holiferm focused on production economics from the beginning, treating cost as part of the technology rather than something to solve after scale-up. He also shares how early customer outreach, paid samples, and commercial proof helped unlock investment and shape the company’s direction.

    The conversation explores Holiferm’s shift from licensing to building its own pilot and commercial plant, why smaller customers often qualified faster than major corporates, and how scientists, salespeople, distributors, and technical service teams eventually worked together to accelerate adoption.

    Ben also reflects on stepping away from the CEO role as the company entered a more structured growth phase. His biggest lesson for deep tech founders is simple: technical progress alone does not create a market. Commercial work has to start much earlier, shape what gets built, and become a company-wide responsibility.

    What You’ll Learn:

    • Why Ben found commercial scale-up harder than technical scale-up
    • How Holiferm designed around production cost from the earliest stages
    • How Ben used high-volume customer outreach while still completing his PhD
    • Why paid samples became an important proof point for investors
    • How early commercial traction helped Holiferm raise its seed and later funding rounds
    • Why smaller customers can sometimes be more valuable than large corporates during early commercialization
    • How three-to-six-month qualification cycles can accelerate market entry
    • Why Holiferm moved away from licensing and decided to build its own pilot plant
    • How the team built a pilot plant in roughly four months using relatively simple equipment
    • Why distributors still require active support from the startup selling through them
    • How Holiferm moved scientists and other employees closer to customers
    • How customer revenue can strengthen a startup’s position when raising venture capital
    • Why early-stage teams need adaptable generalists rather than rigid job descriptions

    Ben Dolman is the Founder and ex-CEO at Holiferm, a biotechnology company developing biosurfactants designed to provide sustainable alternatives to petrochemical-derived ingredients.

    Ben founded Holiferm in 2018 while completing his PhD in chemical engineering at the University of Manchester. His research focused on making biosurfactants economically viable, and that work became the foundation for Holiferm’s fermentation and production technology.

    As CEO from 2018 to 2025, Ben helped take the technology from laboratory development through pilot scale and into commercial production. Under his leadership, Holiferm built a kilotonne-scale commercial plant, developed products now used by customers around the world, raised more than £30 million from investors, and grew an international team of roughly 65 people across R&D, engineering, operations, sales, and people functions.

    If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Podcasts. Instructions on how to do so are here.

    Episode Resources:

    • Ben Dolman on LinkedIn
    • Holiferm Website


    Let us know what you think...

    Learn more about Lab to Market Leadership: https://www.deeptechleaders.com

    Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/deeptechleaders
    Show more Show less
    52 min
  • From Eureka Moment to Industrial Scale with Jamie Walters

    From Eureka Moment to Industrial Scale with Jamie Walters
    15 Oct 2026

    In this episode of Lab-to-Market Leadership, Chris sits down with Jamie Walters, Co-Founder, Board Member and VP of Strategic Transactions at Calyxia, to explore what it really takes to move deep tech from the lab into commercial markets.

    Jamie reflects on his own journey from researcher to CTO and eventually CEO, including the moment he stopped waiting for the “right” commercial answers and started finding them himself. One Friday night, he sent 100 emails directly to CEOs and CTOs across the chemical industry, using those conversations to identify recurring customer problems and shape Calyxia’s early direction.

    This conversation covers why scientists need to battle-test ideas early, how platform companies can balance a big long-term vision with narrow product focus, and why capital allocation becomes one of the hardest decisions in industrial deep tech.

    Jamie also explains how his own role had to keep changing as Calyxia grew, and why the goal of a founder should eventually be to build a company that can thrive with them, but not because of them.

    For founders, scientists, and operators, this is a practical conversation about adapting fast, hiring well, saying no, and becoming the leader the next stage of the company actually needs.

    What You’ll Learn:

    • How Jamie went from researcher and CTO to CEO of an industrial deep tech company
    • How sending 100 cold emails helped Calyxia uncover early commercial demand
    • Why scientists can get trapped trying to perfect technology before testing the market
    • Why platform companies need a big long-term vision but a much narrower commercial focus
    • How Calyxia evaluated products based on sales potential, profitability, competition, manufacturing ease, and go-to-market channels
    • Why saying no to attractive opportunities can be essential for capital-efficient growth
    • How founders should think about using distributors and strategic partners rather than building every capability internally
    • Why hiring people who can do their jobs better than the founder is a critical scale-up skill
    • What Jamie learned about recruiting for character, resilience, autonomy, and problem-solving rather than résumé alone
    • Why leaders need people around them who are willing to say, “No, you’re wrong”
    • How communication helps align employees, investors, customers, boards, and partners around the same direction

    Jamie Walters is Co-Founder, Board Member and VP of Strategic Transactions at Calyxia, an industrial deep tech company developing advanced, sustainable specialty ingredients for global markets.

    Jamie co-founded Calyxia in 2015 after helping invent the company’s foundational microencapsulation and microparticle technology. He initially joined the project as a researcher before taking on broader responsibility across science, IP, customer development, business planning, fundraising, and commercial strategy. Within roughly a year of incorporation, he became CEO.

    He went on to lead Calyxia for more than a decade, taking the business from laboratory research through industrialization and commercialization. During that period, he helped establish the company’s IP portfolio, manufacturing capability, strategic partnerships, financing strategy, and go-to-market model across sectors including Beauty & Personal Care, Home Care, Agriculture, and Advanced Materials.

    If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Podcasts. Instructions on how to do so are here.

    Episode Resources:

    • Jamie Walters on LinkedIn
    • Calyxia Website
    • Read next on calyxia.com: Calyxia raises €15 million to bring an end to global microplastic pollution - Unique Microencapsulation Technology | Calyxia


    Let us know what you think...

    Learn more about Lab to Market Leadership: https://www.deeptechleaders.com

    Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/deeptechleaders
    Show more Show less
    53 min
  • How to Spot a Deep Tech Founder Worth Betting On with Adam Draper

    How to Spot a Deep Tech Founder Worth Betting On with Adam Draper
    1 Oct 2026
    In this episode of Lab-to-Market Leadership, Chris sits down with Adam Draper, Founder and Managing Director of Boost VC, for a conversation about what seed-stage investing really looks like when the company is attempting something that may not work for years.Adam comes from a family deeply rooted in the history of venture capital, but the principle that has shaped his own investing philosophy is surprisingly simple: venture is a people business. At the earliest stage, there is often not enough revenue, data, or market evidence to make an investment look obvious. Instead, investors are making a judgment about the people behind the company and whether they have the commitment to keep going when the path gets difficult.That philosophy has led Boost VC toward what Adam calls “making sci-fi a reality.” The firm has backed companies across nuclear energy, space, biotech, crypto, longevity, robotics, and other frontier technologies, often before those categories attracted mainstream investor attention.Adam explains that one of Boost’s biggest advantages has been looking where everyone else is not. If every venture firm is excited about the same opportunity, the economics become more competitive and the potential advantage shrinks. At seed stage, he wants to find talented founders working in markets that other investors are still ignoring, dismissing, or even laughing at.This conversation also gets practical about what Adam looks for in a founder. Commitment sits at the top of the list. He wants to know whether someone is truly consumed by the mission or simply exploring an interesting idea. Curiosity, energy, intensity, and the ability to communicate a complicated technical idea clearly also matter, particularly because deep tech founders need to build trust with investors, customers, governments, and future employees.So, for founders, the episode offers a rare look at how a seed-stage deep tech investor thinks when deciding whether to make that first bet. For investors, it is a reminder that the biggest opportunities may appear before a market has a name, a consensus, or even much proof that it should exist.What You’ll Learn:Why Adam believes venture capital is fundamentally a people business and what he looks for in a deep tech founder before writing the first checkHow Boost VC finds opportunities in markets other investors are overlookingWhy peer pressure can be dangerous for seed-stage investorsWhy clear communication is especially important for deep tech foundersWhat Adam learned from investing around Bitcoin before it became widely acceptedWhy the first $500,000 can be such an important vote of confidence for a founderHow deep tech companies should define and communicate progress after raising capitalWhy founders need to build trust with investors, governments, customers, and other stakeholdersHow Boost distinguishes founders who are truly committed from those who are merely “visiting” an ideaWhy the best early-stage opportunities can emerge before the rest of the market recognizes a categoryAdam Draper is Founder and Managing Director of Boost VC, an early-stage venture firm he co-founded in 2012 to back founders working on ideas at the edge of what is technically possible.A fourth-generation venture capitalist, Adam grew up around the industry but has built his own investing identity around what Boost describes as “making sci-fi a reality.” He was an early investor in Coinbase and has since backed companies across nuclear energy, space, biotech, robotics, crypto, AI, longevity, and other frontier technologies.Boost VC primarily invests at the pre-seed stage, often writing $500,000 first checks into founders tackling technically ambitious problems. The firm’s portfolio includes companies such as Radiant Nuclear, K2 Space, Colossal Biosciences, NewLimit, Coinbase, and others. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Podcasts. Instructions on how to do so are here.Episode Resources:Adam Draper on LinkedInBoost VC WebsiteLet us know what you think...Learn more about Lab to Market Leadership: https://www.deeptechleaders.comFollow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/deeptechleaders
    Show more Show less
    42 min
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