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From Lab to Prototype: The Ugly Middle of Innovation
Most technologies don’t fail in the lab.
They fail in the messy middle — between promising data and a working prototype.
In this episode, I talk about:
• Why elegant theory breaks under engineering constraints
• The first prototype shock
• Thermal, electrical, and materials challenges
• The TRL funding gap
• Iteration discipline and kill criteria
• When to pivot vs when to persist
Having spent over a decade as a research professor and now running an R&D company focused on plasma systems for medical and environmental applications, I’ve lived this transition firsthand.
This is a calm, honest…
The skinny
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