On Nov. 18th, the Center for Technology Licensing at Cornell University, the Praxis Center for Venture Development, Silicon Catalyst, and Red Bear Angels hosted a panel with semiconductor luminaries to discuss and share their experience in the industry.
Moderated by Rick Bahr, Adjunct Professor at Stanford University and investor at Silicon Catalyst, the panelists included Alex Behfar, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Odyssey Semiconductor Technologies, Inc., Shahin Farshchi, Partner at Lux Capital, Veerbhan Kheterpal, CEO, Co-founder, quadric.io, Inc., and Doug Kirkpatrick, CEO of Eridan, Inc.
The panel addressed the moment of resurgence for the semiconductor industry and provided insights into commercializing new ideas. Behfar, Kheterpal, and Kilpatrick detailed how they found their beachhead, particularly Kheterpal addressed the subject in the crowded field of machine learning platforms. Farshchi brought his perspective as an investor and offered insight into the VC industry’s aversion to risk. As an investor, Farshchi discussed how technologies must be de-risked, provide considerable benefits to the customer, and show a significant potential for market penetration.
Watch the panel discussion below.
Where’s the Edge? – Panel
The panel also included pitches from Cornell emerging semiconductor startups Geegah, LLC, OWiC Technologies Inc., and Soctera, Inc. The founders performed their pitches in front of the panelists and an audience of angel investors.
“Geegah, OWiC, and Soctera, collectively, demonstrate the broad range and depth of new semiconductor opportunities-based technologies licensed from Cornell University,” said Robert Scharf, Director of the Praxis Center for Venture Development. “Each team identified a discrete value proposition and target market, and they are all working diligently to perfect their product-market fit and bring their minimum viable products to commercial success.”
Mr. Scharf encouraged the audience to reach out to collaborate and support the Cornell startup community to make the transition from the academic world to the commercial world.
Watch the pitches of Cornell emerging startups incubated at the Praxis Center for Venture development:
Where’s the Edge – Geegah Pitch
Where’s the Edge – OWiC Pitch
Where’s the Edge – Soctera Pitch
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