For Incubators & Accelerators

An operator's eye
inside your cohort.

I work with programs that take deeptech hardware or IP led startups seriously - not as a name on an advisory panel, but as someone who shows up, evaluates with rigor, and gives founders feedback they can act on. Same lens I apply when evaluating deals for investors I work with programs that want their deeptech founders to go the Extra mile beyond research. The focus is helping founders think about markets, customers, and business models from the beginning, not after the prototype. The goal is to help them evolve from academic researchers into founder operators and future CXOs.

Positioning Prep Workshops

Hands-on group workshops for 5-10 deep science founding teams - spread over 10-15 hours across multiple days, with time built in for customer calls between sessions. Covers customer discovery, venture math, unit economics, and the commercial fundamentals that don't get taught in a lab. The goal is a mindset shift: from scientist or academic to founder who understands what customers actually need and how a business works around that.

Cohort Evaluation

Structured assessment across TRL, market readiness, manufacturability, and founder quality. Delivered as clear investment signal - written to be acted on by your team.

Mentor-in-Residence

Ongoing engagement with founders at the lab-to-fundable inflection. Positioning, investor readiness, narrative clarity - so your portfolio moves from technically impressive to investor-compelling.

Demo Day & Pitch Jury

Structured evaluation for grant panels, demo days, and pitch competitions. Clear, actionable feedback rooted in operator experience. Same lens I use evaluating deals for investors.

I keep program engagements focused on Deeptech founders (hardware/IP led). Please feel free to reach out to me.

Email Kalai
Who I Work With

Narrow mandate.
Sharper signal.

I keep a narrow mandate by design. The more specific my focus, the more useful I am. If you are outside these parameters, I would rather say so upfront.

Good Fit

  • Pre-seed or seed stage - no exceptions
  • Deeptech hardware with defensible IP or technology core
  • Founders moving from lab or prototype toward first revenue
  • Teams preparing for first institutional raise
  • IP-led ventures where the moat is in the engineering
  • VCs & accelerators seeking peer-level evaluation support
  • Family offices building a direct deeptech exposure framework
  • Founders who share data, move fast, and engage seriously

Not a Fit

  • Series A and beyond
  • SaaS, AI application layers, or software-only models
  • Healthtech, medtech, or digital biotech
  • Bio-adjacent or life sciences plays
  • Marketplace or consumer internet
  • Fintech, edtech, consumer
  • Ventures without a hardware or physical technology core
  • Founders not ready to share data or move at pace

Sectors I cover

Industrial AutomationRoboticsIndustrial AIAdvanced ManufacturingEnergy HardwareClimate Tech HardwareDefence TechSpace TechAdvanced MaterialsSemiconductors & SensingAgri HardwareHard Mobility

Sectors I don't cover

Life SciencesDigital HealthBiotechPharmaPure SaaSConsumer InternetFintechEdtech