Student Startup Spotlight: Kailey Shara, ATLAS Institute PhD & CEO of Chembotix
Kailey Shara, ATLAS Institute PhD student and a member of theÌýLaboratory for Emergent Nanomaterials, is one of more than 90+ teams registered to compete in this year's New Venture Challenge, the university's cross-campus entrepreneurial program and competition, which connects the ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä Boulder campus with the Boulder community to develop and fund innovativeÌýideas. Participants attendÌýyear-round events, networkÌýand collaborateÌýwith mentors to refine their ideas and form startup teams to pitchÌýfor funding (up to $100,000!) at the NVC Championships in April.
Kailey is the CEO of Chembotix, a company thatÌýis developing a robotic automation platform to dramatically speed up chemistry research & development (R&D). As a second-time NVC participant–last year she and her advisor,ÌýCarson Bruns, made it to the semifinals–she's immersed herself in ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä Boulder's innovation ecosystem to help get her startup off the ground. HerÌý°ä³ó±ð³¾µþ´Ç³ÙÌýresearch is the premiseÌýfor the company. This year her team includesÌýeight teammates and two advisors.
Q:ÌýWhat is your startup or business idea? How did you come up with your business idea? What inspired you?Ìý
KS:ÌýChemistry is a foundational science for many other disciplines. From pharmaceutical drugs to new materials, technological progress depends on the products of the chemical sciences. Chemistry research is, however, held back by the tedious labor required to synthesize new molecules. While pursuing my undergrad degrees in electrical engineering and chemistry, the engineer in me was struck by how manual most chemistry research still is. Frustrated by this reality, I decided to build my PhD around addressing the key technical challenges holding back the development of chemistry automation systems. Chembotix was born from this research in order to bring these nascent technologies to market.
Q:ÌýWhat ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä Boulder academic courses and entrepreneurial resources have you taken advantage of to help you build your business idea or startup?Ìý
KS:ÌýIn addition to completing two customer discovery programs throughÌýÌý(Research-to-Market and Starting Blocks), Chembotix will be one of several startups participating in theÌý, hosted by the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship.ÌýI strongly recommend all of these programs to other ¶¶ÒõÂÃÐÐÉä startups, as well as the frequent workshops and presentations hosted by Venture Partners. Finally, the private company VEX Robotics, in partnership with theÌýATLAS Institute, has been supporting my research. Private companies love to help students incubate and develop ideas that may one day be commercialized; you never know who might be able to help you unless you ask!
ATLAS students have successfully competed in past NVCs, including theÌýEdBoard TechnologiesÌýteam co-led byÌýCody Candler, MS-CTD '20, andÌýRuhan Yang, MS-CTD student,Ìýwinning fourth placeÌýand taking home $12,500 in NVC 12.ÌýTed Thayer,ÌýMS-CTD student, and two team membersÌýwonÌýfourth place and $7,500Ìýat NVC 11.