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Many problems They are not something you can solve in a year or two or 10.
For founders and investors, such long timelines can seem daunting. But Gene Berdychevsky, co-founder and CEO of battery technology startup Sila, finds the hard tech problems also very motivating.
“It’s always a good time to be a strong tech startup,” Berdichevsky said at TechCrunch Disrupt. “One reason is that the world doesn’t change just because it has to change. It changes because someone pursues something really hard and actually succeeds.
Such hard.tech startups run the gamut from advanced batteries made by Sila to nuclear fusion, quantum computing, automation and robotics. Any technology with the potential for such a broad impact has a huge potential market, and that means a certain segment of investors are willing to be in it for the long haul.
“Hiring people who do technical stuff. Follow it, but then go learn the other pieces.” Gene Berdichevsky, co-founder and CEO of Sila
“We’re looking for real step-changing, game-changing technologies that benefit everyone and we believe that will make a big difference. [total addressable market]” said Milo Werner, General Partner of The Engine.
When Berdychevsky founded Silan, he believed his company’s technology, a silicon-based anode that promised to improve lithium-ion battery power by 20%–40%, was advanced enough that it would have no problem finding a market.
What he didn’t expect was how long it would take. When Silla’s first product launched in the Whoop 4.0 wearable last year, the road to market was more than double what Berdychevsky expected.
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