Pavel Cherkashin

You can have groundbreaking science, elegant engineering, and even early customer interest. But without this one thing, you don't have an investable business. After two decades running IP strategy projects and now leading UC Berkeley's Deep Tech Innovation Lab while building the Berkeley Gateway Accelerator, I've watched countless brilliant technologies die in the valley between breakthrough and business. The problem isn't what most technical founders think it is. It's not about having better tech. It's not about getting more funding. It's not even about finding product-market fit. The fatal flaw shows up much earlier—and it's almost always the same mistake. In my latest piece, I answer questions from a Taiwanese entrepreneur about what really separates deep tech ventures that scale from those that stall. Including one provocative suggestion for Asian ecosystems that has nothing to do with technology. Read the full conversation, linked below. #DeepTech #Innovation #Startups #IntellectualProperty #VentureCapital

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**Navigating the Future of Energy Storage: Insights from Google's Major Investment** Google's recent $1B investment in Form Energy, which specializes in 100-hour battery technology, signals a powerful shift towards sustainable energy solutions. As venture capitalists, we at ElevenX Capital understand the implications of such investments on market dynamics and innovation trajectories. What does this mean for the future of energy startups seeking funding? Engaging with evolving technologies is crucial for determining our investment strategies. #investing #innovation #venturecapital #entrepreneurship

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We are pleased to announce a new investment in a startup developing quantum computer hardware. The neutral atom approach has rapidly emerged over the past few years as one of the most promising candidates for realizing quantum computing. At the same time, research and development toward building a truly useful quantum machine is still in the midst of global competition—an area where we believe Japan’s science can stand out on the world stage. From before the company was even founded, we have worked closely with the founding team, sharing the goal of “building a quantum industry in Japan that leads the world.” We are truly excited to embark on this great challenge together with a dream team of top domestic leaders now united under one vision. Beyond Next Ventures will spare no effort in supporting the company until the day a truly practical quantum computer is realized and changes the world. https://yaqumo.com/en/

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Big News for European Deep Tech Innovation! Mundi Ventures just closed €750M for Kembara Growth Fund dedicated to European deep tech solutions. This is a game-changer for European growth stage startups driving innovation in AI, robotics, clean energy, and sustainability. Europe is a hotbed for cutting-edge technology and climate action. Funds like Kembara are crucial for scaling these innovations and positioning Europe as a global leader in deep tech. #DeepTech #ClimateTech #EuropeanInnovation #VentureCapital #Growth #Sustainability Javier Santiso Yann de Vries

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Hexcel Adds Independent Director in Deal With Activist Investor "Hexcel added a new independent director to its board in a move that avoids a potential proxy fight for the aerospace materials company with activist investor Vision One Fund. "As part of an agreement between the two sides, Vision One will withdraw their nominees to the board that were to be voted on at the company's annual shareholder meeting. Vision One will also support Hexcel's board nominees, and agree to certain standstill restrictions and mutual non-disparagement provisions, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. "The new director, former Kaman Chief Executive Officer Neal Keating, was appointed effective Tuesday." Keating's experience in aerospace may make him an ideal director choice. Yet from a bigger picture perspective, I wonder if this settlement is the right move for investors. More and more activist campaigns are settling rather than running the full process of a proxy fight with typically a greater number of directors nominated by the activist. Hopefully, activists are becoming like the public company boards they battle, i.e. more focused on reaching consensus than big results. #governancearbitrage #proxyfights #corporategovernance #activistinvesting #valuecreation https://lnkd.in/gazBUGFp

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Venture Capital has to reinvent itself for ai. Ai ventures need very little capital for core technology and “coal power plant like”funding for infrastructure. Both don’t work for the current Vc model. Sandhill Road venture capital is in dire straits. Their playbook which is borrowed from Hollywood depends on a Hollywood studio type concentration of power. In place of Warner brothers, fox, universal, Disney etc they created Microsoft, meta, Google, Amazon etc. And then Netflix came along and ate the lunch of the studios disrupting the industry with an integrated model which eliminated all intermediaries and offered an “eat all you can”. Now if an AI super app from India were to do the same to all foundational models - it would eliminate all hope of recovering the Rs 2,000 crore pa salary packages doing the rounds of the valley. Venture Capital was about creating hype - multiple firms backing one horse - and that horse then buying everyone that mattered. Microsoft did that and then the others followed. The playbook was kill or acquire. And hire lots of lobbyists for regulatory capture. And criminals if required. That playbook is no longer going to work. For the past decade, Indian venture capital has chased billion-dollar outcomes. Unicorns became the scoreboard. But economies are not built by a few giant explosions. They are built by millions of small pops. The ten or twelve venture capital companies that do popcorns are quiet and hidden. They generate a return on investment more than drugs or prostitution. And have no need for external capital. The others are all smoke with little fire. And are desperately looking to offload their overpriced purchases. The unsuspecting retail investor is one Guinea pig. Unicorn investing concentrates capital into a tiny number of companies. Popcorn investing spreads capital across thousands of ₹10 crore, ₹50 crore, ₹200 crore businesses. The former creates valuations and bubbles. The latter creates employment and sustainable businesses. A single unicorn may employ 3,000 people. But 100,000 smaller companies employing 10 people each create 1 million jobs. That is the scale India actually needs. More importantly, popcorn companies build real capability — manufacturing firms, component suppliers, specialized engineering companies, regional service providers. These businesses rarely reach billion-dollar valuations. But they form the industrial backbone of a nation. They spawn an ecosystem. Germany did not rise on unicorns. China did not start with tech giants. It started with thousands of small factories. The United States did not become an innovation powerhouse through a handful of startups, but through decades of dense entrepreneurial layers. Unicorns are peaks. Popcorn is the mountain. India’s future will not be determined by how many billion-dollar companies it creates, but by how many hundred-crore profitable companies it produces. We don’t need more unicorn hunters. We need more popcorn makers.

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