Lab to Market Leadership with Chris Reichhelm

In this episode of Lab-to-Market Leadership, Chris sits down with Brandon Sun, Managing Director and Head of SPAC Investment Banking at Cohen & Company Capital Markets, to unpack an increasingly important financing route for later-stage deep tech companies: going public through a SPAC.
Brandon begins by explaining how SPACs work. A sponsor raises capital into a publicly traded vehicle, typically with a defined period to identify a private company and complete a transaction. Unlike a traditional IPO, the de-SPAC process operates more like an M&A negotiation, allowing the target company and sponsor to negotiate valuation, capital formation, timing, voting structures, and other terms more directly.
Chris and Brandon explore why that flexibility can be particularly valuable for deep tech companies. Traditional IPOs often favor larger, more established businesses with proven revenue models. But sectors such as quantum computing, fusion, space, critical materials, and advanced energy may require substantial capital years before they fit conventional public-market frameworks. In those cases, companies may be evaluated against technical and commercial milestones rather than revenue alone.
Brandon also explains the role of the SPAC sponsor. Beyond providing a transaction vehicle, an experienced sponsor can bring public-market credibility, operating experience, investor relationships, and guidance for leadership teams that may never have run a public company before. 
Chris and Brandon then look at what makes a company genuinely ready for the public markets. Brandon points to sufficient scale, strong internal alignment, compelling public-market comparables, and above all, a management team that is fully committed to the process. 
So, whether you're a deep tech founder approaching a major capital raise, an investor evaluating alternative financing structures, or a board considering when and how to enter the public markets, this episode offers a practical introduction to where SPACs fit within the deep tech financing toolkit.
What You’ll Learn:
How a SPAC works from initial capital raise through the de-SPAC transaction
Why the de-SPAC process behaves more like an M&A negotiation than a traditional IPO
How an experienced SPAC sponsor can add credibility, investor relationships, and public-market expertise
Why the capital held in a SPAC trust is not automatically guaranteed to reach the target company
How PIPE financing can provide committed capital and reduce redemption risk
Why quantum computing, fusion, space, defense tech, and critical materials can be particularly suited to public-market financing
How pre-revenue deep tech businesses can use technical and operational milestones when traditional revenue metrics are not yet appropriate
What Brandon means by “public-private arbitrage” and why public-market comparables matter
What size, leadership commitment, shareholder alignment, and market dynamics can indicate SPAC readiness
Why going public through a SPAC does not reduce the need to hit milestones and build investor trust
How becoming one of the first public companies in an emerging sector can help establish the metrics investors use to value that category
Brandon Sun is Managing Director and Head of SPAC Investment Banking at Cohen & Company Capital Markets, where he focuses on SPAC M&A, go-public transactions, capital formation, specialty finance, and alternative asset management.
He has worked in SPAC investment banking since 2013 and has completed or announced more than 140 SPAC M&A and business combination transactions representing over $250 billion in cumulative transaction value. He has also worked on more than 150 IPOs totaling over $55 billion of capital raised, alongside more than $23 billion in PIPEs, follow-on equity raises, and other financings.
Brandon’s experience spans sectors, geographies, and stages of company development, including transactions involving emerging industries such as quantum computing, fusion, rare earths, critical materials, and other technology-driven markets. 
If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Podcasts. Instructions on how to do so are here.
Episode Resources:
Brandon Sun on LinkedIn
Cohen & Company Capital Markets Website

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In this episode of Lab-to-Market Leadership, Chris sits down with Matt Bedingfield, CEO of Mint Innovation, to explore what happens when deep tech moves beyond the laboratory and starts confronting the realities of industrial scale.
After spending much of his career in senior roles across metals, recycling, finance, commercial strategy, and large-scale industrial development, Matt made the move into a deep tech startup focused on recovering critical minerals from electronic waste. He shares why that transition made sense for him, what founders should look for when bringing experienced corporate executives into a startup, and why the right leadership profile depends heavily on a company’s stage of development.
Matt argues that the journey from lab to market often misses one critical middle stage: industrialization. A technology may be novel and technically proven, but commercial success requires making it repeatable, efficient, scalable, and profitable. That is where manufacturing expertise, commercial judgment, and broader operational leadership become essential.
Chris and Matt also examine the investment challenges facing industrial deep tech, including long capital cycles, policy uncertainty, and the need to educate investors about the very different economics of recycling markets. They discuss why traditional assumptions around contracts and offtake do not always fit the scrap industry, and why companies need to communicate the difference between technology risk, ramp risk, and market risk more clearly.
Finally, Matt makes the case that critical minerals recycling cannot be solved by one technology or one business. Smelters, hydrometallurgy, emerging separation technologies, recyclers, manufacturers, investors, and policymakers all have a role to play. 
Whether you're leading a deep tech company, investing in industrial innovation, or thinking about the future of manufacturing and resource security, this episode offers a practical look at what it takes to move from promising technology to resilient industrial capability.
What You’ll Learn:
Why industrialization is the crucial middle stage between laboratory success and commercial scale
Why high-growth startups need leaders who can operate across multiple functions rather than narrow specialists
How AI, data centers, electrification, and reshoring are increasing demand for critical minerals
How smelters, hydrometallurgy, battery recycling, and emerging separation technologies can coexist within the same ecosystem
Why long-term capital and investor education are essential to scaling critical mineral infrastructure
Why startups need to solve customer problems in the customer’s terms, not simply showcase the technology
How traceability, closed-loop systems, and vertical integration can create additional commercial value
Why critical minerals recycling is ultimately an ecosystem challenge rather than a winner-takes-all market
Matt Bedingfield is CEO of Mint Innovation, where he is focused on building domestic critical mineral supply chains by recovering valuable metals from electronic waste. He has spent more than 20 years working across metals, recycling, industrial strategy, commercial operations, finance, procurement, and manufacturing. His career has included senior leadership roles at Novelis, Tri-Arrows Aluminum, and Wieland, where he helped build and scale major recycling operations, deploy significant industrial capital, and lead acquisitions and supply chain initiatives.
Before joining Mint Innovation, Matt built Wieland North America’s recycling business from the ground up, including a $120 million greenfield facility and a major recycling acquisition. Earlier in his career, he worked on global recycling strategy at Novelis and led commercial strategy across large-scale aluminum operations at Tri-Arrows.
If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Podcasts. Instructions on how to do so are here.

Episode Resources:
Matt Bedingfield on LinkedIn
Mint Innovation  Website
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In this episode of Lab-to-Market Leadership, Chris sits down with Antti Vasara, Vice President, Quantum at PostScriptum, former President and CEO of VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland), and one of Europe's most experienced deep tech leaders, to explore what it really takes to transform scientific breakthroughs into successful companies.
Drawing on decades of experience leading one of Europe's largest research and technology organizations, Antti explains why successful founders are defined less by their technical brilliance than by their willingness to continuously learn, adapt, and evolve. He shares how research organizations can better identify entrepreneurial talent, why supporting founders requires far more than simply transferring intellectual property, and how co-founders, customer validation, and investor readiness dramatically improve a startup's chances of success.
Chris and Antti also examine the governance challenges unique to deep tech startups, including when founders should bring in an independent board chair, how great boards build trust rather than pressure, and why psychological safety is essential for CEOs navigating the uncertainty of company building.
The conversation broadens to Europe's innovation ecosystem, exploring why fragmented markets, inconsistent regulation, and conservative capital continue to limit the commercial success of world-class research.
Whether you're a researcher considering entrepreneurship, an innovation leader building commercialization programs, or an investor supporting science-based startups, this episode offers valuable insights into bridging the gap between laboratory discoveries and global businesses.
What You’ll Learn:
Why a founder's ability to learn and adapt is often a stronger predictor of success than technical expertise alone
How research organizations can identify which scientists have the greatest entrepreneurial potential
Why successful spinouts require far more support than simply licensing intellectual property
The three critical areas where RTOs create the most value: co-founder recruitment, customer validation, and investor preparation
How effective board chairs build trust, challenge constructively, and help founders grow into CEOs
Why Europe's fragmented markets and capital ecosystem continue to slow deep tech commercialization
How policy, regulation, and investment can work together to unlock Europe's innovation potential
Why shifting from risk avoidance to opportunity thinking is essential for building globally competitive technology companies
Antti Vasara is a technology executive, board chair, venture partner, and one of Europe's foremost leaders in deep tech innovation. He previously served as President and CEO of VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, where he spent a decade leading one of Europe's largest applied research organizations and helping transform scientific research into commercially successful companies.
With a career spanning strategy consulting at McKinsey & Company and senior leadership roles at Nokia, SmartTrust, and Tieto, Antti brings more than 25 years of experience at the intersection of technology, business strategy, and innovation. Today, he is Vice President, Quantum at PostScriptum. He also serves as Venture Partner at Kvanted, chairs several high-growth deep tech companies including QMill and SemiQon, and acts as Finland's Special Envoy for Technology while advising the European Commission on quantum strategy.
If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube Podcasts. Instructions on how to do so are here.

Episode Resources:
Antti Vasara on LinkedIn
PostScriptum  Website

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What if the real innovation engine in Deep Tech is not the spinout, but the lab itself?
Professor Hod Lipson is one of the world’s leading robotics researchers – recently the subject of a major Financial Times feature on the future of robotics. He directs Columbia’s Creative Machines Lab, where breadth beats specialisation, portfolios matter more than grades, and academia’s greatest role is to explore what industry cannot yet touch.
In this episode, Hod explains why he built a lab around possibility rather than narrow focus, why he believes robotics is the real frontier after AI, and why the 2030s could be the decade when physical intelligence begins to scale.
For researchers, founders and Deep Tech leaders interested in how breakthrough labs are built – and how ideas become companies.
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How do you move from novel idea to working prototype in hard tech? And how can you bend the rules of the game to give you a better chance of winning?
Greg Smithies is a finance and operations leader who has worked with some of the world's most ambitious companies. He led finance and operations at Elon Musk's Neuralink and The Boring Company. He's also been an investor with Battery Ventures, BMW iVentures and Fifth Wall. He's helped raise over $2bn for startups, and over $950m for funds.
This episode focusses on TRL 4-5 – the prototype stage where many Deep Tech companies stall.
Greg shares how companies like Twelve (e-SAF / carbon transformation) signed a 14-year offtake agreement with British Airways parent company (IAG) while they were still at TRL 4.
You'll learn:
- Why storytelling starts earlier than most founders think
- The three types of hard tech – and why each needs a different capital strategy
- How Neuralink built teams before the company formally existed
- Why off-the-shelf components can be a major advantage
- The biggest hiring mistake – hiring industry insiders too early
Greg outlines three types of hard tech: fundamental new science (Neuralink), re-engineered systems (Boring Company), and economies of scale (solar, batteries, electrolysers). Each faces a different lab-to-market journey.
Essential listening for anyone navigating TRL 4-6
Chapter Notes:
00:00 Runway Experiments Milestones
01:13 Podcast Mission And Stages
03:12 Meet Greg Smithies
05:22 Operator Vs Investor Tradeoffs
08:06 Storytelling And North Star
11:52 Prototype Stage Communication
13:08 Vision First Neuralink Example
15:22 Building Diverse Technical Teams
18:19 Elon Speed And Timelines
22:51 Three Deep Tech Company Types
27:47 Capital Tools For Each Bucket
33:26 Selling Offtakes Early
36:25 Investor Evidence Vs Story
38:05 Defining Best Bets
38:55 Milestones for Next Round
41:23 Runway Experiments Tradeoffs
42:45 Showmanship and Tangibility
45:29 Hard Tech CEO Duality
49:35 TRL1 vs TRL2 Shift
55:14 TRL as Iterative Loop
57:00 Finding the Real Buyer
01:01:24 Who Should Sell It
01:03:39 When to Replace the CEO
01:06:38 Avoiding Industry Insider Trap
01:10:02 Closing Thoughts
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