Robert Hurd: Entrepreneurial talent, not capital, is the key to turning federal lab tech into startups

Robert Hurd, founder and managing director of Cimarron Capital Partners and Development Capital Networks, said on The Transfer Files podcast that entrepreneurial talent matters more than capital or even technology when building successful startups, and he urged federal laboratories and the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) to make their innovations more visible to small businesses.

"You have technology, you have capital, and you have talent," Hurd said. "The focus is to attract resources from the globe. The globe is your bank." He told host Andrea Nelson that startups often do not know federal lab technologies are available or how to access them, and that tech-transfer officers must be more proactive in marketing to industry buyers and entrepreneurs.

Hurd described several barriers that prevent lab technologies from reaching startups. He said investor specialization and narrow investment appetites make it hard to match a company with the right capital and the right laboratory technology. He also said many promising inventions remain inside labs until they are staged for an audience: "Telling that story from a stage is extremely valuable because it gives the people in the audience a way to take their layman's understanding of technology and translate it to their sophisticated knowledge of business."

As an example of the cost advantage labs can provide, Hurd recalled licensing technology from NASA Armstrong when he was involved with a small company. "I once licensed as part of a start up, the licensed technology from NASA Armstrong ... it's probably millions of dollars and our little business had access to it for basically nothing," he said, noting that access to such R&D can substitute for capital the startup would otherwise need to raise.

Hurd recommended several practical tactics: identify industry trade conferences where specific lab technologies would resonate with buyers (he used HVAC trade shows as a hypothetical example), put tech-transfer officers and scientists onstage to tell product-focused stories, and train entrepreneurs to build relationships with scientists before inventions are fully commercialized so they can move quickly when opportunities arise.

He also flagged bureaucratic limits that blunt outreach: travel and marketing restrictions can prevent tech-transfer staff from attending key industry events. "You've spent millions and millions on building the technology, then you can't spend a few thousand dollars to market it properly," Hurd said.

Nelson noted Hurd discussed these themes at the 2022 FLC National Meeting session "Seed Investing in Tech Ventures." She pointed listeners to the FLC Learning Center for recordings and educational materials.

The interview emphasized practical steps rather than new policy: Hurd urged labs and their partners to prioritize visibility, communication, and training to increase the pace at which federally developed technologies reach commercial use by startups and small businesses.