From Research to Entrepreneurship: Insights from Mariia Zhuldybina, CEO of TRAQC

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Embarking on the journey from academic research to founding a startup can be both exhilarating and challenging. Mariia Zhuldybina, CEO of TRAQC, embodies this transition with a story that inspires and educates. Front Row Ventures Grad2VC Fellow, Antoine Justras-Carignan, sat down with Mariia for an insightful Q&A about her experiences, motivations, and the strategies she employed to navigate the complexities of commercializing technology. Mariia reflected on her experience in the early days of her startup and shared some advice she wishes she had sooner in her entrepreneurial journey. With a fundraising underway — more info on FRV’s investment in TRAQC here!

This interview and blog post is an initiative from the 23–24 Grad2VC cohort, aiming to raise awareness about the commercialization of research. The Grad2VC fellowship, a collaboration between Front Row Ventures (FRV) and les Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ), aims to bridge the gap between academia and industry. By enabling graduate students to apply their technical knowledge to investment decisions, the program strengthens FRV’s investment strategies and fosters high-tech innovation within Quebec’s vibrant university and startup ecosystems.

In this interview, Mariia’s story serves not only as a testament to the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship but also as a beacon of guidance for aspiring academic entrepreneurs. Her journey underscores the importance of resilience, adaptability, and the relentless pursuit of innovation. Mariia delved into the challenges of shifting from a graduate student to a startup leader, highlighting the need for a major mindset change — from perfecting technology to rapidly testing, validating, and selling a vision. She shared the hurdles she faced, such as limited resources, the difficulty of asking for funding, and the essential business skills she had to develop.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Antoine Jutras-Carignan — Front Row Ventures

Can you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and the inspiration behind starting TRAQC?

Mariia Zhuldybina — TRAQC

I arrived in Canada in 2014 to do my PhD. I’m originally from Russia and back in the day I loved working in the lab. I was working with light and saw a lot of applications coming out. It was sometimes very difficult, but the thing that switched my mind was when I came to Printability and graphic communications institute industrial facilities and I saw how people do manufacturing and quality assurance. It didn’t match up in my head at all. It’s the beginning of the 20th century, and somehow, they’re working in a very inefficient way.

At that time I was like, “Oh, okay, so the research which I’m working on, it’s actually needed.” Then it started just accelerating a lot in terms of the research side and also applications for the industry.

At that time, we applied for their IP with my formal research advisor and Axelys who is managing the IP. There was one person who told me, “Look, the market of printable electronics is actually huge — it’s a real market.” I was like, yes, it’s me who is going to bring it to the industrial facilities.

Antoine — FRV

And it can take quite some time to initially file for IP…

Mariia — TRAQC

Oh, yes. I would like to say it was thanks to the ecosystem that we have here, especially Axelys, to this day.

We also had the ETS link to Centech. We had a presentation of Centech and there was an annual conference for grad students, and Richard Chénier was doing some presentations of the companies. I just came to him to talk to him about how I liked [the presentation] and he gave me his card. And so we applied for Centech!

Before that, I met Ben back in physics class in McGill. We just met for beer between our research groups and since we knew each other from that time I just told him about the idea I had and that I would like to do a startup and he’s like oh that’s really cool. We decided to do it together and we’re still here and still working towards our dream.

Antoine — FRV

Reflecting on your transition from graduate student to being a co-founder and CEO, what are some of the biggest challenges that you faced?

Mariia — TRAQC

First of all, it’s mindset. It’s very difficult. It’s very long. I’ve heard many times that as a deep tech co-founder with a technical background, we tend to work on the solution versus developing the business. This is what we had been doing for a while and it took a long time.

The other challenge was that Ben and I are both non-Canadian co-founders. We were international students and we had a lot of limitations in terms of the programs we could participate [in] because of our immigration status.

I know that there are some rules regarding that in Quebec, but still I believe it’s a question which has to be really asked because the majority of graduate students today are international students.

But the mindset that I would say is the most difficult was which took us so much time to switch.

Antoine — FRV

Going from developing the technology versus developing the product, what is the biggest shift in mindset required to be able to think more business versus research?

Mariia — TRAQC

It is about switching to a client perspective, but also, as a researcher, we tend to do everything perfectly, [everything] perfectly working before we even say that we have it.

And we know now that it’s not true. You need to test, you need to validate, and then maybe something that is perfect in your head is not at all what the client needs. So all of these little details [require] having a totally different vision on the development of the technology.

For us, it’s hard to ask for money as a startup because we’re not sure if it’s going to work. So we tend to not always ask for money for a pilot or whatever at all, because we need to make sure it’s right before asking for money, which, again, is not reality, right?

Antoine — FRV

Yeah, so switching to selling, and in particular selling the vision, but also really selling something as soon as possible, and continuing to develop it as it’s released.

Very interesting. On to the next question, is there one transferable skill that you developed in academia that was useful when starting the business?

Mariia — TRAQC

Problem solving, I would say. As an academic, we have a lot of challenges around solving problems.

Besides that, let’s say if you’re a senior student — you do some [people] management, absolutely different management I know, but I still think you learn how to work with people, how to work with the team.

So that’s I think something that was taken from the perspective of being a graduate student.

Antoine — FRV

On the flip side, what is one new skill that is required when going from a researcher to a business person?

Mariia — TRAQC

You know, soft skills, I think. In academia, we lack them a lot.

Maybe even presentation skills. How many really cool presentations at a conference you will hear that are like, “Wow, that’s really cool,” or [presentations] that you could understand fully. It’s very rare. There are very few professors with all the amazing, fantastic ideas, and [presentation] skills.

It’s not enough to pitch to investors, but also to pitch to startup accelerators where you learn how to sell your idea. It was very helpful for both of us [to realize] that we were capable [of doing] that.

What else is missing from an academic perspective? The most simple example I’m always saying to my interns and even to Ben is timesheets. In academia, we never do timesheets. But as a company, we learned with time that tracking and project management is really critical.

Antoine — FRV

And now switching up a little bit, can you walk us through the process of spinning out the university research into a startup? What were the key steps and considerations?

Mariia — TRAQC

I really don’t know if you can say spinout. Yes, it was a university idea, but after I graduated, we had no support anymore. That’s why we became independent immediately. I wish we had [taken] even more independent steps than we did.

In scientific labs as a researcher we have one expectation, but when it comes to the reality there are many pieces of equipment which you cannot bring outside of the lab, so it’s already difficult. In our case, we rented our system on our own from a company which produces them and I regret [that] we didn’t do it earlier. I believe there has to be more programs to support this because deep tech is very expensive.

I did a program that was really for scientific researchers who want to do a startup called Lab2Market. It was one of the first cohorts I did and it was one of the best programs, for users with a scientific mindset, which helped on how to see business development. There should be more awareness of this in the ecosystem for people who are in grad school.

In terms of the steps, I don’t think there is one magic solution, but there have to be discussions. The conversation has to be very clear between both parties, about academics and startup development.

Antoine — FRV

For academics, who would you communicate most with to spin out your university research?

Mariia — TRAQC

In our case we were talking to Axelys. We were not talking directly to the university, because Axelys was taking care of all the patents.

Antoine — FRV

So, something I’m hearing is that one of the best things to be able to valorize more academic research would be more open communication and sensitization to commercialization.

Do you see another point that could help universities make more business out of their research?

Mariia — TRAQC

What else can support these programs? Again, I’m bringing this example, Lab2Market, because in my case, it was a really big help. Centech also helped us get one step ahead. When we came to Centech, Ben and I, we knew nothing, like literally nothing. We learned everything with time. I look back on all of their workshops I had like, “Oh that was useful!”

I believe that there is a missing link between what is done in research and commercialization. There has to be something in between like Lab2Market. Because to just jump from one reality to the other is really messy sometimes.

Antoine — FRV

How do you incorporate your passion for research into your role as a CEO?

Mariia — TRAQC

Well, first of all I wanted to work. [laughs] Otherwise, curiosity. Research is about having a lot, a lot of curiosity. I have the same driver for the startup that I’m very curious about how it’s going to work.

Antoine — FRV

What is one piece advice you would give to other students or researchers looking to commercialize their technology and to start their own company?

Mariia — TRAQC

First of all, communication and clear discussion with all co-inventors. It’s very important.

Second of all, ask for help. As a researcher, we tend to be very shy, ashamed of our questions, and it’s not correct. You need to be curious and you need to come and ask for help. People are always happy to help. I think this is the most important thing to change from being a student, a graduate student.

Don’t be afraid of asking questions. There is always someone who will be happy to help and guide you.

Antoine — FRV

Would you agree also with the fact that some people are scared of sharing their ideas because they’re going to steal it and commercialize it?

Mariia — TRAQC

Well, between the idea [stage] and the real commercialization, there are so many steps that can happen. Even with the same idea, there can be tons of solutions.

Obviously, if you’re talking about deep tech, then intellectual property protection should play a role. But I believe in Quebec, we are pretty well represented, though I cannot talk about universities other than ETS.

But in our case, I believe that it was pretty well done in terms of the protection of our scientific results.

Antoine — FRV

What is the most rewarding aspect of being a co-founder so far?

Mariia — TRAQC

I like optimizing. I like everything to be, you know, “super supply chain” in life. It’s the same when I’m looking at the industry of printed electronics. I believe in it so much, in its potential, that I want it to be optimized and I’m helping to make the production of electronics of the future.

Antoine — FRV

What surprised you the most as a startup founder?

Mariia — TRAQC

I can talk about it as a female founder. It’s not just startups, even other companies, when we have a meeting with Ben, I never get questions. All the questions go to Ben even though I’m a co-inventor of the technology. I know how it is in academia, but was very surprised that it is the same thing going on in industry.

I know the technology, I know how it works.

People don’t take me seriously often when they meet me for the first time. I knew about it in academia, but I was not aware that it’s the same thing in the industry or business world.

Antoine — FRV

Yeah, that’s shocking. That’s shocking to hear. Quite sad too.

Mariia — TRAQC

It has to change. I know that it doesn’t matter the gender or anything else to make the business work. So I would say that was a bad surprise..

And a good surprise, again, was that there are always people to help and support you.

Antoine — FRV

And where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Mariia — TRAQC

You know, I really dream that TRAQC will be running half of the quality control solutions for printable electronics [in the world].

I believe in the best-case scenario in 10 years, TRAQC will be acquired by a bigger player in the field. I already see other solutions we can use for our laser technologies, so maybe there will be something else after that.

I am very passionate about the technology on both sides — about the tech we are using it for and for the application.

I really hope that in 10 years we’re going to have flexible sensors in our hands and there will be no limitation to get access to them, as there is today.

Antoine — FRV

As a researcher myself, I want to publish my results, but when you’re also trying to develop a business, you have to deal with intellectual property and protecting it. How do you balance contributing to open science with the need to protect intellectual property?

Mariia — TRAQC

I will talk about ETS because ETS I think is a good example, especially because there is the close Centech relationship.

It’s very efficient. I remember back in 2018 when we got our results, we talked to Axelys, and within two weeks we submitted the patent application. Everything was done within a month, I would say, and then I could present my results in the conference.

So I think if you’re talking about universities and research, the organization inside of the university has to be very efficient to help keep up with the research, which is one goal, but also the one to help with development. They have to collaborate and work very fast together.

Antoine — FRV

What is the best part of being a founder?

Mariia — TRAQC

Oh, you know, I would say I like freedom. Being a founder, yes, you’re stuck to so many things, but you also have freedom to do it.

Antoine — FRV

Thank you so much for answering all the questions I had. Do you have something more you’d like to say? Maybe an inspirational quote for the students?

Mariia — TRAQC

I don’t have a beautiful quote to finish with, but this freedom, I love a lot, honestly.

And I would like to say that for especially scientific people, scientific founders, don’t be shy to ask someone for help.

Antoine — FRV

Thank you so much for this interview!

Mariia — TRAQC

Thank you so much, Antoine.