From Research to Reality: Building R&D Teams That Can Scale
How do you take deep tech innovation from a spark of an idea to a product that thrives in the market?
It’s a question many researchers and startup founders wrestle with. And in our recent R&D Management Podcast episode, we sat down with someone who's lived it: Mykola Maksymenko — a research scientist turned startup founder, R&D leader, and business school lecturer.
Mykola’s journey spans academia, industry, and entrepreneurship — and his perspective offers invaluable lessons for anyone navigating the complex world of applied R&D.
From the Lab Bench to the Boardroom
Mykola began his career deep in academic research, completing postdocs at elite institutes like the Weizmann Institute of Science. It was there he caught the commercialization bug — watching closely how cutting-edge science transitioned into viable startups.
This early exposure shaped his mindset: “I always wanted to work on something today that could actually be used in real life.”
His move to industry—and eventually founding a quantum computing startup—was a natural evolution of that passion.
How to Build (and Scale) an R&D Team
Unlike textbook cases, Mykola didn’t inherit a team—he built it from scratch. Starting with a single research engineer and an intern, he focused on hands-on leadership:
Immersing himself in early-stage work
Co-writing papers
Collaboratively setting direction
Once momentum was established, he stepped back, empowering team members to grow their own leadership. This “embedded leadership” style not only builds trust but sparks motivation.
“If your research is successful, you get to expand your team. It’s their success, not just yours.”
Aligning Research with Commercial Goals
One of the biggest challenges in R&D is keeping teams aligned with the bigger picture. As Mykola points out, researchers can easily drift into fascinating but commercially irrelevant directions.
His solution? A lightweight stage-gate review system every 4–6 weeks:
Check if the research is progressing toward applied use
Identify key assumptions
Reconnect with customer feedback
Explain the why behind every strategic redirection
“Interesting research questions are not enough—you need to ask the questions that matter for the market.”
Communication as a Core R&D Skill
It’s not enough to be technically brilliant. In Mykola’s teams, communication is a required skill. Whether it's presenting research, aligning stakeholders, or pitching a prototype, researchers need to close the loop between lab and market.
His recruiting process includes:
Inviting candidates to give talks
Reviewing their open-source or community involvement
Evaluating ability to translate complexity into clarity
Managing Risk in Complex Technologies
Mykola breaks innovation risk into three buckets:
Technology Risk – Can it even be built?
Market Risk – Will anyone care?
Business Risk – Can you make money from it?
His approach to risk mitigation?
Break big ideas into smaller chunks (experiments, modules, MVPs)
Run parallel tracks with varying maturity and validation levels
Open-source non-core components to build community and reduce isolation
Whether you're in quantum computing or AI, the takeaway is clear:
You need more than one path to success. Build a portfolio of possibilities.
Final Thought
This episode is packed with insights for anyone working at the intersection of research, product, and leadership. Whether you're a startup founder, R&D manager, or just trying to bridge the gap between science and business, the lesson is the same:
Start small, stay aligned, lead with passion—and always validate early.
Want to go deeper?
Check out our new book:
R&D Management and Technology Commercialization
It’s full of case studies, frameworks, and real-world lessons like these.