{"691836":{"#nid":"691836","#data":{"type":"news","title":"200 Startup Teams Mark a Record-Breaking Year for Entrepreneurship at Georgia Tech\u202f ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThis year, Georgia Tech\u0027s Startup Launch program surpassed 200 startup teams for the first time, marking the largest cohort in the program\u0027s history and highlighting the growing momentum for entrepreneurship across campus.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe milestone was driven by startup activity in CREATE-X and Quadrant-i, two cornerstone initiatives of the Office of Commercialization, and reflects the expanding reach of Tech\u0027s innovation ecosystem. The programs support students, faculty, researchers, and alumni in transforming ideas into companies within industries ranging from healthcare and robotics to legal technology and accessibility.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Crossing the\u202f200\u202fstartup teams\u202fmilestone is more than a record. It\u0027s a reflection of a commercialization ecosystem that is helping\u202ftranslate\u202fideas\u202finto products and companies that solve real problems,\u0022 said Raghupathy \u0022Siva\u0022 Sivakumar, chief commercialization officer. \u0022Building a dense, connected community of founders is essential to our vision of becoming the nation\u0027s leading startup campus and maximizing the\u202fvalue\u202fof Georgia Tech innovation.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EDiverse Paths to Entrepreneurship\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe founders behind this year\u0027s milestone represent the many paths entrepreneurs can take at Georgia Tech. They come from different disciplines, pursue\u202fvarious\u202findustries, and\u202farrive with\u202fa wide range of\u202fexperiences, but all share a desire to solve meaningful problems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor alumnus\u202fAlberto Flores Guerrero, who earned an M.S. in cybersecurity from the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts in 2025, and his longtime friend and co-founder, Luis Estala, that journey to CREATE-X began\u202fnearly\u202f2,000\u202fmiles\u202ffrom Atlanta.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe pair are building Separate, an AI-powered platform designed to help people navigate divorce by simplifying legal processes, organizing paperwork, and connecting users with resources. Drawing on Flores Guerrero\u0027s background as a lawyer, the company aims to make one of life\u0027s most stressful experiences more manageable.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen they learned about CREATE-X Startup Launch\u0027s kickoff just two weeks before it began, they\u202fdidn\u0027t\u202fhesitate. Flying\u202fwasn\u0027t\u202fan option, so they packed the car and drove from Mexico to Atlanta.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFour days later, they arrived at Georgia Tech, convinced the opportunity was worth every mile. Inspired by the\u202fkickoff\u202fexperience, Flores Guerrero soon returned to Mexico, packed his belongings, and moved to Atlanta for the summer.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor both of them, Startup Launch became more than a summer program. It gave them the confidence to build their company as part of a community of\u202ffounders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022This experience has completely changed the way we think about ourselves and what\u0027s possible for our company,\u0022 Estala said. \u0022This is the chance of our lives.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I\u0027ve learned so much just by being around these people,\u0022 Flores Guerrero said. \u0022Georgia Tech has some of the smartest students in the world, and then you put the most entrepreneurial of them together in one room. Nice things should happen.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EBuilding a Deep-Tech Startup\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Georgia Tech master\u0027s student Rohit Gore in the College of Computing and co-founder Patrick Walsh, entrepreneurship began with one idea. But their startup took shape after they pivoted in a new direction.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs they developed a low-cost drone, they kept\u202fencountering\u202fthe same challenge: Robots that performed well in simulations often struggled in real-world environments. After talking with robotics teams across the country, they launched Brio Robotics, a company developing a simulation and automated testing platform for autonomous systems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECREATE-X Startup Launch helped the team refine its approach to customer discovery, sales, and commercialization.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We\u0027re engineers by trade, and we don\u0027t know anything about B2B sales,\u0022 Gore said, noting that Startup Launch Director Margaret\u202fWeniger \u201chas been hugely helpful. It was so valuable to hear her perspective on what good sales metrics look like, what the goal of a customer call should be, and how to approach those conversations.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EToday, Brio Robotics is\u202ffinalizing\u202fits first design partnership with a drone company and has five\u202fadditional\u202frobotics companies in its sales pipeline.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003ETurning Research\u202fInto\u202fa Startup\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile many startups begin with student entrepreneurs, others\u202femerge\u202fdirectly from Georgia Tech\u0027s research labs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Yue Chen, associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, commercialization meant looking beyond the lab. Working with Ph.D. students Yixuan Xia, Yilin Cai, and Samuel Wilcox, Chen launched Fructus, a startup developing robotic harvesting technology to help growers address labor shortages and improve harvesting quality.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe technology began as a USDA-funded blackberry harvesting project. But through Quadrant-i\u202fStartup Launch, conversations with growers and industry stakeholders revealed a greater opportunity in Georgia\u0027s blueberry industry, prompting the team to pivot toward a larger market and a more pressing need.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022For faculty, we focus on research and developing fundamental science\u0022 Chen said. \u0022But there\u0027s a gap between the work we do in the lab and the final product.\u0022 Startup Launch helped bridge that gap through customer discovery. It \u201cgave us the opportunity to get out of the lab, talk to stakeholders, and understand what they really need.\u0022 \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Cai, the experience changed the team\u0027s perspective. \u0022As researchers, we usually focus on solving a research problem,\u0022 he said. \u0022Through Startup Launch, we learned to see the problem from the customer\u0027s perspective and think about what it really takes to build a product.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003ELooking Ahead\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMore than\u202f150\u202fstartups\u202fwill showcase\u202ftheir ventures at CREATE-X \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.eventbrite.com\/e\/create-x-demo-day-2026-tickets-1990094599519?aff=website\u0022\u003EDemo Day\u003C\/a\u003E on Thursday, Sept. 3, at LOOP, Georgia Tech\u0027s newest creative\u202farts\u202fand performance venue. The event will bring together students, investors, mentors, industry leaders, and the broader community to meet the founders behind this record-breaking cohort and explore the next generation of Georgia Tech innovation.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022This experience has completely changed the way we think about ourselves and what\u0027s possible,\u0022\u202fEstala\u202fsaid. \u0022If you have an idea, just do it. You never know where it might take you.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s Startup Launch reached a record 200-plus startup teams this year, bringing together students, faculty, researchers, and alumni through CREATE-X and Quadrant-i to turn ideas and research into companies that solve real-world problems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI especially like the \u003Cstrong\u003Esummary\u003C\/strong\u003E because it captures all three pieces of the story: \u003Cstrong\u003Ethe record, who is behind it, and why it matters.\u003C\/strong\u003E It also avoids calling Startup Launch a \u201cprogram,\u201d even though the edited story uses that terminology\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech surpassed 200 startup teams for the first time, marking a record-breaking year for entrepreneurship through CREATE-X and Quadrant-i."}],"uid":"36434","created_gmt":"2026-08-19 19:32:21","changed_gmt":"2026-08-20 21:09:58","author":"lcameron30","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-08-19T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-08-19T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680939":{"id":"680939","type":"image","title":"55295093774_889648c2f0_o.jpg","body":null,"created":"1787241741","gmt_created":"2026-08-20 16:02:21","changed":"1787241741","gmt_changed":"2026-08-20 16:02:21","alt":"CX Team","file":{"fid":"265274","name":"55295093774_889648c2f0_o.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/20\/55295093774_889648c2f0_o.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/20\/55295093774_889648c2f0_o.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4059548,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/08\/20\/55295093774_889648c2f0_o.jpg?itok=C20WEc3B"}},"680940":{"id":"680940","type":"image","title":"55294851456_2fa9f593ea_o.jpg","body":null,"created":"1787242174","gmt_created":"2026-08-20 16:09:34","changed":"1787242174","gmt_changed":"2026-08-20 16:09:34","alt":"Founder ","file":{"fid":"265276","name":"55294851456_2fa9f593ea_o.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/20\/55294851456_2fa9f593ea_o.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/20\/55294851456_2fa9f593ea_o.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4776772,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/08\/20\/55294851456_2fa9f593ea_o.jpg?itok=0HWsm1sH"}},"680941":{"id":"680941","type":"image","title":"55293942007_c17be33b20_o.jpg","body":null,"created":"1787242279","gmt_created":"2026-08-20 16:11:19","changed":"1787242279","gmt_changed":"2026-08-20 16:11:19","alt":"founder 2","file":{"fid":"265277","name":"55293942007_c17be33b20_o.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/20\/55293942007_c17be33b20_o.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/20\/55293942007_c17be33b20_o.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4533073,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/08\/20\/55293942007_c17be33b20_o.jpg?itok=l3ZC9F_i"}},"680942":{"id":"680942","type":"image","title":"55064486219_901f388a50_o.jpg","body":null,"created":"1787242499","gmt_created":"2026-08-20 16:14:59","changed":"1787242499","gmt_changed":"2026-08-20 16:14:59","alt":"startup launch","file":{"fid":"265278","name":"55064486219_901f388a50_o.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/20\/55064486219_901f388a50_o.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/20\/55064486219_901f388a50_o.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":7778806,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/08\/20\/55064486219_901f388a50_o.jpg?itok=lhnThMXZ"}}},"media_ids":["680939","680940","680941","680942"],"groups":[{"id":"655285","name":"GT Commercialization"},{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"192255","name":"go-commercializationnews"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193658","name":"Commercialization"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}