Since then, we’ve supported the launch of hundreds of startups which, combined, have raised over $1.5B in investments. A recent study ranked VentureLab #2 worldwide among university startup incubation and support programs.
The VentureLab team is comprised of engineers, entrepreneurs, and educators with decades of experience in a wide range of industries and startups. We’d be happy to meet you, learn more about your work and interests, and explore ways we can help. If you’ve got questions, and would like to learn more about commercializing research at Georgia Tech, please email any of us to get the conversation started.
Not sure who to reach out to? Email us at info@venturelab.gatech.edu or fill out our contact form, and we’ll get you connected.
Keith McGreggor
Director
keith.mcgreggor@venturelab.gatech.edu
Keith McGreggor, VentureLab’s director, also serves as the lead instructor for the NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program for Georgia Tech, a founding node in the I-Corps network. He is also a member of the NSF I-Corps curriculum committee, and gives frequent invited talks on the foundations of evidence-based-entrepreneurship philosophy.
Keith has been an entrepreneur for the last three decades. His first company, Artificial Intelligence Atlanta, was the first AI company in the southeast, which led to a gig in robotics for Lockheed. He has been a founder or co-founder of six software companies.
Keith wrote and shipped the first 3D program and first color paint program for the Macintosh. He developed the color architecture for the Macintosh, wrote substantial portions of the graphics system, and managed the graphics group at Apple Computer in Cupertino. A stint as co-founder of an internet company in the mid 1990s led to Keith becoming a director of engineering at Yahoo! in 1999.
Keith holds a BS, MS, and PhD in computer science from Georgia Tech, and is an instructor of Georgia Tech’s new StartupLab for undergraduates in the College of Engineering. In addition to his role at VentureLab, Keith holds an appointment as Professor of the Practice in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech and is the Associate Director of Georgia Tech’s GVU.
Melissa Heffner
Program Director
melissa.heffner@venturelab.gatech.edu
Melissa Heffner creates, modifies, and implements programs centered around evidence-based entrepreneurship and the Lean Startup methodology. The vast majority of her time is spent executing the I-Corps South Node award, which is housed at VentureLab, and on internal commercialization programs. Melissa merges her education and classroom experience with strong writing and editing skills to develop custom curriculum for various clients, such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). In addition, she teaches customer discovery and business model development at Georgia Tech (Scheller College of Business and GT1000 Startup), Institut Lafayette Georgia Tech (Metz, France), and Grupo Guayacán (Puerto Rico).
Prior to joining VentureLab, Melissa spent her time in curriculum development and manuscript editing with organizations such as Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University, CDC, and Georgia State University Department of Biology.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Birmingham-Southern College, and a Master of Arts in Teaching English from Agnes Scott College.
Sara Martin Henderson
Program Director
sara.martin@venturelab.gatech.edu
Sara Martin Henderson is an innovation and entrepreneurship leader with extensive experience in human-centered design strategy. As a leader at VentureLab and of the NSF I-Corps South Node, she leverages her expertise in Design Thinking, Lean Startup, Service Design, and Strategic Foresight methodologies to foster ethnographic research-based innovation approaches to entrepreneurship. Throughout her career, Sara has consulted with numerous Fortune 500 companies across a variety of verticals, helping them to engage in innovation strategy and culture transformation, and to apply these methodologies to innovation product and service development. In the past five years, Sara has secured significant grant funding and designed, directed, and taught numerous training programs for entrepreneurial teams, mentors, and instructors. Along with managing existing grant-funded entrepreneurship programs, she has also developed key programs such as the GTRI STING program, The Georgia Tech Female Founders program, the I-Corps South Node Mentor Academy, and the Science Foundation of Ireland I-Corps Program.
Sara’s multifaceted approach to innovation and entrepreneurship combines her experience as an economist, a business strategist, a design thinker, and an educator. As a startup advisor and educator, Sara is able to be industry agnostic given her query-based approach to coaching teams. Sara has spent countless hours coaching early-stage research-based startups through the business model development process. In addition, she develops key partnerships on behalf of Georgia Tech to grow the entrepreneurship and innovation support ecosystems locally in Atlanta and abroad with emerging ecosystems seeking strategic advisement and support.
Nakia Melecio
Principal
nakia.melecio@venturelab.gatech.edu
Nakia helps researchers commercialize their Biotechnology, Energy, Defense, Military Technology, Education, Government Technology, and Aerospace technology. He also helps them secure investments from a network of federally funded laboratories, universities, and corporations. Throughout his career, he has worked with industry, academia, and government. As a result, Nakia has a unique and deep understanding of the early-stage innovation ecosystem and technology transfer, proven scientific and technical expertise, and decades of operational experience in technology-driven, high-growth companies. He has successfully helped startups and develop businesses worldwide in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Nigeria, and Ghana.
Nakia’s passion as a business advisor, deep-tech, deep-science mentor, and startup coach inspires and helps entrepreneurs and startups spun out of university research. A seasoned entrepreneur, Nakia allows entrepreneurs to execute their ideas while guiding them in the total startup journey — from product development and selling to the government, to their go-to-market strategy and customer discovery to scaling a company and getting capital. He has worked with more than 700 startups worldwide, with more than 15,000 hours of classroom time working with entrepreneurs.
Skye Svehlak
Sr. Project Support Specialist
Skye Svehlak is a senior project support specialist with VentureLab. In this role, she utilizes her exceptional intrapersonal and communication skills to great effect, successfully recruiting speakers for the Female Founder Speaker Series, collaborating closely with Munster Technological University in Cork, Ireland to secure and establish a seven-year contract with the required budget to support its duration, and sharing her knowledge of the lean start-up methodology with various organizations.
Skye's background includes a well-rounded education, having earned a double major in international relations and business management from Agnes Scott College. Her passion for learning and growth is evident in her current pursuit of a master's degree in international security at Georgia Tech. Skye's combination of educational achievements, professional expertise, and interpersonal skills make her a valuable asset in any endeavor she undertakes.