The Handbook for Commercializing Alien Technology
The Handbook for Commercializing Alien Technology is the guide for helping technical founders bring their innovations down to earth and into the market.
If your lab were to have captured an alien technology, how would you commercialize successfully for human use? The fact is, every complex technology is alien. Alien to the market. Sometimes it seems when we try to communicate the solution to the market, the market looks at us like we’re also alien. There is a better way.
From the Back Cover
Navigating the gap between researching alien technology and successfully commercializing it is like flying an X-wing through hyperspace—an entirely different skill set is required. It’s not enough to have the coolest gadget in the galaxy; turning it into something the market wants is a whole other mission.
Whether your technology is alien or just really advanced, it’s going to feel like extraterrestrial magic to the average buyer. And until you accept this reality, your journey as a technical founder is going to feel as treacherous as dodging asteroids in an uncalibrated Millennium Falcon.
Arthur C. Clarke was spot on when he said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” But while you may be enamored with your magical creation, the market isn’t looking for sorcery—they’re after practical, impactful, real-world solutions.
This handbook is your guide to bringing alien tech down to earth, equipping you with the entrepreneurial mindset and strategies to help you make the jump from lab to market. With topics spanning the galaxy of commercialization, it’s designed to set you up for success.
“A concise, accessible, and deeply useful guide for first-time hardtech founders. If you are considering the fraught trip from the lab to a commercial product, start your journey here.”
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About the Book
The Handbook for Commercializing Alien Technology
Launching an innovation from lab to market can be as complex as a trek to Mars. Launching a startup may be hard but it can also be fun and a great adventure. While we may not actually have an alien technology in our lab, having a mindset of your technology being alien to the market, will help frame the problem and keep you focused on what the market needs and how you communicate simply and effectively.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is alien to the market.”
Consider, if you will, that your technology is not merely another widget but a cosmic anomaly—an “alien gift” poised to disrupt our humble terrestrial marketplace. Naturally, The Handbook for Commercializing Alien Technology steps in to decode the confounding trek from lab to market. Using a blend of sci-fi lore, bone-dry humor, and disturbingly practical advice, this guide offers high-tech innovators the uncanny tools needed to bridge the great void between inspiration and market saturation.
Unlike traditional “game-changing” handbooks, this one approaches the commercialization process with the gravitas of an interstellar mission. You’ll acquire the fine art of communicating with earthlings, navigating market terrain like a Starfleet scout, and building a brand as enduring as stone monuments—assuming, of course, your team doesn’t go rogue en route.
For scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs of a certain resilience, The Handbook for Commercializing Alien Technology distills all you need to conquer market challenges with calm, clarity, and perhaps even a smirk. Ready to engage? Grab your copy and aim for nothing short of galactic disruption.
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About the Author
Tim Raines
Tim Raines is an experienced commercialization executive with a primary focus on early-stage technology marketing, sales, business development, and fundraising of both non-diluted grant capital and private investment venture capital. Tim has served as a DOE SBIR Principal Investigator and on DOD, DOE, and NSF peer review panels. Tim has also worked with SBIR applicants and awardees for DOE, NASA, NIH, Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, DARPA, USSOCOM, DHS, NOAA, and USDA. Tim is also a DOE Voucher Provider for commercialization and a DOE American Made Network “Connector.”
Tim has worked in technology transfer and commercialization with universities internationally, including Ukraine, Mexico, India, Hungary, Columbia, and Korea. His company, Rare Innovation, serves private innovators and R&D labs in the US, securing SBIR/STTR grants and moving the technologies through the commercialization process. Technical focus areas include climate tech, space, quantum, electro-optics, directed energy, plasma materials, neuroscience devices, medical radiation, medical optics, smart and connected health, and many more.
Tim is a fellow with the Tando Institute and a mentor for Techstars_ Space, the Larta Venture Fellows program, a consultant with the Colorado SBDC TechSource, and an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of Central Florida. He has served four years as an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Ringling College of Art + Design.
Tim received his Masters of Science in Science and Technology Commercialization from the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business and his Bachelors of Science from Texas A&M University’s College of Engineering.
Among his entrepreneurial endeavors, Tim’s art hobby became a successful venture. As an abstract artist, he tells innovation and brand stories for clients such as IndyCar, Major League Baseball, Budweiser, Tod’s of Italy, American Express Centurion Events, and Aston Martin.
Tim’s Erdos-Bacon number is 10: Erdos of 7 for being Principal Investigator on “Laser Cladding Modeling and Operation Applied to Plasma-Facing Materials” and Bacon of 3 for his role in “Cuckold Picasso,” an award-winning short film.
