#12: Taymur Ahmad - actnano

<p>Taymur Ahmad is the Founder and CEO of actnano Inc, a technology startup developing smart coating solutions that make electronics water resistant. Taymur essentially developed actnano's technology in his kitchen. He spent 20 years in industry and thus deeply understood the problems that past attempts at making PCBs (printed circuit boards) water resistant were facing. He developed a deep foundation of knowledge in electronics manufacturing and finally had a reckoning around age 40 that caused him to leave his first career in industry and start a startup. He was shortly ordering coatings to his kitchen and running tests on them. Once he found a viable arrangement he went and recruited a PhD from MIT, raised money, and actnano was off to the races.&nbsp;</p> <p>This episode is full of great nuggets of wisdom for grad-students and entrepreneurs on the importance of involving experienced industry veterans early on in order to help go to the customer, develop the business side of things and understand more about the problem. He talks about how to approach customers, what to keep close to the vest, and much more. Enjoy!&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>More about Taymur</strong></p> <p>Prior to founding actnano, Mr. Ahmad had 18 years of manufacturing management experience with Fortune 50 companies such as Alcoa and Philips Electronics. Among other accolades, in 2010 he was awarded the “Visionary of the Year” award by Surface Mount Technology magazine. Mr. Ahmad’s success stories have been featured in various magazines and newspapers including USA Today. Dell’s Center for Entrepreneurs picked Mr. Ahmad to be one of the top 50 CEOs in the world. He is a member of the Dell founders 50 club and the Philips Alumni Club. Mr. Ahmad speaks 5 languages and has lived in Europe and Asia. He earned his MBA from Business School Lausanne in Switzerland, and his Engineering degree from the University of Iowa.</p> <p>Find <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/taymur/">Taymur on LinkedIn</a>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>More about actnano</strong></p>