Nakia Melecio

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. He has worked with industry, academia, and government throughout his career. 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, Kenya, Ukraine, 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.

Nakia is an active member and mentor of the technology community and a frequent contributor
to numerous business organizations, including the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
He is a longtime technology startup mentor, having served in that role at the Advanced
Technology Development Center at Georgia Institute of Technology, the National Science
Foundation Innovation Corps (NSF I-Corps), the Association of University Technology
Managers (AUTM), Georgia Tech Create X mentor, MIT Hack Medicine, DOD lab mentor, NSF
I-Corps Instructor at Georgia Institute of Technology, Hack for Defense Instructor (H4D),
Defense Innovation Accelerator Mentor (DIA), Adjunct Instructor Morehouse School of
Medicine, NSF I-Corps Faculty instructor at the University of Southern California, NSF I-Corps
Faculty Instructor at Cornell and StartMe at Emory University, Department of Energy I-Corps
Instructor, and Principal at Georgia Institute of Technology Venture Lab. He also has a deep
understanding of SBIR-STTR. He has been intimately involved with many new emerging growth
technologies, including government, universities, and corporate innovation. He is a board
member for several startups and is involved in two Health-tech Medical Device startups funded
by SBIR Phase I NIH and SBIR Phase I NSF. Mr. Melecio has a master’s degree in Education,
Teaching, Learning, and Educational Technology, a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, a
bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science, and a Doctor of Psychology Educational Psychology,
Educational Leadership.