Gene Berdichevsky is the CEO of Sila Nanotechnologies Inc. which is a chemicals and materials company making next-generation Li-ion battery materials. The company has raised $295 million from investors such as Bessemer Venture Partners, Matrix Partners, Sutter Hill Ventures, Next47, and 8VC. Prior to Sila, Gene was also employee number 7 at Tesla.

In this episode you will learn:

The essential ingredients for raising moneyGene’s top piece of advice for his younger self and new foundersHow to grow as a leader when your team is growing at 92% in two yearsHis approach to solving strategic problems

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About Gene Berdichevsky:

Gene Berdichevsky is the Co-Founder & CEO of Sila Nanotechnologies. Prior to co-founding Sila, Gene was the seventh employee at Tesla Motors where he served as Principal Engineer on the Roadster battery, leading the development of the world’s first, safe, mass-produced, automotive lithium-ion battery system.

Gene holds two degrees from Stanford University; an MS in Engineering with a focus on energy and materials, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He has co-authored 42 patents and 4 academic publications. Gene has been named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list, the MIT Technology Review 35 Under 35, and was a recipient of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.

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FULL TRANSCRIPTION OF THE INTERVIEW:

Alejandro: Alrighty. Hello everyone and welcome to the DealMakers show. Today on the show, we're going to have someone that I think we're going to be learning quite a bit about batteries. He was one of the early employees at Tesla, and now he's building a unicorn startup. Without further ado, I'd like to welcome him on the show. Gene Berdichevsky, welcome today.

Gene Berdichevsky: Yeah. Thanks for having me, Alejandro.

Alejandro: So, Gene, originally from the Ukraine. You were born in the Ukraine, and then you were raised in Russia. How were those years growing up?

Gene Berdichevsky: Yeah. They were great. I bounced around a little bit. Ukraine, on the Black Sea, and then spent actually five years of my life north of the Arctic Circle in Murmansk, and a few more years in St. Petersburg. Then when I was nine, my family came to the States. It was a great time when I was a kid there.

Alejandro: Where in the states did you guys relocate?

Gene Berdichevsky: We landed in Richmond, Virginia. I lived there through high school. Then I came out to Stanford for my undergrad studies.

Alejandro: Got it. Richmond is quite beautiful. Was this like your parents were teaching, or what would you say drove the move?

Gene Berdichevsky: Yeah. My dad's also an entrepreneur. He had some small businesses that he built there. They both became software engineers. Back in Russia, they were nuclear submarine engineers.