Nav Mentor

Colin Ake

Kennesaw State University

Executive Director of Incubation and Commercialization

Colin Ake is Executive Director of Incubation and Commercialization at Kennesaw State University, where he plays a leadership role in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship ecosystem. He founded HatchBridge Incubator in 2023, which has since supported over 272 companies and helped them raise more than $37 million in capital.

Before KSU, Colin was VP of Strategy and Business Development at Masten Space Systems, where he led the commercial and government partnerships behind NASA and JPL precision landing contracts. He also spent seven years in commercialization at Georgia Tech, focusing on early customer work with deep tech spinouts from multiple disciplines.

Colin’s mentoring focus is on deep-tech and hard-tech founders navigating early commercialization: identifying real customers, validating market assumptions before they get expensive, and building business structures that can survive contact with the real world. He has a particular lens on space, aerospace, defense technology, and university spinouts, but enjoys startups of all shapes and sizes.

Colin holds a Bachelor’s in Science in Management and an MBA from Georgia Tech. He lives in Woodstock with his wife Nikki and three children. Colin serves on Woodstock’s City Council representing Ward 3.

Favorite Hobby: Spending time with his family & Serving the City of Woodstock on City Council

Skill Set: Business model development, early-stage technology startups, customer development, deep technology ventures