MinWave: The Venture Leader Mobile revolutionizing RF-based communication systems

31.01.2023 07:00, Morgane Ghilardi

Meet Mostafa Khosrow, CEO of MinWave. MinWave provides miniaturized RF front-end solutions for communication systems that considerably reduce the cost and energy consumption of communication infrastructure. Khosrow and the other members of the Swiss National Mobile Team will head to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona at the end of February.

Name: Mostafa Khosrow          
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
Nationality: Iranian
Education: EPFL, Ph.D., 2017      
Job title: CEO
Number of employees: 4
Money raised: CHF 700,000
First touchpoint with Venturelab: Venturelab training courses, 2014

How did you come up with the idea for your startup?
With MinWave, we translated ideas that came from quantum systems to the world of radio frequency devices. 
 
What do you expect from the Venture Leaders roadshow, and how do you think it help you achieve your vision? 
I expect to be exposed to a larger audience of customers and investors for the market entry phase. 
 
Whom does your product or solution help, and how? 
Currently, there are four different use cases: Satcom satellite, Satcom terminal, 5G base station filters, and 5G FR2 device filters. Specifically for 5G base station filters, we have a solution that is 50% cheaper to produce and helps to have at least 10% higher data rates in the radio. MinWave 5G device filter consumes 5 times less energy for the next generation of phones on this functionality. 
 
What are you most excited about at work right now? 
We are developing a revolutionary technology with endless possibilities, which is what excites me the most.
 

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How did you go about building your team? 
MinWave, like other deep-tech ventures, heavily depends on its team. We have a very strong founding team and have also been able to attract very high-level individuals for the development of our products and this showed itself in the success of our product development phase. 
 
What market are you addressing and what is the potential of your startup in that market? 
We are addressing the space and terrestrial telecom equipment market. The potential market of MinWave technology across all use cases exceeds USD 5 billion in 2022 with an average CAGR of over 20% for the rest of the decade.
 
What are your company's and team's key achievements to date?
In Satcom, we were able to attract initial customers, and in terrestrial applications, we developed two specific products that are going to be demonstrated for the first time in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress 2023.

How do you foster creative thinking in your team?
We are using the first principle approach in developing ideas and creating value. It is common in technical teams to focus too much on the details while very business-minded people tend to build on non-substantiated assumptions. The missing piece that brings these two together and helps the team to move coherently and productively is to ask the hard questions from the first principle's perspective. Anyone with any background can quickly grasp these concepts and build based on them.

What is the most challenging aspect of being a founder?
Managing your mental mood is the most challenging part. Staying motivated and energetic, leading others in the right direction and managing expectations all depend on the entrepreneur's ability to exert self-control over his mind. The problem with deep tech is that it takes time to achieve the goal, and each step might have different risks and complications. Again, thinking using the first principles helped me a lot even here. When you believe in the fundamental value that your solution provides, many, even seemingly impossible, problems fade away.

How do you stay on top of industry trends? 
We are discussing the trends constantly in our team. No technical step is taken without assessing the environment and the impact it might have on the market, given the current trends and needs of the market. We have at least one weekly deep discussion on understanding the current situation and translating it into action plans.




The Venture Leaders program supports startups in their global growth by taking promising entrepreneurs on investor roadshows in sector-relevant tech hubs. Venture Leaders Mobile is organized by Venturelab with the support of Huawei, Swisscom, and VISCHER.