Tech on Tap March 2026 Recap
Tech on Tap Recap: Laura Boccanfuso's Path Less Traveled
Laura Boccanfuso, founder and CEO of Van Robotics, took the stage at March’s Tech on Tap to share her radical honesty about the messy, winding path from idea to successful company. Her talk walked us through a decade-long journey that included a 10-year education gap, investor pitches, a Shark Tank appearance, and ultimately building an educational robotics company now deployed across the US and seven countries.
The Unconventional Beginning
Laura's story doesn't start with a garage startup or a college dropout moment. After years as a stay-at-home mom, she made the decision to return to academia, enrolling at USC in the Computer Science Department. What followed was a PhD where she grappled with impostor syndrome, lack of network, family obligations, and significant learning loss. Even after completing her doctorate, she remained uncertain about what came next.
During her postdoctoral work at Yale, she published eight research papers, worked with the Yale Social Robotics Lab, collaborated with the Yale Child Study Center, presented at seven conferences, designed two social robots, and participated in Yale's Venture Creation Program. The academic foundation was solid, but the entrepreneurial path was anything but certain.
The Acceleration Years
In 2018, Laura made the leap. She joined Techstars Austin, learning as much as possible from successful business founders. During this acceleration period, she raised $950K from investors. She was also awarded $2.7M in grants from SCRA, NIH, and the SC Department of Education. She recruited over 18 team members including social roboticists, software engineers, classroom teachers, and program managers.
But fundraising reality was brutal: dozens of investor pitches resulting in very few yeses.
The High-Visibility Moment
In 2019, Laura pitched on Shark Tank in front of 3.5 million viewers. She didn't get a deal, but the exposure was invaluable. Then COVID hit in 2020, and her entire go-to-market strategy evaporated overnight. Schools closed. In-person robotics education stopped. The safety net disappeared. But with the re-airing of her episode, more educators and school districts across the country were becoming more aware of what Van Robotics offered, and started reaching out.
Building the Dream
Rather than fold, Laura focused forward. Van Robotics pivoted, adapted, and ultimately thrived. The company's educational robot has been recognized by TIME Magazine as a Best Invention, featured in major publications including CNN, Financial Times, and Siemens, and highlighted by McKinsey & Company and the AI for Good initiative. Today, Van robots are deployed in schools across the United States plus seven countries, bringing machine learning to classrooms and helping children with learning difficulties.
Key Takeaways
Failure is temporary, not permanent. When asked about setbacks, Laura emphasized that failure is something you grow from, not something that defines you. Every rejection and obstacle became a lesson that informed the next step.
Where you're looking is where you're going. Laura shared a driving principle: just as a vehicle goes where you look while steering, your company follows your focus. If you're constantly looking at competitors or dwelling on discouraging setbacks, that's where you'll end up. Keep your eyes on the road ahead.
Just throw your hat in the ring. From applying to Yale to submitting for Techstars to responding to that seemingly-fake Shark Tank email, Laura's approach was consistent: What do I have to lose? Opportunities don't come from playing it safe.
Put your head down and run. When faced with overwhelming challenges, Laura's strategy was simple: work as hard as possible so that if you fail, you can at least look back and know you gave it your best. That persistence paid off repeatedly.
High risk often means high reward. Every major turning point in Laura's journey required moving from safe, low-exposure situations to increasingly visible, higher-stakes environments. The entrepreneurial path meant putting her reputation on the line, but staying small would have meant staying stuck.
Non-traditional paths can be competitive advantages. Being an older student, a mom returning to academia, and a woman in robotics were initially sources of impostor syndrome. Laura learned to reframe these as unique perspectives that informed how she built her company and product.
Photos by The Good Habit Photography.
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Tech on Tap is our monthly series bringing together Columbia's tech community for expert insights and real connections, every third Thursday from 5-6:30pm at the Boyd Innovation Center. Featured speakers share practical lessons from their founder journeys, followed by networking over drinks and light bites. It's where Columbia's tech founders, professionals, and future entrepreneurs gather to learn, connect, and grow.
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