Hande Ilhan is the founder of Kykloris, a climatetech startup that focuses on turning crustacean waste materials into sustainable versions of biopolymers, a type of biodegradable micro-material. She participated in MFN’s Sustainability Challenge, a short-term accelerator program supported by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC). Hande spoke with MFN about what she has learned building a startup and the importance of having a functional deal room (a secure digital repository with company information for both founder and investor use).

For folks in the innovation community hearing about Kykloris for the first time, could you briefly introduce yourself and describe what your company does?

My name is Hande, pronounced like the car brand Hyundai, as I always say! I’m originally from Turkey, born and raised there. I studied industrial engineering and then worked in the finance sector, specifically in impact investing. I was involved in many initiatives that funded for-profit sustainable projects in emerging markets, which sparked my interest in “saving the world.” I realized I needed to improve my skill set, so I came to the U.S. to pursue my MBA at Harvard Business School, which I recently completed.

During my studies, I focused on understanding the role of impact-oriented startups. This is when I first started working on Kykloris. At Kykloris, we’re a climatetech startup that turns seafood shell waste into fully biodegradable biopolymers to replace petroleum-based and chemical materials in high-impact sectors like agriculture, water treatment, and healthcare. Our mission is to reduce chemical pollution, cut food waste emissions, and build circular material solutions at scale.

What are some short-term versus long-term goals for Kykloris?

Ideally, within the next year, we are aiming to build our first pilot facility where we turn the waste into biopolymers. We are also completing work on a market-ready version working on the final version of our product right now. The long-term goal is to expand our impact by tapping into different sources of seafood and shell waste, capturing them, and producing biopolymers really at scale.

Are there any significant milestones in your founder’s journey that stand out?

All the competitions and challenge programs Kykloris has participated in have helped us in some way, but the MFN Sustainability Challenge in particular helped me shift from just focusing on the technology to thinking like an investor-ready founder.

The program helped us package our impact, vision, and traction into a compelling story for investors. Looking back, I really see the value in that framework. At the time, some of the assignments felt overwhelming and I remember thinking, “Oh my god, this is so much work!” But by the end, I realized the benefit. I now have concrete documents I can actually include in our deal room and show to investors.

What was it like preparing your deal room? How did you approach getting into that investor-ready mindset? For example, did you have a bunch of documents for your company on your computer that you needed to sit down and organize? Was it discussed over a couple of team meetings?

All of the above. For me, building the deal room was an opportunity to structure what we already had into categories. Just stepping back and thinking, “How do we present this to someone who knows nothing about our startup?” — that was one part.

The other part was understanding the investor’s perspective. Learning why certain documents are needed helped shape our next milestones. Now, as we move forward, we think, okay, this document will be important for the deal room. It helps both on the operational side and in our investor conversations.

Could you expand on that? If you’re talking to a first-time founder who has never used a deal room before, how can it be beneficial?

For us, the deal room was about clearly explaining the startup in a way that someone unfamiliar with our industry could understand. Kykloris is technology-driven and can seem complex from the outside. So, having a structured way to explain what we do is incredibly helpful.

On the other side, it also helps us to deepen the investor conversations. To be honest with you, it’s usually you pitch your idea and then investors respond with, “Oh yeah, that’s cool.” You don’t know what they are going to want to see once you knock on their doors, and have some follow-up meetings. When you say “I have a deal room, and I can show it to you,” then the conversation definitely changes from “Oh, this is interesting” to “How can we stay in touch and learn more?” Investors truly see the seriousness and commitment you have by showing them some sort of deal room that is ready for them to use.

What advice would you give to startup founders preparing for their first accelerator program?

The Sustainability Challenge was a great program designed to meet us where we were. As I mentioned, I sometimes thought, “I’ve done this before. Why am I doing it again?” But I’m still using exercises from the program. It forced me to organize everything we’d done up to that point, and that helped me see weaknesses in our earlier materials.

For example, something like, “Oh, I made this decision based on a customer interview,” turned into, “Let me go back and ask more detailed questions.” The Challenge gave us a structured way to approach meetings, data collection, and the big picture of our startup.

So, my advice to founders would be: take your time and do the tasks well. The work builds on itself. These exercises help you keep improving — and, over time, the benefits are exponential.

Also, don’t compare yourself to others. When you’re applying to programs, it’s easy to think, I’m too early-stage, or that company is way ahead of us. That mindset isn’t helpful. Every startup is unique. If you haven’t raised funding yet, it doesn’t mean you’re behind. It just means you’re in a different part of the journey. Focus on where you are, and keep building. The biggest competitor is yourself.

Looking to learn more about deal rooms? The MFN Journal has you covered here. MFN Members also have exclusive access to create their own MFN Deal Room – Join MFN to learn more.