Voluna

Harvard Business School

Industry: Mining and Mineral Exploration

MBA Founding Student Name(s): Alexander Strange

Brief Description of Solution: Voluna builds autonomous systems that provide real-time, non-invasive geochemical measurements directly to explorers in the field. By combining miniaturized nuclear sensors with autonomous ground and aerial platforms, we enable explorers to map elemental concentrations across large areas in hours instead of months. Our approach dramatically reduces the cost, time, and uncertainty of early-stage mineral discovery.

Funding Dollars: Undisclosed

What led you to launch this venture? I have always been driven by the challenge of resource acquisition, especially beyond Earth. That passion for space mining led me to work on rockets, satellites, and the Mars rover, where pushing technical limits is the norm. Eventually I realized the same ambition was urgently needed back on Earth. The clean energy transition and the rise of AI demand enormous amounts of copper, nickel, and rare earth elements. Despite this, exploration still relies on slow manual sampling and laboratory assays that can take months. That pace is unsustainable. The world needs new mines to come online faster.

Drawing on my time in engineering, I saw a path forward. Miniaturized nuclear technologies and autonomous systems could generate real time geochemical data directly in the field, turning months of work into hours. Accelerating mineral discovery at this scale could unlock the materials required for an abundant and electrified future.

That belief became Voluna.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far with venture? Our biggest accomplishment has been the speed at which we built and field-tested our platform Gammine. We assembled an expert team including Dr. Aaron Olson, our CTO and a former NASA physicist; Elias Fernandini, our COO and a fifth-generation Peruvian miner; and Robert Frady, an engineer with deep experience in laboratory instrumentation. In about one month, we built our first Gammine prospecting system and deployed it to a copper project in fall 2025. After one week in the field, Gammine was delivering same-day elemental data, with no labs and no delays. Getting real validation data so quickly showed us how rapidly we can iterate and clarified the immediate steps needed to deliver an even faster, more robust, and more capable platform.

What has been the most significant challenge you’ve faced in creating your company and how did you solve it? Working with nuclear technologies carries a stigma, so one of our biggest challenges was earning trust and demonstrating safety, a core founding principle of Voluna. Securing the right laboratory environment, gaining approval to procure neutron sources, and navigating the regulatory pathway were essential steps. We partnered with mentors who had solved similar challenges to guide us through permitting and compliance. From there, we focused on generating real field data, approaching every step with caution by closely monitoring radiation levels, working with state regulators to approve field use, and validating that our system left no environmental impact.

How has your MBA program helped you further this startup venture? My time at HBS gave me the business fundamentals I needed, the space to experiment, and the confidence to pursue a startup. It expanded my network, reconnected me with mentors, and exposed me to founders and operators who made entrepreneurship feel tangible rather than theoretical. Access to fundraising opportunities and pitch events was also crucial for Voluna’s early traction and helped us build meaningful investor relationships. Like many students, I entered the program unsure of where I would end up, and I am grateful that the environment at HBS encouraged exploration, risk-taking, and ultimately the belief that building this company was possible.

Which MBA class has been most valuable in building your startup and what was the biggest lesson you gained from it? Field X and Field Y with Professor Randy Cohen were transformative for Voluna’s development. They gave me a place to test ideas, refine our pitch, and learn directly from experienced guests and mentors. Professor Cohen’s biggest lesson was the “skyscraper” approach to pitching, which teaches founders to hook the audience early, communicate the idea clearly, and leave them with a memorable insight. This fundamentally shaped how I present Voluna’s mission and value.

Professor Rem Koning’s Strategy for Entrepreneurs was another standout. His class gave me structured time to develop Voluna’s value proposition and improve our approach to customer interviews. He also showed how AI tools can accelerate idea validation through mock interviews, business model prototyping, and stress-testing assumptions. His class helped turn early concepts into a more disciplined and evidence-driven foundation for the company.

What professor(s)made a significant contribution to your plans and why? Professor Lindsay Hyde played a meaningful role in keeping me motivated to pursue Voluna. I first met her during Startup Bootcamp at HBS, a two-week intensive where we developed and stress-tested new venture ideas. Although I ultimately scrapped the idea I worked on, her encouragement helped me see that I could build something ambitious. I later took her course Avoiding Startup Failure, which prepared young founders for the challenges they will face and, just as importantly, normalized the idea that failure is not a reason to avoid starting. Her perspective helped reinforce the mindset I needed to move forward with Voluna.

How has your local startup ecosystem contributed to your venture’s development and success? Building in Boston has been a major advantage for a tough tech company. The city’s engineering universities, active venture capital community, and strong founder network made it easy to meet investors, test ideas, and stay inspired. While we may eventually move somewhere warmer, Boston set a high bar for what we value in a home ecosystem.

What is your long-term goal with your startup? I see Voluna as a catalyst for unlocking critical materials on Earth and eventually beyond. Our goal is to accelerate mineral discovery and help bring new mines online faster, while building a unique geochemical dataset that can power both traditional exploration and the next generation of AI-driven discovery tools. Longer term, I envision our autonomous systems operating off-world as well, helping survey the Moon and other planetary bodies for the resources needed to support a spacefaring future.

Looking back, what is the biggest lesson you wished you’d known before launching and scaling your venture? I learned that momentum is everything. It is easy to get stuck weighing options and trying to make the perfect choice, but startups move forward through fast, informed decision making. Quick decisions, even if imperfect, create far more progress than waiting for absolute certainty. Sometimes not making a decision is a bigger risk than choosing the wrong one.

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