Five NECTEC researchers turned entrepreneurs share critical lessons on transitioning research into commercial ventures. Key insight: technology alone is insufficient for business success—researchers must master product-market fit, customer payment models, and operational sustainability. Examples include NexPay (IoT platform), AI Nine (parliamentary transcription & NLP services), T-Net (cybersecurity), BigGo Analytics (data platform), and D-Solution Cloud (SaaS for government). Strategic approaches ranged from government procurement to project-based revenue models to fund platform development. Highly relevant for Thai tech SMEs navigating innovation-to-commercialization pathways.