From Tech to Deep Tech

Deep-Tech Startup Challenges,
Needs, and Key Partners
Challenges: Timeto-Market,
Capital
Intensity, and
Technology Risk
and Complexity
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Based on the survey results mentioned
above, we concluded that startups’ most
critical challenges involve time to market,
capital intensity, and technology risk and
complexity. (See Exhibit 3.) Uncertain
commercial application and regulatory
framework are additional important
roadblocks.
The time to market that deep-tech startups
face is usually longer than that for other
startups because their products are based
on a new technology that requires a long
development time. For example, they may
have to conduct years of clinical trials in
order to turn a new molecule into a legal
drug.
experimentation and prototyping often rely
on specific and costly equipment (such as a
DNA sequencing machine) that is not needed
in developing, say, a mobile app. Testing and
scaling are also more costly for hardware
than for software.
Technology risk and complexity arise from
the fact that deep-tech startups often use
technologies at a low technology readiness
level (TRL, as defined in Appendix 2). After
proving a technology in lab conditions, a
startup still faces a long road in turning it
into a demonstrated and tested solution.
Often, stakeholders in the ecosystem—
including many deep-tech startups
themselves—do not properly anticipate
the heavy demands on them. Half of all
deep-tech startup founders who thought
they would reach market in less than
three years now acknowledge that they
underestimated the time required.
The high level of capital intensity
arises not only from having to develop
products over extended periods, but also
from the expensive infrastructure. Early
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