From Tech to Deep Tech

Exhibit 11. Critical needs of the four deep-tech startup archetypes
Potential quick wins
These are startups that have a commercially
ready product and a market that is ready
to adopt the technology or product. For
such startups, the immediate challenge
is to scale up (to initiate large production
volumes, for example, or major PR and
marketing campaigns), and they need fresh
funding, market access, and talent. Among
startups in this class, 40% consider VCs
the preferred funding channel (versus 25%
overall). VCs bring more generous funding,
which startups can use to scale up their
operations. To develop the customer base
and the distribution network, startups
often turn to corporates, although only
25% of them expect to get funding out
of this collaboration. They may expect to
get visibility (25%) or credibility, business
knowledge, or technical knowledge (20%
each).
Demand bets
These comprise startups with a product
that is mature enough to be launched but
that does not have a broad commercial
application yet. The main challenge for
these startups is to identify and create a
market for their technologies. The two key
roadblocks are lack of a distribution network
(42% of startups in this class mentioned it
as a challenge, compared with 16% overall)
and market resistance to change for (37%
of them cited it as a challenge, compared
with 20% overall). Besides funding, their
most important resource needs are market
access (a customer base and a distribution
network) and business knowledge, for which
the preferred partners are, respectively,
corporates and VCs.
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