Almost three years in the startup world, especially in the deep-tech space, has been quite the roller coaster ride. It has also been packed with valuable experiences. In this article I will share some lessons learned along the way, which I hope will be useful for prospective tech entrepreneurs.
Validation First
Entrepreneurs are dreamers. We dream of a future improved by our ideas, and we work hard to make them a reality. This desire to ‘disrupt’ the status quo and impart change is inherent in all entrepreneurs.
However, dreaming without an objective mindset could, more often than not, lead to tunnel vision, and ultimately failure. Even dreams need to be measured up against the cold reality of the market. Sometimes that means the market is not ready for the solution, or the need is not as pronounced as you thought, or the barriers to entry are high, etc… Did you know that the number 1 reason startups fail is because there is no real market need for the solution?
I had to learn to be more objective from the get-go, and that was hard work. It is hard not to force your biases on reality, especially with a tech idea close to your heart. But one has to let go of that attachment to be able to step back and validate the idea objectively. This is why I strongly believe in validation first. The more time spent developing a solution prior to validation, the more attachment one has to it, and the less objective one is.
Long Product Development Cycle
Many deep-tech solutions originate in academic institutions, where time is abundant, labor is cheap (Masters and PhD students), and infrastructure is readily available. Thus, spin-off startups from academic institutions do not spend the bulk of their time on product development, since most of the research has already been done.
We on the other hand, wanted to validate first, which meant that the entire product development cycle was going to take place within the company. This created a challenge for us, since unlike academia we did not have the luxury of time, money or research infrastructure. We had some initial ideas on how to develop the product (given our technical training), we got a few grants, hired our first employee, met weekly to discuss progress, and outsourced experiments when possible in order to make it happen. We managed to develop a proof of concept after 2 years of hard work and limited resources, which was no small feat.
The Right Team
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of the team, especially in the early days of a startup. I am not talking here about the co-founders, since that is a separate topic, but rather the team assembled around the co-founders. We learned quite early on that in addition to technical expertise, it is imperative that our employees have the right attitude. Here are three characteristics that we have found to be very important in addition to technical skills:
1. Willingness to face challenges and to problem solve creatively. It is normal for us to feel discouraged when faced with difficulties, and believe me there are lots of those in the startup world, but it is dangerous if we remain in a state of discouragement. Therefore, employees working in deep-tech startups need to understand that there will be more challenges, and they will need to be driven towards finding creative solutions, and not to get stuck in a state of discouragement.
#lessons-learned #deep learning
