So, You're Thinking of Creating a Deep-Tech Startup?

I’ve spent much of the past 20+ years providing the go-to-market, business model, product-market “fit” analysis, and commercialization strategies for "deep-technology" B2B start-ups and their investors.

Generally speaking, "deep-technology" is a term for esoteric "materials, manufacturing, measuring, monitoring and modeling" products.

No surprise, but, almost every deep-tech founder I've either advised, or worked directly for, believes they have (a) “game changing” hardware (b) a novel, never thought of before, one of a kind, "loonshot" or (c) OMG, check the Patent and Trade Office (PTO) ASAP as I need to file a provisional patent, STAT(!)

Also, no surprise, but one too many startup founders mistakenly call their shiny bauble "disruptive"; often thinking that by using that descriptor it can be a good lure for attracting a less than savvy investor.

The late, great Clay Christensen rolls over a lot.

In almost every one of the start-ups I have mentored, they’ve initially fallen prey to the notion that because they have patented a "technology”, or made some minutiae process improvement that needs 23 white papers to explain, then ergo, this will automatically translate into becoming a successful flourishing company.

In other words,?"if you build it, he will come".

Maybe it will…odds are it won't.

In fact, in almost every case, each of these deep-technology B2B start-up founders would be wise to first consider the famous admonition of Theodore Levitt - the Harvard professor renowned as a founder of modern marketing...

“People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill, they want a quarter-inch hole!”

Steve Blank, a modern-day marketing giant, whose book “The Four Steps to The Epiphany” ignited the Lean Start-Up movement, challenged the tendency towards a one size fits all B2B marketing mentality by stating that startup’s “are not smaller versions of large companies”.?

So, what's the difference Eddie?

Quoting Blank:

"Start-ups need different management principles, people and strategies than large established companies...Any advice that’s targeted to large established companies is irrelevant, distracting and potentially damaging in growing and managing a start-up".

So, there you have it!

This elegantly simple but cogent advice is THE fundamental underlying basis of the growth marketing advice (aka “hack”) that I parrot to those who would even think of entering the hypoxic world of deep-technology B2B start-ups.

Interestingly, Blank (and Eric Ries, Howard Love, etc.) have been indirectly guilty of making high risk start-ups even more alluring to the unsuspecting by packaging fundamental strategy and execution methodology into bite sized sound bites that are palatable and easy to digest.

Here's where I become the mentor who is the bearer of bad tidings.

In other words, "Hello, McFly".

As has been well researched and documented, the percentage of deep-technology B2B start-ups that fail is overwhelmingly high; ~70-90% ...depending on what you subscribe to to get your lies, damn lies, and statistics.?

So, WTF would you even consider getting involved in one?!??

When asked for my product marketing advice by start-up founders with “game changing anything”, I simply state that your odds are better in Vegas at Harrah's...EVEN if you have a killer strategy and execute flawlessly.

Somehow, although I’m just testing someone’s resolve before I hit them with my consulting fee before my analysis and recommendations, my advice just doesn’t seem to matter.

A reminder, one of our more stubborn cognitive biases is: “failure happens only to others...not us!”

In full disclosure, I have been integral, as co-founder, executive, or mentor to ~20 start-ups, and may embark on another.

Emphasis on the word “may”.

Zoom me for my availability.

However, also in full disclosure, most of my start-ups went the way of crypto.

Some did meh.

One was a Denny's Grand Slam moment.

That said, be wary of anyone, other than somebody from the PayPal mafia, who states a success percentage >50%.

And, if you think the long odds don't pertain to you, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell to you.

Despite the resounding success I've had with the one that hit the mark, be forewarned that my advice out of the gates is that you first schedule an fMRI to assure that you’re getting enough blood flow to the reasoning part of your brain...especially if your startup is at altitude.

I can unequivocally state that once you are immersed in the day-to-day euphoria/dysphoria of a start-up you will undoubtedly segue into Steve Jobs’ never ending reality distortion field (RDF).?

For all you early career, wide eyed STEM graduates out there considering embarking on a start-up journey, you may want to first get some experience in a big company to decide if that might be a better place to learn your "block & tackle" fundamentals; especially with your newly minted Zoom based MBA.

Most of the basic marketing you learn in B-school (other than Stanford, and maybe a handful of others) doesn’t necessarily apply to start-ups.?

See the quote from Steve Blank above.

Frankly, I learned more from my experience (OK, Boomer!), AND post B-school studying the masters of this genre.

If your sole motivation to rush into joining a start-up is to get Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos rich, think again as that likely won’t happen.

How’s that for?“do as I say, not as I do”??

However, if your motivation is to do laudable things like reversing the ravages inflicted on our ecology by Glyphosate, subverting conventional methods of producing portland cement, developing a supplement derived from the bacteria in our microbiome to deal with the biologic basis of mental illness, or you think you've found the key to reversing Alzheimer’s or homelessness...GO FOR IT!?

So, now that I have completely crapped on your excitement and enthusiasm, I will admit that the startup ride?can?be exhilarating.?

Just don’t do it for the wrong reason(s).?

It takes a special mindset to subject yourself to the sine wave of emotions that come with being in a start-up, and it takes more than a bit of introspection over a glass of Pappy Van Winkle to decide if you can handle the highs and lows of a start-up...

OK...bad example...

Pappy is awesome to sip no matter what you decide.

Here's my closing advice...

Before considering a start-up, take an honest inventory of what makes YOU tick.

In doing this, I would heed the advice of something I read years ago in Dr. Mark Epstein's book entitled "Going on Being".

In a nutshell, stop trying to fulfill?OTHERS’ expectations for?YOU.

Here’s your ‘should I join or create a start-up’ mental inventory list:

1.?Do you like wearing many ill-fitting hats in the same day… or hour??

Consider a startup

2.?Do you prefer doing tasks serially??

Startups are not for you

3.?Do you think that each NO! from a potential investor or prospect gets you that much closer to YES?

Consider a startup

4. Do you prefer each day to be unlike the previous day??

Go for it!

5.?Do you like working solo??

Probably not

6.?Do you relish ad hoc interminable meetings because your CEO just had a "come to Jesus" meeting with the investors??

faggedaboutit!

7.?Are you OK with odd hours and traveling long distances sitting in the back of the plane??

Om - you found peace and tranquility

8.?Does your functional expertise enhance the collective genius of the group you are attempting to join...and, more importantly, is it valued over the long term??

You found Nirvana

OK, you get the point.

Be brutally honest with yourself in determining if you can roll with the uncertainty of it all, and only then throw yourself out there.

To reiterate, you’re going to have bad days and days that feel as if all hope is gone.

Get over it!

However, when a new product or solution comes together, or you get your first iconic named Fortune 500 "lead user" for your MVP, it is the embodiment of Maslow’s “peak experience”.?

For those who passed on undergraduate Psychology 101...

Maslow described “peak experience” as:?

"rare, exciting, oceanic, deeply moving, exhilarating, elevating experiences that generate an advanced form of perceiving reality, and are even mystic and magical in their effect upon the experimenter."

I hope this helps.

#marketing #b2bmarketing #startups #deeptechstartups?