What should be de-risked at each funding stage?

We've seen a ton of these kind of growth / risk charts and they pretty much all make the same ‘mistake’. At least in our view. 

They place technology risk (validation) before market risk (validation) sequential order. Everything I have experienced in 25 years of technology startup commercialisations says this is a very bad approach. 

Market risk and technical risk are so closely intertwined that they are like two sides of the same coin. It is, therefore, absolutely essential to consider both in parallel, rather than addressing technical risk first and market risk later.

Why is this?

In our view, the vast majority of your final product—at least 90%—is determined by how you implement your underlying technology into a solution that meets customer needs (configuration, build, form, features, function, etc.). Consequently, only a small portion of your total 'technology risk' relates to your underlying technology in a way that can be considered independently of the final configuration and product offering.

So, believing that you have done anything to materially de-risk your technology, or business, before you have considered market related factors is absolute fallacy. 

Depending on the ‘depth’ of your technology, this number / ratio will change, but the principle holds true. 

Contact us at DeepTech Commercialisation to learn how we can help you formulate a plan of action to de-risk your technology (whole product) and market in parallel, thereby significantly reducing your overall startup risk.