🤖 #11: Vivian's Deeptech Insider: Building the ultimate Deeptech roadmap

Jobs at Reach Labs, Semble, Struck Capital and Avenue Growth Partners

Author

Vivian Chan, PhD
November 28, 2024

Hello and welcome to #11 edition of the fortnightly Vivian’s Deeptech Insider.

It’s founder series this edition! If you've been following our newsletters, you know we alternate between founder and investor perspectives. Last time, we explored Leveraging AI for Smarter Deeptech Investments, so now it’s time to focus on founder insights.

We also track jobs to monitor market momentum, this time outlining opportunities at Reach Labs, Semble, Struck Capital and Avenue Growth Partners (scroll down for details).

Deep Dive (Founder Series):

Building the Ultimate DeepTech Roadmap

Following the 4Ps framework - (commercial) Problem, People, Product, and Profit—once you've figured out what success looks like for your Deeptech company (especially long-term, such as how you plan to exit), it’s crucial to work backwards and pull everything together into a cohesive plan. One of the most efficient ways to do this is by working on your company roadmap. The more granular you go, the more it helps with setting OKRs, KPIs, and aligning your internal communications. It also plays a huge role in shaping company culture, fostering strategic direction, and keeping everyone on the same page.

On the other hand, the higher-level version of this timeline is invaluable for pitch decks, investor updates, and external communications. We’ll dive into how to structure a comprehensive Deeptech timeline that balances tech/product milestones with revenue and fundraising goals. We’ll show how it serves not only as a business plan foundation but also as a dynamic tool for OKRs and internal alignment.

1. Mapping Your Technology & Product Milestones

A successful Deeptech journey starts with a clear understanding of your core technology and how it evolves over time. Mapping out these milestones ensures you're ready to validate your technology, transition it into a marketable product, and protect your competitive advantage.

  • Technology & Product Validation: The first critical step is proving that your technology works, is scalable, and can be applied in real-world contexts. Breaking down these steps helps de-risk the process and ensures smoother execution. Example milestones include:

    • Simulations and Virtual Validation: Leverage computational models to test feasibility, especially in complex fields like drug development.

    • Prototype / Alpha Development: Create a proof-of-concept that demonstrates the core functionality of your technology.

    • Beta Testing: Test the technology with early adopters in real-world settings, refining its features based on feedback.

    • Real-world Applications: Align the technology with market demands, ensuring it solves large-scale, practical problems effectively.

    • Product Iteration and Development: Refining features and functionality based on beta testing insights. Developing scalable manufacturing or deployment strategies to ensure efficient product delivery.

    • Regulatory and IP Protection: To secure a competitive advantage, plan for regulatory compliance and intellectual property protection. Include timelines and costs for:

  • Regulatory Pathways: Identify streamlined, cost-effective approval processes, especially important for medtech and AI sectors.

  • Intellectual Property (IP): Safeguard your innovations through patents or trade secrets, preserving long-term value.

These milestones should be clearly laid out at the top of your roadmap, with associated costs and timelines. For a Deeptech company, I’d recommend diving two to three levels deeper for a granular breakdown of your milestones. However, here’s a high-level snapshot to visually represent the top milestones on a timeline. This serves as a starting point to highlight key objectives and guide your planning effectively:

2. Integrating Financial Milestones: Revenue and Fundraising

Your roadmap should also incorporate the financial goals that support your growth trajectory, creating a unified plan that bridges technical innovation and business success.

Examples to include:

  • Grant funding: Research-driven innovations can often be supported through various grants. Worth exploring the funding landscape to identify non-dilutive options, match-funding opportunities, and determine which grants are suitable for local or international companies.

  • Seed Funding and Series Rounds: Clearly outline when you expect to raise capital at each stage and what milestones you need to reach to secure those funds if you raise from investors.

  • Revenue Goals: When do you plan to achieve breakeven? What’s your revenue projection over the next 1, 3, and 5 years? These financial targets will often guide the pacing of your development milestones.

  • Strategic Partnerships and Funding: Don’t forget to outline potential strategic partnerships that may help accelerate growth or provide co-funding opportunities.

These should sit on the bottom mapped out against the tech/product milestones.

3. Aligning Internal Execution and External Communications

Here’s an example of what a high-level timeline could look like when everything is combined. Keep in mind that the specifics and timing will vary significantly depending on your area of DeepTech (e.g., AI development will have different milestones compared to drug delivery). You can then adapt and highlight relevant sections of the timeline when communicating with different stakeholders:

To execute a roadmap effectively, it needs to serve both internal teams and external stakeholders seamlessly. Internally, actionable objectives such as OKRs (Objectives and Key Results, as mentioned in one of my previous posts) break the roadmap into manageable milestones. For example:

  • Objective: We aim to increase revenue with our new pricing model.

    • Key Result 1: Increase revenue by 15% by end of Q4.

    • Key Result 2: Through upselling to 50 existing customers starting from Q3.

OKRs align team efforts with the broader strategy, fostering clear communication and accountability. Regular updates keep teams agile, ensuring they can pivot as needed while remaining on track.

Externally, a simplified roadmap is essential for communicating your vision to stakeholders. Highlight milestones like technology validation, product development, and go-to-market strategies, aligned with funding and revenue goals. This streamlined view builds investor confidence, showing a clear pathway from innovation to market success.

4. Flexibility: The Timeline as a Living Document

A roadmap isn’t static. In Deeptech, evolving market conditions, regulatory updates, or technological breakthroughs often require mid-course corrections. Regularly revisiting and refining your timeline ensures it remains aligned with your strategic goals and the realities of your journey.

By combining tech and product milestones with financial targets and execution plans, your roadmap transforms from a static document into a dynamic tool for guiding your company’s growth. Whether for internal alignment or external communication, it serves as a cornerstone for building confidence and achieving long-term success.

Feel free to reach out if you'd like more detailed templates or have any Deeptech roadmap insights to share - always open to learning from others!

Now, onto the jobs - Vivian

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