🤖 #17: Vivian's Deeptech Insider: Lean Canvas - Deeptech/Healthtech edition

Jobs at Foundation Capital, Distributed Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, BoxGroup, Propel Venture Partners

Author

Vivian Chan, PhD
February 13, 2025

Hello and welcome to #17 edition of the fortnightly Vivian’s Deeptech Insider.

In our last newsletter, we explore the Clarity Frameworks - introducing the 4Cs and sharing initial tools like the Problem Questions and Vision & Mission examples to help with the first step - transforming Complexity → Clarity:

  1. Complexity → Clarity
    Founders need to translate complex technical problems into business challenges that resonate with non-technical stakeholders. I’ll help you clearly communicate the significance of your solution, making sure everyone understands the problem you’re solving and why it matters.

  2. Clarity → Champions
    It’s about more than identifying a problem—it’s about pinpointing your early adopters, refining market positioning, and clearly articulating the problem and customer definition to showcase potential to investors.

  3. Champions → Communication
    Deeptech products can be hard to explain. I’ll help translate technical milestones into core features, benefits, and customer impact, ensuring they’re clear and compelling to investors and customers alike.

  4. Communication → Clients
    I’ll provide guidance on tracking progress, communicating growth metrics, and updating stakeholders on the product's evolution to demonstrate how scientific advancements translate into tangible value.

Today, we’re building on that foundation, sharing more strategic insights and practical tools tailored for Deeptech startups (AI, Healthtech/Biotech, Spacetech, Climatetech, and more) to assess, accelerate, and commercialise innovations for greater value and impact.

Lean Canvas (Deeptech Edition)

When it comes to mapping out your strategy, there are countless templates available - but for Deeptech, I like to tweak the tried-and-true Lean UX Canvas. It’s a simple yet powerful way to see where your team stands and ensure everyone is aligned on the core mission.

Lean Canvas Deeptech edition

Previously known as the Lean UX Canvas, this framework was originally created by Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden in 2016 as a powerful way to help teams define their work as a business problem to solve - rather than simply executing a solution (much like my 4Ps framework!). By breaking ideas down into core assumptions and hypotheses, it provided a structured approach to validation. The framework evolved with version 2 in 2019, and in its latest edition (v3), released last year, it has been expanded into two canvases - one for broader strategic thinking and the other with a product-focused perspective - moving beyond just UX methodology.

Step 1

We'll begin with the Lean Strategy Canvas, as it seamlessly builds on the Problem Questions and Vision/Mission work discussed in our last newsletter. The key update is that I've tailored this framework to incorporate critical questions specific to Deeptech and Healthtech, which are highlighted in blue in the Lean Strategy Deeptech version below. While this isn't an exhaustive list - since the questions may vary by sector - here are some that I typically include:

  • How can you think beyond 12-18 months, considering that Deeptech/Healthtech companies often take longer to develop?

  • What regulatory challenges might impact your Go-To-Market strategy and goals?

  • How do IP and grants fit into your overall strategy?

I also appreciate how this updated version integrates Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), a framework I use to keep companies aligned and on track. I’ll explore OKRs in more detail in future newsletters.

You can download my annotated Lean Strategy Deeptech version from my Notion page vault. Original version from Jeff and Josh here.

Here’s a made-up example with a Lean Strategy for a company, you can also download this example from the vault:

Step 2

Once the strategy is clear, collaborate on the Lean Product Canvas as a team. This is the first step in bringing everything together and defining the solution and product offering that you can begin sharing with your initial Champions (the next step in our 4Cs).

A few things I’ve always appreciated about this canvas, especially as a scientist, are its focus on hypotheses. It’s a very analytical way to break down your assumptions and clearly articulate your expectations (I’ve written about why scientists make great founders). Another aspect I love is that it incorporates the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework, which I’ve found invaluable for helping technical founders start to shape their product marketing. I’ll share more on this in a future newsletter.

Here’s what the updated v3 Lean Product Canvas looks like. There are only a few minor updates from v2 (which was released 5 years ago), but the most important thing is to follow the order of the grid. It’s designed to guide you through what you should know today, what you’ll want to know later, and what you’re aiming to validate.

Again, you can find all the examples in my vault or templates downloadable directly from Jeff Gothelf’s blog.

Remember, it’s totally okay if everything isn’t figured out right away. Entrepreneurship is all about learning and adapting as you go.

In the next edition, we’ll dive into a few more questions and frameworks to help you fine-tune your clarity, then move on to using those insights to engage your early Champions (next C in our 4Cs framework) and refine your strategy. Stay tuned for the next steps in our deeptech playbook!

As always, feel free to reach out if you need more tailored advice or want access to the Deeptech Insider network and events.

- Vivian

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