🤖 #26: Vivian's Deeptech Insider: Einstein was right, and it might explain why you're stuck

Hello and welcome to #26 edition of the fortnightly Vivian’s Deeptech Insider.

A quick note before diving in: This newsletter is evolving.

Over the past 6 months, I’ve been sharing educational frameworks to help technical founders clarify internal thinking and communicate it externally.

Now, I’m zooming in with a sharper lens, and trimming what doesn’t serve founders in building real growth:

🧠 The recurring patterns I see across technical founders
🔍 More structure in how I break down growth and capital bottlenecks
📣 And soon: I’ll be announcing something close to my heart — a new way to help technical founders attract capital with confidence

Let’s get into it.

"No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it."

— Albert Einstein

That quote has stuck with me for years. And if you’re a technical founder building through ambiguity, I want you to sit with it for a second.

Because when you’re spinning your wheels, whether it’s on traction, hiring, or fundraising, it’s rarely just a tactics problem.

It’s a perspective problem.

You’re not short on talent, ambition, or potential.
But you’re trying to solve next-stage challenges from the same headspace that created them.

• Too close to the science

• Too cautious to sell

• Too focused on being “ready” before fundraising

• Too isolated to zoom out

Add to that the emotional reality most founders don’t talk about: loneliness at the top.

You can’t always show your doubts to your team, they look to you for confidence.
You can’t always share uncertainty with investors, they expect you to have answers.
And if you’re solo (or had a co-founder split), it’s even tougher.

I’ve been there.

My co-founder and I respectfully parted ways a few years into the business. I couldn’t always turn to my team when I was struggling. I had a board, but they were mostly investors. I respected them, but initially I didn’t feel safe showing up with my questions.
They felt like bosses, not thought partners.

The people who really helped shift that mindset?
My advisors. 

They weren’t managing me, they were supporting me.
Helping me challenge assumptions, see blind spots, and think at a higher level.

That shift helped unlock the authentic CEO in me. And having had the privilege of working with those kinds of strategic thought partners, I now want to give that back.

To be that same kind of ally for other technical founders on their journey.

All the lessons from 10+ years as a Co-founder/CEO have distilled into one simple formula, one I now use to help founders understand what really attracts capital (whether it’s revenue or investment):

$$ = Clarity x Pace

Where:

• Clarity = internal and external alignment

• Pace = the traction and trust you build with investors and customers

Most founders I meet aren’t totally stuck, but they’re blocked somewhere in this formula.
Once we pinpoint where, the shift can happen quickly.

Stuck in the Formula? Let’s Unblock It Together

To help you break through, I’m offering free breakthrough calls this month — six a week, every week.

We're already halfway through June and most are gone, but there are still a few spots left.

These are short, sharp 20-min calls designed to do one thing:
Help you identify your clarity or pace bottleneck — and get unstuck.

No pitch. No fluff. Just focused, strategic input from someone who gets the founder journey.

This is for you if:

✅ You’re a technical founder (PhD, engineer, clinician, scientist…)
✅ You’ve raised some capital (grant / angel / VC)
✅ You’re wrestling with:

🔁 “Investors say we’re interesting — but not investable (yet)”
😬 “We’ve raised, but progress feels slow. Burn is real.”
🧪 “Still unsure how to translate our science into sales”
⏳ “Everyone else seems to be moving faster…”

If any of those hit home, hit reply to this newsletter.
Let’s help you shift the level you’re solving from.

— Vivian

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P.P.S. Are we connected on LinkedIn? I’m here.

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