🤖 #30: Vivian's Deeptech Insider: What Does Success Really Look Like For You?

Hello and welcome to #30 edition of the fortnightly Vivian’s Deeptech Insider.

When it comes to building a startup that attracts customers and investors successfully, there’s one question that separates founders:

What does success actually look like for YOU?

Not just mission or impact — but from a business, financial, and strategic lens.

Here’s the hard truth I’ve seen over and over: brilliant technical founders passionately explain their product and mission impact, but often get caught up in commercial roadblocks that make it hard to translate into a clear business strategy. And vagueness? It doesn’t attract capital — or, when it does, it often leads to misaligned stakeholders who dilute the original mission.

One of the core areas I focus on as a board advisor is clarity around your exit strategy and how working backwards from that exit can make your entire business simpler. Especially for technical founders with strong tech/IP, simplicity and clarity is the superpower — not complexity.

That’s why I want to share a simple but powerful exercise with you: The Exit Vision Exercise.

This is Part 1 of my 7-part Exit Canvas — a core framework inside my Capital Catalyst residency — but you can start it right now.

The Exit Vision Exercise

Block 30–45 minutes this week and complete ONE of these vision statements. Don’t overthink it — trust your gut:

Option A — Acquisition Path:
“We want to be acquired by [specific companies] in [X] years because we provide [strategic value] that transforms their business.”

Option B — IPO Path:
“We believe an IPO is the right exit because it enables us to [scale/independence/returns]. We aim to go public on [Exchange] in [X] years because our [unique advantage] positions us as the category leader in [market].”

If you feel you need more data, give yourself 1–2 hours max. Use AI to research comparable companies and recent exits, then trust your instincts and choose a direction.

"But Vivian, I don't know which path is right..."

This isn't about being "right" or "perfect" — it's about being decisive. Your strategy will evolve (because it's a startup!), but your clarity of thought needs to start now. You owe it to yourself and your team to at least choose a direction.

What Happens When You Become Decisive

The CEOs I work with who nail this exercise experience something remarkable:

• They attract the right investors and customers who are truly on their journey — raising capital on their terms with far less misaligned stakeholder drama.

• Strategic decisions become obvious because they finally have a North Star.

• Their teams rally around a concrete vision, making success tangible.

This single exercise will give you more confidence in the next 10 weeks than most founders develop in 2 years.

I didn't do this in my early businesses — and I paid for it. I attracted investors and partners completely misaligned with my vision because I kept the exit strategy vague and offered too many options and I spent more time bringing everyone up to speed than bringing the company forward.

I’ll be sharing more on this, along with the Learning Velocity LIVE later today.

Feel free to join me for a free masterclass today at 12pm BST, where I’ll guide you through this exercise and share other Board-as-a-Service frameworks to help you align your board and capital strategy.

Can’t make it live? Register anyway, and I’ll share the replay.

See you there,
Vivian

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