When a startup, especially in deep tech, is searching for its first customer, a really important objection to be ready for is a question about the maturity of the technology.
Excellent article Aaron! Thank you for sharing. An interesting challenge for startups is how to balance the urge that most deep tech founders have of focusing on advancing TRL with the other aspects of running a successful business such as Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL), Integration Readiness Level (IRL), and Business Readiness Level (BRL). For example it does not make sense to do all the work associated with getting to TRL 9 until you have validated the market fit and customer demand. Likewise it would be foolish to do all the customer discovery and line up a long backlog of potential customers if you've not shown that the technology is feasible.
Dr. Sean Ross (AFRL) and Dr. Bruce Cahan (Stanford) have explored this topic extensively and developed a practical guide called the System Readiness Level, that helps companies identify how far along their TRL, MRL, IRL, and BRL should be at each stage. This model ensures that the maturity of each of these factors is consistent with the overall company maturity and helps companies identify where they may be behind or are over-investing.
Excellent article Aaron! Thank you for sharing. An interesting challenge for startups is how to balance the urge that most deep tech founders have of focusing on advancing TRL with the other aspects of running a successful business such as Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL), Integration Readiness Level (IRL), and Business Readiness Level (BRL). For example it does not make sense to do all the work associated with getting to TRL 9 until you have validated the market fit and customer demand. Likewise it would be foolish to do all the customer discovery and line up a long backlog of potential customers if you've not shown that the technology is feasible.
Dr. Sean Ross (AFRL) and Dr. Bruce Cahan (Stanford) have explored this topic extensively and developed a practical guide called the System Readiness Level, that helps companies identify how far along their TRL, MRL, IRL, and BRL should be at each stage. This model ensures that the maturity of each of these factors is consistent with the overall company maturity and helps companies identify where they may be behind or are over-investing.
https://urbanlogic.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Readiness-Levels-Chart-of-Concurrent-Activities.pdf