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𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙄𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙆𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙎𝙖𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜 “𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝘽𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙃𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙈𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙏𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣” If investors keep telling you: “Come back when you have more traction…” they may not really be saying: “You’re too early.” They may be saying: “You haven’t yet shown me enough evidence that customers genuinely want what you’re building.” This is what I call the Traction Gap. It’s the difficult stage between: Prototype → Pilot → Meaningful market traction And it’s where many science and technology startups stall. Why? Because founders often: ♦️ Explain the technology instead of the value ♦️ Engage customers too late ♦️ Position themselves too broadly ♦️ Start fundraising before they have enough commercial evidence. The result is a technically strong company that still feels commercially risky to an investor. The way through the Traction Gap is simple in principle, even if it’s difficult in practice: 1. Identify the highest-value problem. Who urgently needs what you are building, and why? 2. Build with customers, not just for them. Use pilots, co-development, LOIs and early partnerships to create real validation. 3. Turn that evidence into investor confidence. Move from “we believe there is a market” to “here is what customers are actually doing.” That distinction matters. Because investors are not simply funding great technology. They are funding a credible path from technology → customers → revenue → growth. I’ve explored this in more detail in my latest article: “The Traction Gap: Why Investors Keep Saying ‘Come Back When You Have More Traction’” It covers what traction really means, what evidence investors are looking for, and how science and deep-tech founders can build stronger commercial credibility before fundraising. 👉 Read the full article here: https://zurl.co/l91gj #ScienceStartups #DeepTech #StartupFunding #InvestmentReadiness #MarketTraction #Commercialisation #UniversitySpinouts

Following the success of the first event last week, we are giving founders of science and technology startups another opportunity to learn the secrets of the Unicorns, the traction framework that the world's largest companies successfully used at the start of their journey. 𝘿𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩 - 𝙈𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙮 6th July 𝙖𝙩 3 𝙥𝙢 𝘽𝙎𝙏 #entrepreneurship #startups #innovation #technology #science #winningcustomers #securinginvestment #buildaunicorn

𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. In this live webinar, discover the commercial strategies successful science startups use to secure their first customers and attract investors. Learn the traction milestones that transform scientific innovation into real commercial momentum.

🚀 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝. 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 - 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐥 𝟏𝐬𝐭! If you’re building a science or deeptech startup and still searching for your first real customers or investors, this is for you. Too many brilliant founders stall at the same point: 🛑 Strong science 🛑 Weak traction 🛑 Unclear investor narrative The Unicorn Builders Community exists to fix that. Inside you’ll get: ✅ Bite-sized commercialisation training ✅ Live Q&A sessions ✅ Practical tools & templates ✅ Real support from someone who’s done this before This is not theory. This is about turning breakthroughs into revenue — and revenue into investment. Doors open April 1st. If you’re serious about accelerating traction: 🦄 Join the waitlist here: https://zurl.co/otRep OR 📅 Book a 15-min call to see if it’s right for you: https://zurl.co/ezSeC 𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺. 𝗧𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿. #entrepreneurship #startups #innovation #technology #science #winningcustomers #securinginvestment #buildaunicorn

🧪 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐞: “𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮.” I’ve lost count of the number of startups with world-changing technology that never left the lab. The real world doesn’t reward ideas. It rewards the people who turn ideas into value that customers will pay for. That’s why commercial skills — market validation, positioning, early sales — are the edge every founder needs. But where do you learn it? Not in a textbook. Not in a half-day workshop. And not alone. The Unicorn Builders Community will give you bite-sized, real-world training — plus live answers when you’re stuck. 🔑 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁, 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 👉 https://zurl.co/4WW5I

💢 𝐋𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠? - 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 ‘𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐭’ 💡 Defined by Deloitte’s Global CMO Diana O’Brien as “propagating a culture across the organisation that puts the customer at the centre of the strategy.” 💰 I believe that market focus should be the Number One Priority for early-stage technology companies, and it starts by developing the market mindset. 💥 It doesn’t matter if you don’t have revenue or customers yet, it doesn’t matter if you’ve got investor backing or not, if your company doesn’t constantly evaluate and improve its alignment with the needs of customers, it will ultimately fail to achieve subsequent rounds of investment, fail to win and retain valuable customers, and risk falling short of achieving your vision for its eventual exit. ❓ Where will that leave you and your personal goals? ❓ How would not becoming wealthy from the future sale of a flourishing company feel to you? ❓ How might this affect your future, your retirement plans, or the returns on the capital and time you’ve already invested? 🔥 It’s never too early to put the customer at the centre of your strategy, get them involved in the design process for your products or services, and focus on how to delight the customer to build long-term value, for them, for your company, and for you. ⛔ It will, however, get to a point when it’s too late, so why not bring in some new thinking and try a new approach before it’s too late? 🙋 Comment ‘mindset’ below and let’s get talking! #innovation #startups #venturecapital #technologyinvestment #founders

𝐀 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞 𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 In today's dynamic world, scientific research must extend beyond academia and effect real-world change. As leaders in university knowledge exchange and commercialisation, we must ensure our institutions' research drives societal progress and economic growth. 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 is essential. Researchers need skills in entrepreneurship, intellectual property, and effective communication to translate their findings into tangible benefits. Investing in comprehensive training programs empowers researchers to seize commercialisation and societal impact opportunities. 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 is equally vital. We must create environments that facilitate impact generation. Streamlining patent filing, licensing, and startup/spinout creation processes, along with fostering industry-academia collaborations, enables researchers to focus on innovation. 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 is a strategic imperative. Embedding impact as a core institutional value and aligning policies and evaluation criteria to include societal and economic contributions are key. Incentivising impact-oriented research through grants, awards, and recognition motivates researchers to pursue projects with real-world applications. Generating impact from research requires collective effort. As leaders, we can transform our institutions into innovation hubs that advance knowledge and drive societal progress. Let's commit to championing impactful research and harnessing its full potential for a better world. #ResearchImpact #UniversityInnovation #KnowledgeExchange #Commercialisation #SocietalProgress #EconomicGrowth #entrepreneurship #innovation #technology #buildaunicorn