Balance the technological maturity and the commercial maturity!

Deeptech start-ups and innovative industrial companies are increasingly using the TRL (Technology Readiness Level) scale of technological maturity. It facilitates dialogue with partners and funders. The TRL ranges from level 1, for an idea, to level 9, for a technology that has been proven in an operational environment.

The early 2020s saw the emergence of a scale of business maturity, known as BRL (Business Readiness Level). Although its definition has not yet been standardised, it uses the same graduation principle as the TRL, ranging from 1 for an idea to 9 for an offering that generates recurring sales.

Founding teams committed to develop, and market launch, a technological innovation may wonder which scale to use.

In this paper I explain why, by using the two together, the founders’ team will derive three major benefits:

• Identify the three main phases in the development of the innovation project, which are each characterised by specific management needs.

• Accelerate the process by paralleling technological and market learning. This paves the way for high added value iterations between the technological potential of the innovation and the needs of future users.

• Like a tightrope walker, move forward while maintaining the balance between technological maturity and commercial maturity, so as not to fall, either because of marketing difficulties or because of operational deployment problems. These two risks are critical and frequent. Yet mitigating them is in the hands of founders.

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