While a fusion reactor can't be built in three months, YC pushes hardware and deep tech founders to create a tangible Minimum Viable Proof. This forces them to de-risk the venture by hitting a critical milestone, such as building a small-scale desert prototype or securing key letters of intent, proving traction on a non-obvious timeline.
Related Insights
YC provides a built-in go-to-market engine where startups treat their 200+ well-funded batchmates as their first customers. This 'win YC, win the market' strategy de-risks early customer acquisition and provides critical initial revenue and case studies to build momentum.
Before seeking major funding, Elysian validated its radical aircraft design with skeptical professors from TU Delft and MIT. Winning over these experts provided the critical credibility and third-party proof needed to build investor confidence in their unproven deep-tech concept.
Founders who've already built a product haven't missed the 'validation' window. The focus simply shifts from 'is there a problem?' to de-risking subsequent assumptions: Is the solution worthwhile? Will people pay enough? Can customers be acquired profitably? This process is ongoing, even at scale.
Investors like Stacy Brown-Philpot and Aileen Lee now expect founders to demonstrate a clear, rapid path to massive scale early on. The old assumption that the next funding round would solve for scalability is gone; proof is required upfront.
For frontier technologies like BCIs, a Minimum Viable Product can be self-defeating because a "mid" signal from a hacky prototype is uninformative. Neuralink invests significant polish into experiments, ensuring that if an idea fails, it's because the concept is wrong, not because the execution was poor.
Moving from a science-focused research phase to building physical technology demonstrators is critical. The sooner a deep tech company does this, the faster it uncovers new real-world challenges, creates tangible proof for investors and customers, and fosters a culture of building, not just researching.
Validate market demand by securing payment from customers before investing significant resources in building anything. This applies to software, hardware, and services, completely eliminating the risk of creating something nobody wants to buy.
While moats like network effects and brand develop over time, the only sustainable advantage an early-stage startup has is its iteration speed. The ability to quickly cycle through ideas, build MVPs, and gather feedback is the fundamental driver of success before achieving scale.
