"Scaling Smart: A Readiness-Based Guide for Startups, Investors, and Boards" with Expert Dr. Reinhard Voelkel
1. Clarity when it counts
In photonics, optics, and other deep-tech fields, the path from lab to market is inspiring—and unforgiving. Universities celebrate spin-offs, and around research centers a startup culture has flourished. Founders win awards, attract grants, and dream of building unicorns. Yet, the narrative—“our tech is brilliant, just give us money” —is naïve. Many ventures stall in niche markets, and after multiple funding rounds drift into “scaleup zombie” status. This article introduces structured, evidence-grounded frameworks to bring realism and decisiveness to the startup-to-scaleup journey. Built on decades of industry experience, casework and cross-sector observation, the Readiness Roadmap series helps ventures align around strategic truth—and, when needed, exit with dignity.
2. The startup–scaleup-unicorn challenge
Most tech founders are familiar with Technology Readiness Levels (TRL). Real-world scaling, however, demands readiness across multiple dimensions:
• TRL (Technology Readiness) – Does the technology work well?
• BRL (Business Readiness) – Is there real product—market fit and customer pull?
• MRL (Manufacturing Readiness) – Can we build it repeatedly, reliably and affordably?
• SRL (Scalability Readiness) – Can growth happen without chaos?
• PRL (Profitability Readiness) – Can the business become self-sustaining?
The Innovation Readiness Roadmap is a practical self-assessment and planning tool. Founders, boards, and investors start by marking today’s level for technology, business, manufacturing, scalability, and profitability. A venture is truly “scaleup ready” only when TRL and BRL exceed level 7 (on a 9-point scale), MRL is clearly advancing toward 6—7, and PRL/SRL show trajectory toward sustainable operations.
Next, set an immediate “next step” and a longer-term “overall” target. Estimate the time, funding and manpower required to close the gap. This turns ambition into a concrete roadmap—making risks visible and priorities actionable.
3. Strategic market realism: Blue Oceans, Red Flags
“Find a Blue Ocean”—a market with little competition—is common advice. But Blue Oceans often don’t exist or fail to materialize. In contrast, Red Oceans are packed with incumbents defending cash cows, with deep pockets and distribution. These end-market champions have time, money, and distribution advantages.
While they may welcome “innovation,” partnerships with related end-market champions can be double-edged. Innovation scouts often approach startups with promises of collaboration, but their real goal may be to gather insights while protecting their company’s core business. Pitch decks with big-name logos may look impressive yet often signal observation, not commitment. Endless demos and iterations can slow them down without bringing lasting value.
4. The manufacturing dilemma: Why scaling breaks
A hard truths for tech and photonics startups is the manufacturing dilemma. Many founders reach MRL 4—5 but getting to MRL 7—8 requires heavy infrastructure, automation, and industrial discipline. Visionary founders who thrive in early R&D usually struggle with the methodical systems mindset needed for fabs and industrialized production. Putting a brilliant academic with no industrial experience in charge of production, and failure isn’t just a possibility—it’s practically guaranteed. Investors and boards often pressure founders to scale their business as soon as products become sellable (TRL/BRL > 7). “Get traction” is the mantra for success—a dangerous mindset, especially for inexperienced, first-time founders. When demand outpaces production capabilities, it can result in reputational damage, loss of key customers and unsustainable cash burn. Ramping an immature production line under such pressure frequently leads to operational chaos and strategic missteps. The Law of Scaleup Success is a good rule of thumb to illustrate this issue: 2x MRL ≥ PRL + SRL.
This formula highlights a painful truth: many startups push sales and growth (SRL) before their production capability (MRL) is mature, leading to margin collapse, quality issues and investor frustration. Sustainable scaling usually requires MRL > 5—ideally ≥ 7.
5. Gap Analysis
The Readiness Roadmap is a very powerful tool to bring realism, clarity, and decisiveness to the startup-to-unicorn journey. By marking today’s level across TRL, BRL, MRL, SRL, and PRL, founders, boards, and investors can set both the “next step” and the “longer-term target”. Estimating the time, money, and manpower required for each step transforms vague ambitions into a concrete plan. This gap analysis makes risks visible, resources explicit, and priorities actionable.
6. Build & Keep or Build & Sell?
Every founder eventually faces the choice between building a profitable, stable company for the long term (Build & Keep) or raising significant capital to scale fast and exit (Build & Sell). Bootstrapped or grant-supported ventures can often stay in control and grow into healthy SMEs. But once they accept growth money—especially venture capital (VC) or private equity (PE) investment—they are on the Build & Sell path, whether they realize it or not.
Investors typically expect 3x to 5x returns within a few years, placing immense pressure on the company to grow aggressively—often at the expense of operational stability. With portfolios spanning dozens of startups, investors bet on a few winners and write off the rest with little emotional attachment. Founders, on the other hand, have poured years of effort—working long hours for modest pay, sacrificing personal time and financial security. They, too, deserve a return.
7. Innovation readiness in transition: the scaleup crossroads
Consider a typical startup on the path to becoming a scaleup (i.e. at TRL/BRL 7). First customers are interested to buy. However, manufacturing is still at MRL 4. Production depends on skilled personnel in a laboratory environment: a university cleanroom, a shared research center facility, or an incubator lab—all on a pay-per-use basis. This setup is suitable for first customer deliveries, but it is not sustainable for scaling. Improving TRL and BRL further is usually straightforward and relatively inexpensive. The real bottleneck is manufacturing. Reaching MRL 6 typically needs dedicated space, production equipment and industrialized processes. This requires significant investment in infrastructure and people, and introduces fixed costs that are independent of sales revenue.
From here, founders face two distinct pathways:
(a) Strong scaling (Build & Sell).
If the market is large and demand is urgent, the company must push manufacturing rapidly from MRL 4 to ≥ 6, enabling SRL 7. This requires heavy capital expenditure and almost always depends on external investors. The payoff can be high, but so is the risk. In these cases, the company is essentially on a “Build & Sell” trajectory, with investors expecting high growth and an eventual exit.
(b) Niche focus (Build & Keep).
If the target market is smaller or more specialized, the better strategy is to aim for moderate scaling, SRL 4—5, while improving profitability to PRL ≥ 6. Here, the company might continue using lab facilities for certain processes, while selectively building production lines for critical steps, and outsourcing as much as possible to professional partners. This hybrid approach lowers capital intensity and allows for gradual industrialization. If executed well, it opens the possibility of a “Build & Keep” strategy, where the company grows into a sustainable and profitable SME. For both, the key insight is clear: without MRL ≥ 6, no startup is truly scaleup-ready. This is where most risk, and most strategic decision-making, resides.
8. Build & Sell: the Investor Readiness Roadmap
The Investor Readiness Roadmap (IRL, IRRL, ROIRL) comes into play when founders choose the “Build & Sell” path. It outlines what professional investors look for at each stage: from angel checks built on trust and vision to institutional rounds that demand robust governance, risk protection, and a clear exit path. Mapping today’s position on this roadmap forces tough but essential questions: Is the company due diligence-ready? Are financial controls in place? Is the exit strategy aligned with investor expectations? For founders, the roadmap helps balance ambition with discipline. For boards and investors, it ensures transparency about risks, timing, and realistic ROI.
Two further dimensions shape investor confidence: Organization & People (OPRL) and Process Maturity Readiness Levels (PMRL). Investors know that return, risk and the path to success often depend on the excellence of the team, a scalable organizational structure and a process-driven culture. Companies that operate with clear roles, defined accountability, and fact-based decision-making (KPIs, metrics and learning loops) are far more attractive than those driven only by gut feeling or founder intuition.
Including OPRL and PMRL in the investor roadmap makes clear that organizational strength and management maturity are as important as technology and markets in achieving a successful exit.
9. From hope to ROI: three exit paths
Most first-time founders proudly claim that they want to keep their company, grow it steadily, and work there for many years. In practice, this ambition only remains realistic as long as they remain bootstrap financed. Once larger amounts of VC or PE money are involved, the Build & Sell path becomes inevitable. Investors expect not just their money back, but a multiple of it as profit. At this stage, myths circulate about glamorous exits, particularly the initial public offering (IPO). Public listings are rare and difficult, especially for photonics and tech ventures. Instead, most exits follow three paths:
1. Promise-value sale—Sell before major capex. Strategic buyers acquire IP to pre- empt breakthrough.
2. Financial-value sale—A scaleup with strong revenue, margins and team sells to PE, VC or, less commonly, IPO.
3. Fire sale or shutdown—If value is unrecoverable, exit with dignity. Minimize damage.
Many founders resist exit discussions due to ego, fear, or misaligned investor timelines. But clarity about these options allows for better preparation and value maximization. Founders’ work is their investment. Exit is their ROI.
10. Troubleshooting: Fix it. Or Terminate with Dignity.
As the startup ecosystem grows, so does the number of ventures drifting into the trouble zone—technically alive but no longer progressing. “The wheel is still spinning, but the hamster is dead.” Investors face a painful choice: accept the loss or continue funding a stalled venture. Failure isn’t just financial, it’s personal. Founders often struggle with denial, fear of shame, reputational damage, and strained relationships, which can delay necessary decisions. The readiness frameworks and gap analyses offer clarity and quantify the time, resources, and investment needed to move forward and whether the potential return justifies continued effort. Reflection should replace confrontation, with questions like:
• “Would I invest in this company today?”
• “What would trigger a fire sale or shutdown?”
• “How can we preserve reputation while moving on?”
Termination, when done with clarity and respect, is not defeat, it’s a strategic pivot. Founders can reclaim their narrative, and investors demonstrate discipline. A graceful exit protects relationships and lays the groundwork for future ventures. Importantly, there’s a stark contrast between first-time founders and serial entrepreneurs.
The latter have navigated exits before and know when to pivot. In the U.S., failure is seen as part of the journey—build fast, sell smart and move on. In Europe, however, the cultural stigma around failure runs deeper. “Never give up” is often a badge of honour, but it can trap founders in unsalvageable ventures. That’s why investors increasingly encourage first-time founders to team up with experienced entrepreneurs to shorten the learning curve and avoid costly delays.
In the end, knowing when to fix or when to walk away is one of the most courageous decisions a founder can make. Done right, it transforms failure into wisdom and opens the door to what’s next.
11. Clarity over illusion
The journey from startup to scaleup to unicorn is often romanticized, but the reality is complex. Technology alone is never enough. Success requires readiness in business, manufacturing, scalability, profitability, and organizational maturity. Founders face early choices between Build & Keep and Build & Sell, each with different pressures and risks. Accepting growth capital locks a company into an investor-driven trajectory, where exit paths are limited and expectations high. Tools like readiness roadmaps and gap analyses provide a structured way to measure progress, expose risks and align stakeholders before costly mistakes happen.
Most failures are not the result of weak technology, but of overlooked readiness gaps, naïve scaling and delayed decision-making. A disciplined, fact-based approach allows startups, boards and investors to fix what is viable, sell what has value or close with dignity when needed. Above all, clarity—not hype—is what determines whether bold ideas become sustainable companies. And sometimes, clarity can bring fallen angels back on track, unlock second chances and spark a new generation of young serial entrepreneurs—especially across Europe.
If you want to get in touch with Dr. Reinhard Voelkel, please email us to expert@salespro4u.com.
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