1. Decide who the first customer is
Pick one customer type, not a market. The best first customer has a problem the technology solves clearly, enough budget for a pilot and a short path to a decision. I score candidates on those three things before anything else.
2. Talk to the people, not only the company
In an industrial company the person who understands the science is rarely the person who signs. I map the stakeholders: who feels the problem, who evaluates, who owns the budget, who can block. Then I interview them. Ten honest conversations beat months of desk research.
3. Rebuild the materials for a group decision
A pitch built for a scientific audience loses a procurement meeting. The executive summary, the one-page offer and the proposal need to answer what the partner gets, what it costs them and what the first step is, in their language.
4. Propose a small, staged first step
Large commitments stall. A pilot or a joint development agreement with clear stages, a modest first stage and a way to stop is easier to approve. It also gives the team real feedback early.
5. Keep the pipeline alive
Use a CRM from the first outreach. Each meeting ends with a written next step and a date. A weekly review shows what is moving and what has gone quiet. Most deals are lost to silence, not to a no.
Where the time goes
Two KTH spin-offs I worked on went from first contact to commercial commitment in under three months, against a typical two years or more. The difference was the order: buyers first, materials second, one staged first agreement third.
Questions
How early can a spin-out talk to customers?
As soon as there is a result worth showing. Early conversations are cheaper than late ones and shape what you build.
What if my technology has many possible markets?
Pick the one with the clearest problem, the shortest decision path and a budget for a pilot. The others can wait.
Do I need a commercial co-founder?
Not always at the start. A part-time commercial operator can carry the first partnerships, and the team can hire for it once the process is proven.
Want to talk it through?
Write me a few lines about the company and where it stands. If it helps, we can start with two hours on your own AI agent, which gives time back in the first week and shows how I work.
Write to me