Since 2023, I discover that the whole paradigm for deeptech innovation (especially health/biotech) is fundamentally different from starting and scaling an ecommerce platform. It is work of a different nature, and demands people of a different nature. Since 2023, I have been trying to find out the “Whats” that make this field exciting and unique.
The 2000s and 2010s represented an era of human-centred business design. Businesses were designed around the user experience as the holy grail. However, this proximity to the individual consumer is not the case today, especially for enterprise systems; even less so for regulated businesses and scientific research. In all these fields, the “customer” is an ambiguous entity — the system is the customer. The socially engineered system — engineered by leaders and members, entrenched with legacy workflows, regulations, and technologies — is the customer that wants immediate solutions but that also needs to adapt to market trends.
Being a social system, it requires that the innovator be someone who understands its quirks. The innovator must show proof of system membership — whether through demonstrations of expertise, industry affiliations, or relationships with decision-makers. Otherwise, advice from the external world, however valid, can be easily dismissed as kind, non-expert opinions.
Yet, the system makes mistakes. Famously failed Theranos had once appointed a dermatologist as its lab director. But what does a dermatologist know of lab safety and quality?
All in all, the innovator has to earn trust through demonstrating a relevant set of skills and experience.