Choose a deeptech idea by finding a specific customer problem and testing the buying context before treating technical novelty as market demand. Identify who experiences the problem, who would approve a purchase, what they do today, and what evidence would change your technical or commercial plan. Customer discovery can validate an opportunity—or show that you should change the use case, target market, or venture plan.
Start with a customer problem, not the technology pitch
A technically impressive invention is not, by itself, evidence of a business. Begin with a narrow initial customer segment and a problem you believe the technology could solve. For a deeptech venture, discovery should inform engineering choices as well as commercialization: the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) describes customer discovery as a way to uncover industrial needs and shape both technology-development plans and venture-launch strategy in its 2025 I-Corps Biennial Report.
Write down the assumptions you need to test before approaching potential customers:
- User: Who encounters the problem in day-to-day work?
- Buyer and budget owner: Who can approve a solution, and whose budget would pay for it?
- Problem: What specific task, cost, risk, delay, or unmet need is involved?
- Current alternative: What do people do now, including workarounds or doing nothing?
- Value proposition: What improvement would make a change worthwhile?
- Adoption route: What technical evaluation, integration, regulatory review, procurement, or other approval might be required?
Keep these as hypotheses, not facts. Your aim is to learn what customers actually do and what a viable path to adoption would require.
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When you have several possible applications for a technology, compare them against the same questions. This is a practical framework, not an official scoring rubric; it reflects the customer-discovery and commercialization factors emphasized by NSF.
| Factor | What to find out | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Problem severity and urgency | How consequential is the problem, and what happens if it remains unsolved? | A compelling technical solution needs a problem important enough to prompt action. |
| User, buyer, and budget | Can you identify the person affected, the person who approves a change, and a plausible budget owner? | Interest from a user may not translate into an approved purchase. |
| Current workaround | How often does the problem arise, and what does the existing workaround cost in time, money, risk, or lost output? | The alternative customers already use is the relevant comparison—not an imagined blank slate. |
| Access to early adopters | Can you reach people who experience the problem and influence a real evaluation? | Without access, it is difficult to test assumptions or build a credible adoption path. |
| Adoption constraints | What integration, proof, regulatory, procurement, or operational barriers could block use? | A real need can still be commercially difficult if the route to deployment is unclear. |
| Value capture while the technology matures | Can the venture deliver and capture value at an achievable stage of technical readiness? | Research milestones and customer value do not always arrive on the same timeline. |
Prefer evidence about current behavior and concrete next steps over broad enthusiasm. A customer who agrees to share workflow data or arrange a technical evaluation has offered a more testable signal than someone who simply says an idea sounds promising. Neither signal guarantees a sale.
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Run discovery interviews that test behavior and buying context
Talk with relevant customers and other market participants, such as technical evaluators, procurement staff, or people responsible for budgets. Ask about recent experiences and existing processes rather than beginning with a pitch. Useful questions include:
- “Tell me about the last time this problem came up. What happened?”
- “What do you do today to handle it? What does that process cost or delay?”
- “How often does this happen, and what is the impact when it does?”
- “Who would need to approve a change, and what evidence would they require?”
- “What would prevent your team from adopting a new solution?”
Listen for specific examples, existing spending or effort, decision authority, and constraints. Avoid leading questions that invite politeness, such as asking whether someone likes your proposed technology. Encouragement is not the same as a buying commitment.
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Track evidence and decide what to change
After conversations, record evidence against each assumption. Note what participants did, what they said about the current process, and whether they identified a buyer or a credible route to evaluation. Separate observed behavior and concrete commitments from opinions or predictions.
Look for patterns such as a costly or urgent problem described consistently, a recognizable buying authority, access to plausible early adopters, and specific next steps. Treat these as signals to investigate, not a formula that proves demand. The available sources do not establish a universal interview count or numerical threshold that certifies a market.
Rank #4
Use the findings to update both the commercial hypothesis and the research or engineering plan. If customers do not experience the problem as expected, the buyer is unclear, or adoption barriers appear prohibitive, test another segment or use case before committing to a venture path. NSF’s account of I-Corps describes teams validating ideas with potential customers and pivoting in response to real-world feedback.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Use interview counts and commercialization programs in context
Interview targets can create discipline, but they are not proof of demand. NSF’s National I-Corps Teams applicant page currently requires participants to complete 100 potential-customer interviews during seven weeks. That is a program requirement, not a universal validation threshold. The same page states eligibility for awards up to $50,000 and a $10,000 participation fee paid from award funds; check the current applicant information for eligibility and terms before applying. The broader NSF I-Corps overview describes the program as focused on research commercialization.
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- NSF I-Corps: Its 2025 report says 685 National I-Corps Teams participated during FY 2023–2024. NSF also reports that 52% of participating teams have been linked to startups since the program began and that teams have raised $7.01 billion in follow-on funding cumulatively. Those are program-reported figures, not estimates proving that participation caused startup formation or funding.
- DOE Energy I-Corps: The U.S. Department of Energy describes this two-month program for national laboratory research teams as focused on value propositions, stakeholder interviews, and market pathways. Its program page reports 165 teams from 12 national laboratories and more than 11,500 customer-discovery interviews, along with more than 160 industry mentors; these cumulative program figures are not commercial success rates. See the DOE Energy I-Corps overview and its program information.
NSF’s separate program overview, accessed in 2026, reports more than 2,500 teams, nearly 1,400 startups, and $3.16 billion in subsequent funding as cumulative figures. As with the figures in the biennial report, they describe program outcomes and do not establish that participation alone caused a startup or its funding.
Choose a guide, not a substitute for customer evidence
The Startup Owner’s Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf is a 608-page Customer Development guide. Wiley describes it as using the Business Model Canvas to organize startup hypotheses; it can help structure what you need to test, but it cannot supply evidence about your customers. See the Wiley book page.
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