Beyond TRL 9: Why Deeptech Companies Stall After the First Contract

​Reached orbit. Went public near $4 billion. Filed for bankruptcy in eighteen months.

Nothing about that outcome shows up on a TRL scale - and nothing about it is unique to rockets.

Every deeptech and spacetech founder can recite their TRL without thinking. Almost none can say, in one sentence, who pays them and how much. Six to twelve months after a VC writes the check, that same gap is what turns a technically excellent portfolio company quiet on commercial traction.

Join Jimmy Lin (Perigee Advisory) and Denis Kalyshkin (I2BF Global Ventures) for a working session on the Commercial Readiness Curve: five stages, mapped to TRL, each with a named failure trap - illustrated with cases spanning a rocket company that reached orbit and still went bankrupt, a defense-tech company that chose a channel before anyone forced it to, and a bootstrapped email tool that sold for $12 billion without ever raising venture capital.

You'll leave able to name your own stage and trap - or the stage and trap of the company you've already funded.

Who should attend:

• ​Founders past initial technical validation who haven't cracked repeatable revenue

• ​Investors trying to name exactly what's wrong with a technically strong portfolio company that's gone quiet on traction