{"id":1284,"date":"2026-07-27T10:32:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T09:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/?p=1284"},"modified":"2026-07-27T10:32:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T09:32:27","slug":"scaling-deep-tech-in-europe-where-do-priorities-diverge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/2026\/07\/27\/scaling-deep-tech-in-europe-where-do-priorities-diverge\/","title":{"rendered":"Scaling deep tech in Europe: Where do priorities diverge?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scaling a deep-tech company is an exercise in constant trade-offs. Should you focus on entering a new market, hiring talent, preparing for your next funding\u00a0round\u00a0or strengthening your regulatory capabilities?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is rarely a single right answer. But one challenge often goes unnoticed: founders and the investors, corporations,\u00a0mentors\u00a0and policymakers around them do not always agree on what matters most.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That is one of the clearest insights\u00a0developed by\u00a0<\/span>IESE Business School\u2019s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>as part of the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>European Innovation Council (EIC) Scaling Club<\/span><\/a>\u2019s\u00a0Challenge Roadmaps, a series of reports examining ten common scaling challenges, from go-to-market strategy and fundraising to partnerships,\u00a0talent\u00a0and regulation. Across all of them, a consistent pattern appears: the greatest obstacles are not always operational. They often stem from different\u00a0perspectives\u00a0on what deserves attention.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Founders and stakeholders do not always look at the market through the same lens<\/strong><\/p>\n

For founders, go-to-market decisions often revolve around finding the right customers, sharpening the value\u00a0proposition\u00a0and building an effective sales engine.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Investors, corporate partners,\u00a0mentors\u00a0and policymakers\u00a0tend to look further ahead. They place greater emphasis on competitive positioning, business-model resilience, production\u00a0scalability\u00a0and using performance metrics to guide decisions.\u00a0<\/span>\u00b9<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A similar pattern appears during fundraising. While founders often focus on\u00a0demonstrating\u00a0the impact of their technology and\u00a0preparing for\u00a0future investment rounds, investors place greater weight on evidence such as customer acquisition costs, retention, team\u00a0complementarity\u00a0and company performance.\u00a0<\/span>\u00b2<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When scaleups seek a lead investor, another difference\u00a0emerges. Companies tend to emphasize industry awards, future funding strategy, technology\u00a0impact\u00a0and transparent documentation, while stakeholders place greater importance on aligning expectations between founders and investors.\u00a0<\/span>\u00b3<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Neither perspective is wrong. They simply reflect\u00a0different ways\u00a0of assessing whether a company is ready to scale.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Boards can contribute more than founders sometimes expect<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many founders see boards primarily as a source of strategic advice,\u00a0introductions\u00a0and fundraising support.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stakeholders expect boards to play a broader role. Beyond opening doors, they value independent guidance, support in\u00a0identifying\u00a0market trends, investor engagement and even contributions to\u00a0intellectual-property\u00a0strategy.\u00a0<\/span>\u2074<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The question is not whether a company has a board, but whether it is making full use of the\u00a0expertise\u00a0that board members can bring.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Strong partnerships depend on governance as much as access<\/strong><\/p>\n

Partnerships are often viewed as opportunities to access customers,\u00a0funding\u00a0or new markets.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The roadmaps suggest that long-term success depends just as much on how those partnerships are managed. Stakeholders consistently assign greater importance to governance mechanisms such as joint steering committees, regular partnership reviews, transparent investment\u00a0terms\u00a0and structured knowledge sharing.\u00a0<\/span>\u2075<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The same applies to European and institutional partnerships, where stakeholders see greater value in making use of EU funding instruments, advisory services, mobility\u00a0programmes, EU-funded\u00a0training\u00a0and knowledge-exchange\u00a0programmes\u00a0than many scaleups currently do.\u00a0<\/span>\u2076<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In ecosystem-building efforts, one of the clearest gaps concerns financial tools for engaging investors, which stakeholders rate more highly than companies do.\u00a0<\/span>\u2077<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Building relationships is only the first step. Sustaining them requires deliberate structures and processes.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Organizational growth demands as much attention as business growth<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scaling changes what companies need from their people.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stakeholders consistently place greater emphasis on career development, dual career paths, employee engagement, cultural\u00a0adoption\u00a0and reward\u00a0programs\u00a0than founders tend to do.\u00a0<\/span>\u2078<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The same pattern\u00a0emerges\u00a0in diversity and inclusion. Investors and other stakeholders attach greater importance to diverse boards, diversity audits, feedback systems for inclusivity, the adaptation of diversity\u00a0strategies\u00a0and unconscious-bias training.\u00a0<\/span>\u2079<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These are not simply HR initiatives. They become increasingly important as organizations\u00a0grow in size\u00a0and complexity.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Regulation is more than a compliance exercise<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many founders naturally focus on meeting regulatory requirements as they enter new markets.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stakeholders tend to view\u00a0regulation\u00a0more strategically. They emphasize building legal capabilities, data protection, partnerships with public agencies, access to compliance-related grants, public-funding\u00a0applications\u00a0and public-funding networks.\u00a0<\/span>\u00b9\u2070<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, regulatory capability is not simply about avoiding problems. It can become a source of competitive advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Alignment matters more than agreement<\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps the\u00a0most important lesson from the Challenge Roadmaps is not that one group has better priorities than another.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Founders and stakeholders evaluate scaling through different lenses because they play\u00a0different roles\u00a0in the company\u2019s growth. Misalignment is therefore not necessarily a sign that someone is wrong. It is a signal that expectations may need to be discussed more openly.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The roadmaps provide a practical framework for doing exactly that. By helping companies compare their own priorities with those of investors, corporations,\u00a0mentors\u00a0and policymakers, they make these differences visible and therefore easier to address. \u00b9\u00b9<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Scaling will always involve\u00a0difficult decisions. But companies that understand where perspectives diverge are often better equipped to have productive conversations, align\u00a0expectations\u00a0and make stronger decisions as they grow.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Author: David Ricardo Gonzales, Research Assistant at IESE’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scaling a deep-tech company is an exercise in constant trade-offs. Should you focus on entering a new market, hiring talent, preparing for your next funding\u00a0round\u00a0or strengthening your regulatory capabilities?\u00a0 There is rarely a single right answer. But one challenge often goes unnoticed: founders and the investors, corporations,\u00a0mentors\u00a0and policymakers around them do not always agree on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2424,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,116159],"tags":[],"coauthors":[116158],"class_list":["post-1284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entrepreneurship","category-scaleups"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2424"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1285,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1284\/revisions\/1285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1284"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/entrepreneurship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}