Lessons On Scaling Deep Tech Startups

By Jesse Coors-Blankenship and Gregg Hill

As former deep tech startup founders who are now venture capitalists, we’ve lived both sides of the company-building journey. In 2018, we sold our AI generative design startup Frustum to PTC. Now, we run an operator-led VC firm focused on AI, simulation, quantum and other frontier technologies.

Most recently, we had the privilege of backing Jack Hidary and his team at SandboxAQ — an Alphabet spinout at the nexus of AI and quantum technologies — helping anchor the company’s most recent $450 million funding round.

We’ve learned a number of hard-fought lessons over the years while growing Parkway VC. Here, speaking founder-to-founder, we share some of our key lessons for scaling deep tech companies.

Solve a real problem

Deep tech must tackle large and urgent problems. The most successful deep tech founders we see focus on real-world applications from day one, not just R&D.

We were drawn to SandboxAQ because it already had real products and early customers at spinout. Despite working with cutting-edge quantum algorithms and AI, SandboxAQ was delivering value to enterprises in cryptography, drug discovery and geolocation sensing.

This early validation sends a powerful signal: Your technology isn’t a solution in search of a problem; it’s already solving problems.

Pick investors who truly understand your tech

When your startup is built on complex science or engineering, the last thing you want is a superficial investor who just likes the buzzwords.

Seek out smart capital — backers who have deep expertise in your domain and even firsthand operator experience. For SandboxAQ and our other portfolio companies, that strategy proved successful. Securing capital wasn’t just about raising money; it was about aligning with partners who understood the drivers of deep tech and could provide more than just financial support.

For founders, having investors who “get it” means you spend less time explaining fundamentals and more time executing. Talk to their other portfolio CEOs: Are they merely financiers, or do they actively contribute insights and open doors?

A partner with domain savvy and empathy for the founder journey can be a game-changer when you hit the inevitable obstacles on the road to scale.

Leverage anchor investors to build a strong syndicate

Scaling deep tech often requires significant capital to reach full potential. A critical lesson we learned is the importance of having a strong anchor investor who can not only lead the round but also attract other top-tier investors.

In SandboxAQ’s Series D and E, we played an anchoring role by investing with conviction early. According to Hidary, our significant and early commitment has played a crucial part in its growth strategy.

The broader point for founders is not to go it alone in fundraising. Choose a lead investor who gives others FOMO. A credible lead can validate your startup’s potential in ways that your own pitch, however passionate, might not. SandboxAQ has done a great job attracting a mix of growth investors like ourselves along with strategic investors such as Google and Nvidia.

Frame your narrative — educate the market

In cutting-edge fields, founders should not assume everyone immediately understands the significance of their innovation. Part of scaling a deep tech startup is becoming an educator and evangelist for your technology paradigm. We saw this firsthand with SandboxAQ. In a world suddenly obsessed with ChatGPT and large language models, SandboxAQ had to explain the concept of large quantitative models — essentially AI models geared for heavy number-crunching in scientific and industrial contexts.

The lesson for founders is to differentiate from the hype with clarity. Share a narrative that connects your deep tech to broader trends without getting lost in jargon.

Connect vision with execution

Deep tech founders are visionary by nature — you see a future that others don’t see yet. That vision is your North Star, but scaling a company requires marrying vision with rigorous execution. Under Hidary’s guidance, SandboxAQ assembled a deeply technical team and kept it focused on clear industry use cases.

Translate your moonshot into a roadmap: Set intermediate milestones that demonstrate progress — prototypes, pilot results, patents, regulatory clearances — whatever fits your field. This builds credibility over time. Also, be ready to iterate your approach without compromising your mission. In VC meetings, don’t shy away from discussing how you’ll mitigate technical and market risks — it shows you’re not drinking your own Kool-Aid. A grounded, execution-focused mindset actually makes it easier to pursue audacious goals because you’ll bring others along for the ride.

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Jesse Coors-Blankenship is co-founder and general partner at Parkway VC. Previously, he founded Frustum, inventing patented generative‑design AI that automated engineered‑product design and delivering a 9x return when PTC acquired the company in 2018. He holds multiple issued and pending patents and brings deep expertise in generative design, simulation, AI and SaaS. Earlier, he was a senior engineer at Autodesk, deploying generative‑design technology for Airbus, and taught and conducted AI research at Columbia and Cornell. He now invests in and mentors early‑ and mid‑stage deep tech founders.

Gregg Hill, co‑founder and general partner at Parkway VC, is a serial entrepreneur who has invested more than $1 billion across venture and real estate deals with top‑quartile returns. He earlier co-founded H&S Capital Group and was one of Frustum’s first, largest and most-active investors. As CEO of Hill Gray Seven, he has developed 130-plus medical, self‑storage, multifamily and retail properties for Fortune 500 clients in 15 states. A former elite junior tennis player trained at IMG Academy, he studied economics at USC and now channels his competitive drive into mentoring deep tech founders and supporting youth through Match Point Impact and the American Diabetes Association.