where are you, really?
technology and manufacturing readiness, and why the honest answer helps you raise.
most of our first calls with founders start the same way. we ask a set of questions about the product, the market and how the thing gets built, and from the answers we place the company on two scales: technology readiness and manufacturing readiness.
technology readiness runs from an idea on paper to a system proven in real use. manufacturing readiness asks a different question: can you make it again, at a known cost, with parts you can actually get? a working prototype on a bench can sit high on the first scale and near the bottom of the second.
founders often overestimate where they are, and that is not a criticism. when you have lived with a design for months, it feels further along than it looks to someone seeing it for the first time. an investor is that someone.
the gap between the two scales is where most of the hidden work lives: suppliers, tolerances, compliance, test plans, the second and third unit. naming it early turns a vague feeling of being almost there into a list of things to do.
our aim with every company is a technology readiness level of five and a manufacturing readiness level of six. at that point a prototype works in a relevant environment, the path to production is mapped, and a pre-seed conversation has something solid to stand on.