Vertical Integrators

That’s the difference to me between deep tech and Vertical Integrators. A deep tech company designs a product for optimal performance, taking on the risk of unproven science or technology to do so, while a Vertical Integrator designs a system for optimal performance, taking a risk on the combination of proven technologies.

While Vertical Integrators are technology companies, their business models should be the opposite of the Aggregator model that won the Internet era. They should look like the business models that won the Second Industrial Revolution.

Legacy Industrials , or Incumbents, have vertically integrated supply chains designed around older technologies and processes. Deep Tech companies have unproven technologies that, if they work, could be a very powerful building block for many businesses. Vertical Integrators integrate a number of cutting-edge-but-proven technologies; what they need... See more