Navigate through the valley of death
Are you an ambitious deeptech startup that wants to get ahead of the race as fast as possible?
Pole Position connects you to peers, seasoned Deeptech entrepreneurs and Techleaps experienced and well-connected community. Together, we work on your challenges while developing a strong roadmap through the valley of death towards your dot on the horizon: a global scale company!
A new round for Pole Position, will open for applicants in July 2024.
Pole Position in short
Starting a Deeptech company is very challenging. Developing complex technology, operating in a complicated ecosystem while accessing the market, raising money ahead of traction and keeping up the spirit for yourself and your growing team requires a high level of ambition, vision, focus and endurance.
Because we need these breakthrough technologies to find their way to success through the valley of death Techleap designed Pole Position. A programme that challenges you and your team on your vision & ambition, market access, business model, leadership & team and funding roadmap. Pole Position is our flagship programme for entrepreneurs only to level with peers and get challenged by experts and seasoned founders that are already ahead of the race.
Who is the programme for
Are you aiming for global impact and does your venture have scaling potential? Then you might be selected based on the criteria (in the image) below. Our next batch will be announced in July 2024 and will focus on ventures that develop breakthrough products & services that combine advanced hardware and digital technologies.
Applications can range from (TBD – depending on next focus theme).
Planning the main phases
What does the programme offer?
Pre-phase
Intake
Provide us with necessary information we ask for in the application.
In preparation of the programme you will have to provide us with necessary information we ask for in the application. When preselected, we will ask you for your roadmap and pitchdeck. These and your live pitch with Q&A will be judged by a jury of investors, founders and experts, chaired by Constantijn van Oranje. When selected, you will have an intake call with the Pole Position team.
Pase I
Assess
Getting to know and prepping you and your company.
This first part of the programme will consist out of assessing, getting to know and prepping you and your company by means of a scale scan, 1 on 1 sessions with our pitcrew and 2 kick-off days offsite.
Phase II
Insight
Work on your challenges and get insights on where to focus on as a company.
In four group sessions together with scale founders, serial (deeptech) entrepreneurs and experts you will work on your challenges and get insights on where to focus on as a company after the programme.
Challenging elements of your roadmap like Market Access, Team and Leadership, Business models and Funding will be discussed in depth. There is always an inspirational element!
Phase III
Boost & Connect
Boost your journey towards global impact.
All the knowledge, tough love, shared learnings and insights will help you in your journey to global impact. In the period after the programme you will be supported by the Techleap platform and our broader community.
Planning timeline Life Science &
Health in 2024
Pitcrew and Challengers
Deeptech
Alexander Crowell
Partner PureTerra Ventures
Pippa Gawley
Founding Partner Zero Carbon
Hamed Sadeghian
CEO Nearfield Instruments
Fabrizio Del Maffeo
CEO & Co-founder Axelera
Lise Rechsteiner
Bram de Zwart
Co-founder Hubs
Corinne Vigreux
TomTom
Vincent Kamphorst
Innovation Industries
Jos Burger
Founder Ultimaker
Menno van Dijk
Ton van ’t Noordende
Constantijn van Oranje
Special Envoy TechleapNL
Alexander Ribbink
General Partner KEEN Ventures
Beau-Anne Chilla
Investment Manager Forward.one
Pia Michel
Prima Materia
Guus Frericks
DeeptechXL
Boudewijn Docter
Oscar Kneppers
ACE
Riemer Smink
FORWARD.one
Johan Feenstra
CEO Smart Photonics
Martina Barabas
Deeptech Equity NL
Rene de Vries
Founder Aito
Samir Ahmad
Deeptech Equity NL
Ferdinand Grapperhaus
Founder PHYSEE
Arno van Mourik
CEO Airborne
Richard Visser
Founder SMART Photonics
Helmer Schukken
Managing Partner Rubio Ventures
Teska van Vuren
Partner Deeptech XL
Gert Jan Vaessen
Fund Manager Deep Tech Fund
Soukaina Adnane-Murphy
Founder Onera Health
Art de Boo
Coach
David Rosenberg
OXYGY
Sebastian Peck
Partner Kompas VC
Michael Smith
General Partner Regeneration VC
Pitcrew and Challengers
Life Science & Health
Sjaak Vink
Founder & CEO at The Social Network, on a mission to give everyone access to the best medicines
Dinko Valerio
Scientist-turned-entrepreneur, founder & former CEO of Crucell, mentor
Eline van Beest
CEO Hybridize Therapeutics and Venture Partner at Thuja Capital.
Derk Arts
CEO at Castor, Making Decentralized Trials Scale.
Judith Heikoop
InspiringFifty Europe winner, MedTech & Life Sciences, Scaling start-ups and C-Suite Executive and Board member.
Anke Huiskes
Early Stage Investor. Managing Partner NP-Hard at Ventures and Founding Partner Planet Positive
Fenna Heyning
NLC
Henk Westendorp
Medtronic
Sarah Fisher
Venture Partner
Harm de Vries
General Partner Innovation Industries
Eva Hukshorn
CFO MRIguidance
Ger van Jeveren
Investor PhotonVentures
Jaap Maljers
Business man with a strong social drive, entrepreneur & investor in health care
Chretien Herben
Mentor for startups and scale-ups in Life Sciences, Biotech, Medtech and Cleantech
Jan Hunik
Building business in Biotechnology, Food and Biomedical materials
Alain le Loux
Partner at Dutch-American deeptech VC firm Cottonwood Technology Fund
Miranda Berkhof
Owner BeyoUnd Transformation. Developing thriving teams and authentic leaders
Anne DeGheest
Mentor Capitalist, Investor and Corporate Adviser. Pioneered the HealthTech space as entrepreneur. Founder of HealthTech Capital and MedStars.
Allard Kaptein
Managing Director LAMA Ventures
Jorge Juan Fernandez Garcia
Venture Partner Nina Capital
Merel Boers
CEO Nicolab
Koenraad Wiephaup
Founder, CEO Leyden Labs
Ton van ’t Noordende
QDNL Participations, PHX
What participants say about
Pole Position
Who participated in Pole Position?
These are some of our alumni
Are you a deeptech founder that matches the criteria but are not fitting the LSH theme;
leave your details here so that we can keep you updated on future batches.
Meet the team
Annemieke Wisse
Snr. Programme Manager
Lech Bakhuizen van den Brink
Programme Manager
Iris Visser
Project Manager
Peter Maarten Westerhout
Director Deeptech
How do I apply
To apply, fill in the application form.
Once you submit your application, your candidature will be thoroughly reviewed by a group of experts. Eventually, we will select fifteen ventures that will be invited to pitch and do a Q&A in front of the selection committee on the March 11th, 2024
Application deadline February 26th,
Selection day March 11th
You will get an answer on their decision ultimately on March 12th, 2024.
What are the costs?
We do not seek equity. There are no participation costs involved besides your full commitment. We aim to build a thriving (deeptech) startup & scale community and therefore we do ask you to give back. For both Pole Position and this community, we believe that the more effort you put in the more you will get out of it. Let’s make an impact together!
What is the selection process?
Once you submit your application, your candidature will be thoroughly reviewed by a group of experts. Eventually, we will select fifteen ventures that will be invited to pitch and do a Q&A in front of the selection committee on March 11th, 2024.
You will get an answer on their decision on March 12th 2024. Once selected you will be part of the greater Techleap community of serial entrepreneurs, investors and other ecosystem stakeholders.
What is Pole Position’s added value?
With the Pole Position Programme we will help you, as a deeptech venture, to bridge the so-called 'valley of death' with its complex obstacles. This includes expert support, peer-to-peer and role-model learning (with tough love) and access to an extensive and (sector specific) relevant network including great (intern)national exposure. Summarised:
- The benefit of getting challenged by experts and experienced founders that are already ahead of the race.
- The benefit of Techleap’s network of high quality experts, including policymakers, top-notch entrepreneurs and other ecosystem stakeholders.
- You will gain (facilitated) exposure for your company on Techleap's channels.
- You’ll learn from like-minded entrepreneurs through our peer-to-peer sessions, ignited by theme specific role models.
Do you run the Pole Position initiative for startups from all industries?
Yes, however, we focus on specific themes to create added value among peers and address similar challenges. The sixth theme will be focused on Life Sciences & Health.
In case you are interested in joining the initiative but do not fit our upcoming batch, please contact our Programme manager Lech Bakhuizen v.d. Brink at lech@techleap.nl or leave your contact details here.
Still more questions?
We are happy to answer them! Please reach out to our Programme manager Lech at lech@techleap.nl.