The Bet We Made on Deep Tech (And Why We’re Doubling Down)
Three years ago we bet on deep tech because of the people and leadership challenges that come with building and scaling these businesses. Our early belief was that this was a match, but we had to earn our credibility and shift from theory to experience. It was not an immediate success.
Pip Spyksma, CEO | Leadership Advisor, Sprout PeopleWe saw a clear intersection between what these businesses need and what we do well.
Why deep tech?
We chose deep tech because we felt these were the people and businesses who would benefit the most from what we offer - specialist recruitment, organisational design, and leadership support - due to the characteristics of deep tech.
01 Deep tech characteristics:
Long road to profit
Long development timelines
Technical risk
IP sits in people early
Specialised, hard-to-find skill sets
Huge potential for impact
02 Founder dynamic:
Often technical
Pulled across product, capital, operations, leadership
03 The “people challenge” is more complex and more critical
How this relates to our work
At Sprout People, our work is in specialist technical and leadership recruitment, organisational design, and helping leaders and teams do what they do best.
In deep tech, these aren’t nice-to-haves, they directly impact whether a business can move from R&D to commercialisation.
Hiring the right technical and leadership capability at the right time.
Designing a structure that keeps pace with the stage of the business.
Supporting founders to lead, not just build.
These are the areas where momentum is either created or lost.
Fleur Clough, Principal Consultant | Executive Recruitment Specialist, Sprout PeopleThe work we do truly helps deep tech companies move faster and ensure they are future-ready — often they haven't thought about this stuff, and it is important.
Keeping at it
Logically it was a match but importantly we also paid attention to our own passion. If we’re going to work this hard at something we’ve got to believe in what we do and enjoy doing it so that we want to double down when things get hard.
Sam Piane, Principal Deep Tech Recruitment ConsultantDeep tech attracts people trying to solve genuinely hard problems. I'll never discover a material or design a rocket. But I can make sure the person who does ends up at the right company at the right time.
The ecosystem reality
NZ’s deep tech ecosystem is:
Growing but still maturing - there is great work being done by outfits like Outset Ventures to create a space for early stage deep techs, with VC’s like WNT Ventures, Motion Capital, Icehouse Ventures backing them.
Relationship-driven - we are still in NZ where everyone knows everyone!
Built on trust and contribution - people back people, and reputation carries.
Globally connected by necessity – the market is small, so companies are thinking internationally early, whether that’s talent, capital, or customers.
More resource-constrained, which raises the bar – less capital and fewer ready-made talent pools means decisions (especially people decisions) carry more weight.
It takes time to “earn the right” and you don’t just show up.
Fleur Clough, Principal Consultant | Executive Recruitment Specialist, Sprout PeopleThese companies are solving real challenges of today's complex world - their purpose is not to just make us more efficient or wealthy, but they are making our world a better place, while generating success for all. Also, the people in deep techs are so open to learning about people and leadership. They have perfected their craft in the tech, and are incredibly open and grateful to learn more about people and teams.
What we’ve learned
People decisions matter earlier and more in deep tech
Structure often lags behind ambition
Leadership load on founders is heavier than most realise
Hiring mistakes are more costly due to niche skills + timing
We still love this space
To us, this bet is paying off. We’re proud of our progress, but we’re not “done.” If there’s one thing we can take from these founders is there are always new problems to solve. If there is one thing we can offer from our experience it is that no one has all the answers.
It’s taken a good few years to earn our right to play in this space (and rightfully so) and we intend to keep earning it. But we’re also stoked that we’re now able to speak to our stories in this space and not our hopes and dreams.
