We are rebranding.  As of today, we are no longer ‘Peloton’. We are now ‘Deep Tech Leaders’.

Why?

For starters, we are not a bike company.  To friends and clients, this may seem obvious.  To the hundreds of customers, gym trainers, investment bankers and minor celebrities that message us every week, it’s been less obvious (apparently).  I love the product, by the way.  But for the final time – it is Peloton Interactive you’re after.

This is also about brand relevance.  In 2005, I began taking on searches in a curious mix of domains, including Cleantech, Advanced Materials & Hardware, Advanced Computing, Industrial Biotech, Medical Devices and Advanced Engineering.  Back then, it was difficult to name these sectors – or even the space connecting these sectors.  6-years later, when I set up the original Peloton, a brand evoking teamwork and sacrifice appeared to serve the purpose as well as anything else.

But today, 10-years’ on, it feels like we can do better.  The term ‘Deep Tech’ names the space that connects these sectors, linking high-impact, high-risk, multi-disciplinary technology solutions aiming to solve big problems.  Its acceptance and use are global.  It feels totally right that we take this on as part of our brand.

We may not produce bikes, but we know a thing or two about journeys….

Since 2011, my team and I have supported over 80 Deep Tech start-ups and scale-ups in the Industrial, Life Science and Computing domains, helping them build out their boards and leadership teams.  We have worked with some tremendous companies and learned an enormous amount.  Throughout, we have resided in the middle, observing the successes and mistakes.  It is time for us to start sharing these lessons more actively, and contributing to the development of this most important of sectors.  The right brand can help.

Over the coming months we will explore the distinctions of Deep Tech leadership, and how the leadership requirements shift as a company moves from the lab to the market.  We’ll dive into the skills, experience, qualities and behaviours required to give a Deep Tech company the best chance of making it along this journey, and highlight areas that most companies get wrong.  These are not easy subjects to tackle, and we will not have all the answers.  That is why we’ll be partnering with a mix of entrepreneurs, investors and thought leaders as part of this exercise.

But our core activity will remain the same – working with Deep Tech start-ups and scale-ups to build their boards and leadership teams.

Deep Tech leaders are our specialist subject.  It is who we advise and who we recruit.   And it represents the kinds of businesses we are committed to building.

For those of you invested in this special group of sectors, give us a follow on LinkedIn and Twitter. We’d love to start a discussion with you.

Thanks for reading.

Chris