Yesterday I learnt from Alexandra Hirzel that Switzerland doesn’t have an early-innovation funding problem, it has a go-to-market discipline problem. She said it’s practically a national case study. That they’ve mastered the science, and now they just need to commercialise it. I said I didn’t even know it was a thing, and that I’d like to see if I can help, because I’m good at the bits she says are missing. Then I cracked a small joke that they can now have a guy. 😋

For the first time in a while, my inbox began to light up with connection requests. So I decided to work late and dig deeper to understand the problem.

Everything I know, and continue to learn, has come from doing. My life journey didn't let me go to university. I made a living off the coal face, and it gets dirty. I used to think it was my greatest weakness, but as it turns out, it’s one of my greatest strengths because I realised it means I think in reality, not theory. I wasn't tought a winning formula, and didn’t inherit a system; I had to find and build one from a zero base. My first start-up happened when I was 20, we bought industrial coal from a mine in Johannesburg and put it on trucks 32 tonnes at a time and sold it to coal burners in the Western Cape. It went well. Too well in hindsight as it made me believe I was invincible at the time. Humility I learnt later. My learning model has always been real-world. Starting with a million "no's", then experimenting, failing, failing more, iterating, learning, and then applying. This is almost the exact process academics follow during research, and it must be assimilated and adapted when moving from research to revenue.

If you’re sitting on a validated technology that still isn’t a business, this is for you.

My name is Guy van der Walt, and AI is now my superpower. It amplifies what I already do naturally, synthesising information, pattern-matching across domains, and turning complexity into clarity. Where others wobble and see noise, I look closer and see structure.

The Mandate you got in to

Public money should create private momentum. Your objective is simple: take your deep-tech venture from grant-funded research and evolve it into a commercially credible, revenue-generating company. To win the next leg of the race the rules are simple, and you need a plan to get: 3× private capital leverage within 36 months, validated by real customer demand.

You have a duty to protect and maximise the public’s return on investment in science and innovation. It's a heavy cross to carry.

Why I believe I can I help

1. I Build from First Principles

I know it sounds like a cliché, and truth be told it took me a while to figure out what First Principles actually means. First principles means starting from what’s undeniably true. No clever words, no assumptions, just clear logic rebuilt from the ground up. I can help because I wasn’t institutionally trained in what way and direction to think, I’m not bound by inherited assumptions or frameworks. I start from what I understand is true, what I see is possible, and where I see value can be created. That mindset is exactly what’s needed to help research ventures find their commercial footing.

If you agree, carry on reading.

2. I’ve Lived my ‘Valley of Death’

Through my early ventures like Do-gooders, and Inbox Markerting I learnt how little I knew, and it scared me. Then later through Helvetia Wealth, RoamDome, and Plugzit, I’ve been involved in and built businesses and technologies that didn't come from the lab, without funding. I just got stuck in and figured out how to face real customers, real economics, and take risk. I've lived the pressure of needing (not just wanting) to make something commercially viable, and generate revenue. I did all this without losing my soul. I learnt what the difference is between what looks good on paper, what actually works, and most importantly what people will pay for or buy.

3. I Think in Systems

I reaslied that Academics often see the world through the lens of their specialisation. I look for the connections between product, customer, data, economics, and human behaviour. That view is essential to transform a single technology into a scalable, multi-product business. Truth is sometimes the system doesn't work, and it does not matter what the data says or how much you beleive that it will. If people won't pay for it, it's over.

4. I’m still learning

I definitely don’t have all the answers. What makes me effective in a team is my adaptability, curiosity, and belief that if the answer exists, I’ll find it. Right now, I’m learning about semiconductor production equipment. Their products are called diffusion and LPCVD furnaces, wet benches, epitaxy reactors. Few people in my world even see this side of technology, and fewer still talk about it because it’s considered boring. But these are the foundations everything else is built on... the quiet infrastructure of innovation.

Each project teaches me something new, and I enjoy that process. I use those lessons to make the next project stronger. I don’t mean a furnace has much in common with a deep-tech spin-out, but I see the connection, espcecially if my goal is to help sell more, and help make more money. I like to understand how things work at the most basic level. I respect the academics, love learning existing processes, and once I can wrap my arms around it, we can build from there.

So, if what you’re building needs commercial traction, fresh insight, or you’re somewhere between a grant and a customer,

let’s talk.