Quantum companies face a commercial challenge that is unusual even by deep technology (deep tech) standards: they must build a market for technology whose most important capabilities may still be years away. The temptation is either to wait for the science to mature or to build a commercial organization too early, creating costs and distractions before there is a product ready to scale.
“Deep tech commercialization is a discipline of its own,” says Gregg Carman, a global operating executive in Quantum. The goal is to understand the market early enough that customers, partners and commercial infrastructure are prepared when the technology reaches its next inflection point.
Commercial Leadership Should Arrive Before The Product
For Carman, the right time to introduce serious commercial leadership can be measured in two ways:
- The first is a timeline, roughly 24 months before a company expects to deliver a meaningful quantum system capable of accelerating existing AI or machine-learning workloads or performing a specific application in areas such as chemistry or materials science.
- The second is organizational. Once an early-stage company recognizes that it needs dedicated financial and administrative leadership, it should also consider dedicated commercial leadership. Carman describes the ideal structure as a “three-legged stool,” with the chief executive officer responsible for vision and capital while empowering other leaders to translate that vision into strategy and operations. One of the biggest mistakes quantum companies can make is assigning too much of their burn rate to commercial activity too early.
Start With Situational Awareness, Not Hiring
The first job for a commercial leader is to understand the science. “Situational awareness comes first,” Carman says. That means understanding the scientific and engineering roadmap, the obstacles standing between the company and its milestones, and the constraints created by physics, capital and time. It also means understanding the competitive landscape and what those milestones will mean for the company’s position when they are achieved.
Only then should a company begin developing its go-to-market (GTM) strategy. That strategy should establish the target markets, customer personas, ideal customer profiles, and use cases, then sequence them according to both commercial potential and scientific readiness. This creates a revenue thesis grounded in what the technology can realistically deliver. It also gives commercial leadership a framework for deciding where limited resources will have the greatest impact.
Build The Commercial Foundation Before The Sales Machine
The early commercial organization should be intentionally small. Carman calls it a “hard-scrabble” team, built to execute the initial GTM strategy without creating unnecessary overhead. The objective at this stage is readiness: developing the commercial infrastructure, establishing processes, building partner ecosystems, creating pipeline, and positioning the company to secure early pre-orders.
Carman argues that a lean commercial effort should account for less than 10% of the organization’s overall spending, with much of that investment going toward infrastructure and systems rather than personnel. The metaphor is straightforward: “Imagine that you’re building the foundation for the house. Then that house that we’re going to build is the commercial structure.”
That approach also changes how quantum companies think about enterprise selling. Rather than trying to sell customers technology they do not yet know they need, the commercial organization can focus on understanding where future demand is likely to emerge and building relationships before the technology reaches full maturity.
Keep Scientists Close To The Market Without Pulling Them From The Bench
Quantum commercialization creates a particular tension where customers need to understand highly technical systems, but the scientists and engineers building those systems cannot spend their time in customer meetings. Carman’s solution is to create a small field team that includes scientists and engineers who are peers of those working on the core technology. They can articulate the underlying system vision to customers, while maintaining a direct connection with the technical organization.
The distinction is critical. Customer feedback should validate the existing roadmap, not redefine it. “Distraction equals change in underlying specifications,” Carman says. A useful customer interaction is one where a company can say, in effect, here is what we are building and a customer is willing to pre-order it. The dangerous version is a customer offering to pre-order only if the company changes the specifications.
From Many Hats To Operational Excellence
The commercial leader’s role will change dramatically as a quantum company approaches the point where full systems begin shipping. Before that inflection point, the leader must be willing to wear multiple hats, build the initial processes and learn directly from customers and partners.
Afterward, those lessons become the foundation for scale. The commercial leader shifts from tactical execution toward building repeatability, adding teammates, expanding into geographic and industry markets, and institutionalizing what the company has learned. Carman argues that companies should look for leaders capable of doing both jobs, because the knowledge gained during the early phase is too valuable to discard when the organization scales.
For quantum companies, commercial readiness is a parallel discipline, carefully calibrated to the technology roadmap. The companies that get it right will build the market, relationships and infrastructure necessary to turn scientific progress into commercial momentum when the technology is ready.
Follow Gregg Carman on LinkedIn or visit his website.
