Designing a Creative Heritage for a Deep-Tech Start-Up in the Scale-Up Phase

The prospect of solving ‘grand challenges’ through technological innovation justifies the interest shown in deep-tech start-ups. These companies develop technological solutions, which they then seek to implement on a massive scale during their scale-up phase. They nevertheless encounter difficulties at this stage, which starts with the validation of their business model. This research supplements the results reported in the literature on business models in the scale-up phase, with a design-oriented approach, which is better suited to the case of technology companies. Based on intervention research carried out in an urban agriculture deep-tech start-up, an axiomatic design tool is used to highlight the importance of distinguishing between the validation of elements of the business model and their preservation. This ensures that the deep-tech start-up’s subsequent developments are aligned with the goals of resolving major challenges.