I think that many people misunderstand how startup growth happens.

It is natural and human to believe that startup growth happens linearly. Start with A, go to B, then to C, and eventually down the alphabet.

But in my own experience running Tundra Angels, and observing the startups that we’ve invested in, I want to clarify something important.

Startup growth, and by extension, value, does NOT increase linearly.

Rather, startup growth is a function of “unlocks” or “breakout moments” along the journey.

The Unlock Equation

To be clear, it’s not one unlock, as if it’s singular moment.

✅ It a series of unlocks along the way that gives the startup the access and the ability to handle the next opportunity. ✅

In so doing, unlock moments chart a startup’s path to success.

But - this is very important - the unlocks are a symptom. They are a symptom of something deeper. An opportunity gets “unlocked,” but the root of what led to that opportunity is far more nuanced.

✅ I’ve seen that the unlock moment seems to be rooted from a connection, attention, or an inflection. ✅

The Story of Harrison Ford

I wanted to share a story of Harrison Ford that indicates this how it is are unlocks that propel success. Harrison Ford is one of Hollywood’s best known actors - known for his role in Han Solo in Star Wars, Indiana Jones in the Indiana Jones series, and many more.

However, Ford didn’t arrive to Hollywood and create success. Actually, it wasn’t until he had lived in Hollywood for nearly 15 years that he had his breakout moment.

Harrison Ford arrived in Los Angeles in 1964. Instead of trying to make it big in a short amount of time, Ford chose a different approach. He started working as a carpenter to make a livelihood while living in Hollywood. This job as a carpenter gave Ford the ability to live in Hollywood far beyond the typical time frame of actors who go to Hollywood to make it big. Along the way, he starred in various small films, plugging away as the years went on, honing his craft.

Now, nine years later after Ford moved to Los Angeles, Harrison Ford met George Lucas, after Ford auditioned for and was cast in the movie, American Graffiti, which debuted in 1973. The fact that Ford was still around in Hollywood nine years later, due to his carpentry job, enabled him to get this opportunity to work with George Lucas. The movie itself saw some limited success. But little did he know, the unlock here was that now, Ford knew the person that would later become the director of Star Wars. (Article here)

Three years later, (you’re getting the picture), in a unique series of circumstances, Ford, working as a carpenter, happened to be building a door in the same building where George Lucas was holding the casting call for Star Wars.

Ford had not been invited to the casting call. He didn’t know about it. He just happened to be there at the same time, doing his day job.

But… keep in mind - George Lucas already knew who Ford was from when Lucas directed American Graffiti.

However, George Lucas wasn’t eyeing Harrison Ford for the role of Han Solo. Instead, Lucas at first used Ford as a convenient person to feed lines to the actors. In the end, Ford beat out some great actors to secure the role of Han Solo. This unlock was the breakout moment that propelled him into the rest of his acting career in Hollywood, later starring in movies such as Indiana Jones, etc.

In the story of Harrison Ford, one unlock could be seen in Ford’s decision to work as a carpenter in Hollywood allowed him much more longevity than the typical actor. This longevity allowed him to live in Hollywood and continue to hone his craft. This allowed him to star in American Graffiti, and meet George Lucas, another unlock. This personal connection of Ford to Lucas later led to another unlock, the opportunity of Lucas asking Ford to feed lines to the casting call of Star Wars, which presented Ford with the another opportunity. Star Wars unlocked attention for Harrison Ford in a way that never would have been possible previously - arguably the most important unlock of his career.

Unlock Moments Act as an Escape Room

Unlock moments are like moving through an escape room experience. If you’re never done an escape room before, it’s a blast. You have an initial challenge that you need to figure out and you are given a limited set of clues to solve it. Once you solve that, you inherently cross an unlock moment and sometimes a literal door opens and you enter the next room, where you are presented with the next clue. That transition moment is actually quite profound - you are now able to do something, experience something, or discover something that you did not have the access nor ability to do before. Then, you solve that clue or set of clues, the unlock leads you to another room. Along the way, solving the challenge in the respective room gives you the access and the ability to handle the next opportunity - an opportunity that you frankly could not do, or even knew existed, before that respective unlock moment.

Again, unlocks tend to be a symptom - something that comes after.

✅ I’ve seen that the unlock moment seems to be rooted from a connection, attention, or an inflection. ✅

Example of Immuto Scientific

I consider nearly all of the Tundra Angels portfolio companies, their path to success is undergirded by a series unlock moments along the way.

I could point to many, many examples across our portfolio. But here is just one through the story of Immuto Scientific.

Immuto Scientific operates in the drug discovery space. Co-Founders Faraz Choudhury and Daniel Benjamin invented their technology, developed at UW-Madison. Immuto’s technology allows Big Pharma companies to understand where protein targets bind together - a critical piece of a drug discovery process.

The current state of the art was called x-ray crystallography, which required 9-12 months to get the analysis and typically didn’t get accurate results. Even then, crystallography could only analyze several proteins at a time.

On the other hand, Immuto’s breakthrough technology not only reduces the analysis time required from many months to weeks, but could analyze hundreds of proteins simultaneously, not just a couple at a time. Lastly, they can get accurate results 100% of the time. Their technology was a true unlock.

Additionally, Daniel and Benjamin teamed up with another co-founder a professor at UW-Madison, who previously had a strong exit in the Biotech space.

Then, Immuto Scientific went through the NSF’s I-Corps program which is like an accelerator that connects promising technology with the top companies in the respective industry for conversation and customer discovery interviews - that was how the co-founders gained their network.

When Tundra Angels first encountered Immuto Scientific in Summer 2021, Faraz and Daniel already had several Big Pharma customers in place. If I recall, several of their initial customers came from the network gained in their I-Corps program!

Fast forward to now, because of the high throughput aspect of their technology, that only they possess, Immuto Scientific is building the world’s largest protein database and use AI to give insights to Big Pharma companies about the potential protein targets that can be used to build upcoming drugs.

I want you to notice several unlocks along the way - the breakthrough technology, which gave them the access and ability to co-found the company with a previous successful biotech entrepreneur who could give them insider advice along the way,

Their technology gave them the access and ability to participate in the I-Corp program which gave them the access to an amazing network of Big Pharma companies that Faraz and Daniel wouldn’t have been able to achieve quickly.

To later, giving them the access and ability to use their breakthrough technology have a very valuable and proprietary pool of protein data. Which gave them the access and ability to seek to build the world’s largest protein database, which … you get the idea, gave them the access and ability to use AI to yield insights from that proprietary pool of data.

This story, and others like it, is far from linear. Rather, it’s a series of unlocks.

Closing Thoughts:

Startup growth, and by extension, value, does NOT increase linearly.

Rather, startup growth is a function of “unlocks” or “breakout moments” along the journey.

Similar to moving through an escape room experience…

✅ It a series of unlocks along the way that gives the startup the access and the ability to handle the next opportunity. ✅

But the unlocks seem to be rooted in some common things -

✅ I’ve seen that an unlock moment seems to be rooted from a connection, attention, or an inflection. ✅

Knowing how startup growth happens, and doesn’t happen, may just help you unlock the next phase of your growth.

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