For science

Where Polish Science Meets Global Impact

We bridge the valley of death between groundbreaking research and commercial success, turning your scientific discoveries into thriving ventures.

Start Your Lab-to-Market Journey

The Gap Between Breakthrough Science and Market Impact

You've discovered something significant. Years of research, validation, peer review, and scientific rigor prove your technology works. Yet between your lab and the market lies a chasm that stops most breakthroughs cold.

This isn't a failure of science. It's a failure of the system.

The reality:

Moving from lab to market requires navigating two entirely different worlds with conflicting values, languages, and incentives. Academic excellence doesn't translate directly into business viability. Market opportunity means nothing without technological credibility. Most researchers—understandably—lack the tools, experience, and networks to bridge this gap alone.

The result?

Critical innovations remain locked in universities, unfunded, undeveloped, and unknown. Society loses. The economy loses. And your life's work doesn't reach the people who need it.

Process

The Heart's Lab-to-Market Venture Building Process

We've built a methodology specifically designed for scientific ventures. It's not academic consulting. It's not traditional acceleration or VC mentorship. It's a systematic venture building tailored to how breakthrough science actually commercializes. It’s based on proven methodology and conducted by a multidisciplinary venture building team.

Lab-to-Market Validation

The challenge: We have strong science. But is there a real market? Does anyone actually need this? Can we define the problem-solution fit in commercial terms?

What we do:

Conduct structured market research with potential customers, clinical professionals, industry partners—not other researchers
Define commercial value proposition: What problem do we solve? For whom? Why should they pay?
Validate assumptions through customer discovery conversations, early experiments, and technical feasibility assessments
Map regulatory pathways and capital requirements specific to sector
Identify if technology can be the foundation for multiple business models (many deep tech solutions can)

Output: A validated commercialization strategy with clear evidence that a real market opportunity exists and our technical approach can address it.

Building Business Model

The challenge: The science works. Now we need to answer: What's the business? How do we make money? What does the venture actually look like?

What we do:

Develop business models adapted specifically for scientific ventures
Work through market positioning, revenue models, and go-to-market strategy
Identify your founding team gaps and recruit complementary commercial expertise—this is when scientist-founders meet business co-founders
Structure fundraising narrative: Why is now the right time? Why should investors believe in your team and technology?
Connect with industry partners, potential customers, and strategic advisors who validate direction

Output: A clear business model, a founding team with scientific and commercial depth, and early validation from industry stakeholders.

Venture Creation & Market-Ready Development

The challenge: We've validated the opportunity and designed the business model. Now build the venture—the company itself—while advancing the technology to market-readiness.

What we do:

Support company formation, IP structuring, and legal/regulatory framework design
Guide MVP (Minimum Viable Product) development that balances technical rigor with market speed
Help navigate fundraising—connecting you with grant programs, non-dilutive funding, and initial investors who understand deep tech
Build early team, define roles, and establish governance for a scientist-led venture
Manage stakeholder communication: keeping university partner engaged, maintaining advisor networks, and building investor relationships

Output: A registered company with clear IP ownership, a market-ready product or service prototype, initial funding secured, and an experienced team in place.

Market Entry & Growth

The challenge: We have a product. Now scale it into a business that generates revenue, achieves product-market fit, and positions itself for growth capital.

What we do:

Establish customer acquisition channels specific to market (clinical sales, enterprise pilots, distribution partnerships)
Manage the transition from founder-led innovation to scalable operations
Support Series A and later fundraising with institutional investors who specialize in deep tech
Guide market expansion strategies as we scale into new segments or geographies
Maintain technical leadership while building commercial organizational depth

Output: A revenue-generating venture with demonstrated product-market fit, professional management infrastructure, and positioned for sustainable growth.

Build your venture with us

Why Scientists Choose The Heart

We speak both languages

Our team brings together venture architects with deep commercialization experience and advisors with scientific credibility. We're not academics teaching you business. We're not business consultants who dismiss your technical concerns. We translate between both worlds.

We reduce uncertainty systematically

Deep tech ventures succeed when you identify and reduce technical and commercial risk in parallel, not sequentially. We help you validate market need while advancing technology, structure investment before you're desperate for cash, and build team capability early.

We have the network

We work with 30+ scientific institutions across Poland. We know industry partners, regulatory experts, advisors, and investors who understand deep tech. We can open doors that would take you years to open alone.

We understand the paradoxes

You need rigorous science and rapid validation. Patient capital and clear milestones. Strong IP protection and early industry partnership. Most support systems force you to choose. We help you navigate the tension—knowing when to accelerate and when to deepen.

We built this for Polish Founders

Europe has a world-class research base but limited deep tech venture building infrastructure outside hub cities. Poland is rich with breakthrough science but underserved by venture builders experienced in biotech, medtech, materials science, and energy. We changed that.

Who We Partner With

University researchers

with compelling technologies ready for commercial exploration

Research teams

with strong technical credentials but limited commercial experience

Institutions

seeking to maximize the commercial impact of their research portfolio

Inventors

who believe their work matters beyond academic impact

We're not the right fit if you're looking for academic consulting, grant writing services, or traditional incubation. We're the right fit if you want to move from lab to market.

Build your venture with us

The Evidence: Why Lab-to-Market Venture Building Works

Have a bold idea or already building something promising? Let’s scale it into a successful venture together. Contact us and we'll get back to you soon!

Zbigniew Leś

Director of Scientific Partnerships & Technology Transfer

z.les@theheart.tech

Recent research on academic spin-offs reveals consistent success factors:

Market orientation matters most

MIT research showed that academically-led ventures that engaged with customers early and systematically outperformed those that didn't by 3-5x. We make customer engagement the core of Phase 1.

Team composition predicts outcomes

Ventures with complementary founding teams—combining deep scientific expertise with business experience—have 2-3x higher success rates than researcher-only teams. We deliberately structure this early.

Systematic risk reduction works

Ventures that methodically validate market assumptions, technical feasibility, and team capability before major capital infusions have significantly longer runways and better scaling outcomes. Our process is designed around this.

Early advisor networks drive success

Ventures that build industry, clinical, and investor relationships during development outpace isolated technical teams. This is why we connect you to advisors and partners from day one.

Non-dilutive funding is critical in deep tech

Successfully commercialized ventures typically combine public grants, corporate partnerships, and venture capital rather than relying on one of then alone. We know the funding landscape and help you navigate all sources.

Where Polish Science Meets Global Impact

The Gap Between Breakthrough Science and Market Impact

This isn't a failure of science. It's a failure of the system.

The reality:

The result?

The Heart's Lab-to-Market Venture Building Process

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Lab-to-Market Validation

Building Business Model

Venture Creation & Market-Ready Development

Market Entry & Growth