Workshop

Hardware Ops Muscle

A full-day working session for investment teams. Ask the right questions at every stage — before you invest and along the entire roadmap. Leave knowing how to read a hardware company the way an operator does.

What This Is

Not theory. Practitioner knowledge applied to your actual portfolio.

Most investment teams assess hardware companies on technology and market. The operational layer — where most hardware investments actually fail — is assessed last, if at all. Not because investors don't care, but because they don't have the practitioner vocabulary to ask the questions that matter.

This workshop closes that gap in one day. You will leave knowing what to ask, what the answers should look like, and what the answers that sound right but aren't actually tell you.

Who This Is For

  • · VC partners, associates, and portfolio managers with hardware companies in portfolio or deal flow
  • · Family office teams evaluating or managing physical product investments
  • · Anyone who backs founders building physical products — B2B or B2C, from first prototype to mass production

This workshop can also be booked by a founder team or corporate hardware function in an adapted format. Get in touch to discuss.

Format

One full day onsite at your offices or a location of your choice.

8–12 participants. No slides to sit through. Practical and direct.

Every participant works on a real portfolio company or live deal during the session. You leave with a question bank you will actually use.

The Day

Five sessions. One working document.

09:00 – 11:00
Session 1 — Phase Gates and TRL: What the Roadmap Actually Tells You
The two frameworks every hardware investor hears — TRL and phase gates — and why confusing them is one of the most common and expensive mistakes in hardware due diligence. How to map what a founder tells you onto where they actually are. What a genuine gate exit looks like versus a gate that was passed on optimism.
11:15 – 13:00
Session 2 — The Triangle: Requirements, Risk, and Change
The three disciplines that determine whether a hardware company reaches production on time — and the three most commonly missing in early-stage startups. The difference between risk culture and risk theatre. How an undocumented change creates an unregistered risk against an unverified requirement. This is how DVT surprises happen.
13:00 – 14:00
Lunch
14:00 – 15:30
Session 3 — Leadership, Skills, and the Build vs Buy Decision
The team is the single most important variable in a hardware investment. The skills required to reach EVT, DVT, PVT, and mass production are different from each other. How to assess whether a founding team is making those decisions with clarity — or with wishful thinking. The founder as operational bottleneck: how to identify it and what it costs.
15:45 – 17:00
Session 4 — Production Ramp and Daily Operations
First-pass yield targets and what they mean. Supply chain readiness for volume. The EFFA plan — early field failure analysis — and why its absence at PVT is a serious operational red flag. The operational character of the team that built the product determines whether they can run what comes after it.
17:00 – 18:00
Session 5 — Question Bank and Peer Practice
The full question bank reviewed, discussed, and practised in the room. Each participant applies the questions to a real portfolio company or live deal. What a good answer looks like. What a technically correct but operationally empty answer looks like. You leave with the question bank as a working document.

What You Leave With

A working knowledge and a document you'll actually use

The Question Bank

Organised by phase gate and discipline. Formatted for use in board meetings, due diligence processes, portfolio reviews, and gate observation visits.

Gate Discipline vs Theatre

The ability to distinguish a genuine gate exit from one that was passed on optimism — and the follow-up questions to get to the real answer.

Risk Culture vs Risk Register

How to tell the difference between a risk register that exists and one that is actually used. The question that surfaces which one you're looking at.

Team Assessment Vocabulary

How to assess whether the team that built the prototype can run the production ramp — and what to do when the answer is no.

Investment

Pricing

What's Included
Price
One-day workshop — 8–12 participants
Full day onsite, all five sessions
€4,500
Question bank document
Formatted for board and portfolio use
Included
Travel and accommodation
Within Europe
Reimbursed separately
Follow-on portfolio assessment
By arrangement

Can be run as a standalone day or as preparation for the Hardware Execution Accelerator cohort.

Book a Call to Discuss

Ready to ask better questions?

A short call is enough to check fit, confirm dates, and discuss whether a standard or adapted format makes most sense for your team.

Book a Free Exploration Call