Series A particle-sizing instrument maker
Repositioned away from a specification war
Situation. The company led on resolution against an entrenched laser diffraction platform. Buyer interviews showed labs were not resolution-limited — they were method-transfer-limited, and switching meant revalidating an approved method.
Work. Position rebuilt around validation burden rather than resolution. Messaging platform rewritten for three audiences, with the specification claim moved into supporting proof.
Outcome. A claim the technical evaluators stopped arguing with, and a shortlist of labs where the validation argument actually applied.
Pre-clinical biologics developer
An analytical package the data room could defend
Situation. Characterisation was assembled reactively, method by method, as partners asked for it. No document explained why each method had been chosen.
Work. Mapped the analytical requirements by development stage and wrote the rationale for each method, including what it cannot resolve.
Outcome. A characterisation narrative that answered diligence questions before they were asked, and a clear list of the gaps still to fill.
Rheology instrumentation scale-up
A pipeline built for a twelve-month decision
Situation. Pipeline stages were named after internal process steps. Forecasts moved every month and nobody could say which deals were real.
Work. Stage definitions rewritten around buyer decisions, with entry criteria agreed by the two people running deals, and assumptions documented.
Outcome. A forecast the founder could explain to a board, and an honest reduction in the number of deals counted as live.
Surface characterisation startup, first product launch
Named the twenty labs that mattered
Situation. The launch plan was a press release, a trade show booth and a target market described as "pharma".
Work. Beachhead selection down to named laboratories, a proof-requirement matrix by buyer role, and a demo narrative built around one question.
Outcome. A launch sequence with real accounts in it, and application data generated on the materials those labs actually run.
Contract development organisation
Content that a reviewer could not pick apart
Situation. A backlog of unpublished internal data, and previous freelance content that had introduced technical errors.
Work. Application notes and two white papers written from their data with a technical lead reviewing, plus an editorial style sheet for future work.
Outcome. A publishing standard the technical team stopped resisting, because the material stopped being wrong.
Formulation instrumentation distributor
A technical team that could brief its own marketing
Situation. Scientists briefed marketing, output came back inaccurate, and both sides had stopped trying.
Work. Two workshops: how their buyers actually decide, and how to state a result with its method attached. Each session ended in written outputs.
Outcome. Briefs that arrived with the qualification already in them, and marketing output that stopped needing three rounds of correction.
