Developing and implementing comprehensive sales and marketing strategy for deep tech startup

Northern Nanopore Instruments is commercializing solid-state nanopores: tiny holes in thin membranes that can be used to detect and characterize individual biomolecules. These sensors have potential applications in early diagnosis of disease, DNA sequencing, personalized medicine, and even digital information storage (hard drives). However, until recently these sensors were very difficult to make, limiting them to well-funded research settings.

NNi has developed a method to fabricate solid-state nanopores that is at least 100 times less expensive to implement, produces higher quality nanopores with higher yield, and can work at scale. As demand for our products grow, we are facing difficulties keeping up with out sales and marketing while maintaining our R&D operations, and we need to develop more efficient sales and marketing pipelines.

Our addressable market is spread evenly though the US, Europe, and Asia. Marketing and sales strategy vary significantly by region. At the same time, the fact that our products completely remove barriers to entry to the field of nanopore science means there is significant opportunity for academic research market expansion, particularly in countries with lower overall research budgets compared to the USA. The intern will be tasked with developing international marketing and sales strategies to both address the existing nanopore research market and to expand it where possible. The processes developed will inform our entries into new markets and provide a basis for expanding the scope of the addressable market for our tools.

Faculty Supervisor:

Catherine Elliott

Student:

Partner:

Northern Nanopore Instruments Inc.

Discipline:

Business

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services; Retail trade

University:

University of Ottawa

Program: