A swimming world champion, a cycling champion, and a marathon champion each tried their hand at a triathlon.

None of them even came close to the podium. All were easily defeated.

Why?

Because the swimming champion could not bike, nor could he run fast.

The cycling champion did not swim well.

The marathon runner was painfully slow in the water.

The winner?

It was someone who had been humbled by the swimming champion in the pool for years, finishing second in the world championships multiple times. He was an exceptional swimmer, yes. However, he could also bike fast and run hard. Not the best in any single discipline, but strong across all three. And that is what won him the race.

The takeaway:

To win in triathlon, you need to be competitive in all three disciplines.

The winner is often world class in one of them, but they must be very good if not great at the other two.

This is the same mistake many first time deep tech founders make.

They believe that superior technology alone is enough to win.

It is not.

While technology is crucial, and in fact it is table stakes and the foundation of innovation, it must be transformed into a usable product. If it does not solve a real problem in a way people can adopt and benefit from, its brilliance is wasted.

And even if you have built world class technology and a beautifully crafted product, you are still not done. Without effective commercialization, which includes distribution, pricing, sales, positioning, and partnerships, you will not reach the users or customers who need what you have built.

I wrote more about this in The Three Phases of Building a Great Tech Company: Technology, Product, and Commercialization. Each phase demands different skills. Each must be taken seriously.

Neglecting any one of them is like trying to win a triathlon without training for the bike or the run.

Just like a triathlete must train in all three disciplines, a founder must excel across all three pillars:

• Great and defensible technology
• An excellent product
• Execution on commercialization

You need all three.

That is how you win the world championship.

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