The technical leadership behind Dverga
 

From Startup to Advanced Microscope: The Technical Journey Behind Dverga

 
What does it really take to turn a scientific idea into a world-class commercial technology?

 
For Dverga founder Sebastien, the answer comes from experience.

 
Before creating Dverga, he was closely involved in the development of LIG Nanowise, working through the journey from an early-stage technology company to the development and delivery of an exceptionally advanced microscope platform for customers around the world.
 
We spoke to him about what that journey taught him about deep-tech startups, technical leadership and the difficult transition from scientific innovation to commercial product.

 
Q: Where did the journey begin?
 
It started with a technology and a scientific ambition, rather than a finished product.
Like many deep-tech companies, the challenge was not simply to demonstrate that the underlying science worked. The real challenge was understanding how that technology could become a reliable, manufacturable and commercially valuable instrument.
 
At the beginning, there are many unknowns.
What should the final system look like? Which parts of the technology are genuinely critical? What needs to be developed internally? What can be sourced externally? What will customers actually need? And how do you turn a research concept into something that can eventually be manufactured and sold?
Those questions became increasingly important as the company developed.
 
Q: What changes when a startup moves from research towards a real product?
 
Everything becomes connected.
In a research environment, you can often focus on proving that something is possible.
A commercial product has a completely different set of requirements.
 
It needs to be repeatable. It needs to be reliable. Components need to work together. Suppliers need to be managed. Performance needs to be characterised. Manufacturing needs to be considered. Customers need to be supported.
 
And perhaps most importantly, technical decisions need to be made with the final product in mind.
That transition requires more than scientific expertise. It requires someone who can see the whole technical system.
 
Q: What was your role in that process?
 
My work covered many aspects of the technology and its development, from optical and technical challenges through to system-level development and the practical realities of delivering an advanced instrument.
One of the things I learned is that deep-tech development is rarely about solving one isolated engineering problem.

An optical design can affect mechanical requirements. Mechanical constraints can affect alignment. Alignment can affect performance. Performance can affect manufacturing. Manufacturing can affect cost and ultimately the commercial viability of the product.
 
You have to understand how all of these pieces interact.
 
Q: What was the most difficult part?
 
Probably the transition from “we know this technology works” to “we can build this as a product.”
 
Those are two very different statements.
 
A prototype can demonstrate extraordinary performance under controlled conditions. A commercial instrument has to deliver that performance repeatedly, reliably and in a form that customers can actually use.
 
That requires a completely different level of technical thinking.
 
You have to identify the critical elements of the system, remove unnecessary complexity where possible, manage risk and make decisions that allow the technology to progress rather than endlessly optimise individual components.
 
Q: And eventually the technology became a commercial microscope?
 
Yes.
The development ultimately led to an extremely advanced microscopy platform, capable of performance that places it among the most powerful and sophisticated instruments in its field.
What makes that achievement particularly interesting to me is not just the final performance.
It is everything that had to happen before the final instrument existed.
There was the original scientific concept, technical development, prototyping, system integration, optimisation, manufacturing and finally delivery to customers.
That entire journey is what interests me.
 
Q: Is that experience what led you to create Dverga?
 
Very much so.
I realised that there is a significant gap between having an interesting technology and knowing how to turn it into a successful product.
And that gap often appears very early.
A researcher may have developed something potentially valuable but have no experience of commercial product development.
A university may have a technology that could form the basis of a spin-out but not yet know what needs to be built.
A founder may have created a startup but not yet have the resources to employ a full-time CTO.
An established company may have a difficult optical or photonics project but need someone with very specialised experience for a particular stage of development.
These are all variations of the same problem.
How do you turn advanced technology into something that works outside the laboratory?
 
Q: So Dverga isn't only aimed at established companies?
 
No. In fact, I think some of the most valuable work can happen before a company is fully established.
If you can identify the major technical risks at the beginning, define what actually needs to be demonstrated and establish a sensible development roadmap, you can potentially save a startup enormous amounts of time and money.
That is where I see a strong role for Dverga.
A researcher doesn't necessarily need a CTO on day one.
A university spin-out doesn't necessarily need to immediately build a large engineering team.
An early-stage deep-tech company may simply need someone experienced enough to look at the technology and say:
“This is what I would build first. This is the risk. This is what can wait. And this is what you need to prove before investing further.”
 
Q: What can Dverga provide at that stage?
 
It depends on the technology and the stage of development.
It could begin with a technical assessment and feasibility study.
It could involve defining a technology roadmap, designing a prototype, evaluating suppliers, managing external specialists or identifying the technical capabilities the company needs to develop.
For a more mature company, it can become Fractional CTO or Technical Director support.
The important thing is that the engagement can evolve with the technology.
 
Q: What have you learned from taking a technology all the way from an early stage to an advanced commercial instrument?
 
The biggest lesson is probably that technical decisions made early have consequences much later.
You cannot always see those consequences at the beginning.
A decision that seems minor during an early prototype can become a major manufacturing problem later. A component selected for performance may become a supply-chain problem. A system designed around a laboratory setup may become extremely difficult to reproduce commercially.
This is why I believe technical leadership should sometimes start much earlier than people expect.
 
Q: What would you say to a researcher or founder who has developed an exciting technology but doesn't know what comes next?
 
Don't assume that the next step is simply to build a bigger prototype.
First ask what you actually need to prove.
What does the eventual product need to do? Who is going to use it? What are the critical technical risks? What parts of the technology are genuinely differentiated? What would make the technology difficult or expensive to manufacture?
Then build a roadmap around those questions.
That is often where an experienced external technical perspective can be valuable.
 
Q: And that is ultimately what Dverga offers?
 
Yes.
Dverga sits at the intersection of science, engineering and commercialisation.
The experience of developing advanced optical and microscopy technology taught me that the journey from research to product is not a straight line.
It is a series of technical decisions.
 
Dverga exists to help companies and innovators make those decisions.
Whether the starting point is a research result, a prototype, a new startup or an established technology company, the objective is the same:
Turn complex technology into something that can work in the real world.
From Research to Reality
 
Dverga supports the complete early technology journey:
Research → Technology → Prototype → Product → Company
Through Fractional CTO and Technical Director support, optical engineering consultancy and deep-tech technology development, Dverga helps researchers, university spin-outs, startups and technology companies navigate the technical challenges between scientific innovation and commercial reality.
 
Because the most important question isn't always “Can we build it?”
Sometimes it is “What should we build first?”