Deeptech Diligence for Job Seekers

How to engage technical experts at US national labs, agencies, & academia to land your next role

Action: Use these tactics to engage technical experts to help you vet the technology and people at various tech startups.

1. Find the technical expert. Take the type of technology you’re researching, and anything in particular the company claims is their special approach to it, and combine it with the below search terms: “national lab,” “AFRL, “ARL,” “NRL,” “AFRL,” “DARPA,” “NSWC,” “ONR,” “MITRE,” "JPL" and “RAND” to see who has written on it from those entities. Or go to those websites and try to find if that technology is listed and the associated expert.

You can also use the technology search terms and pull experts’ names from papers published on https://arxiv.org, but just because something appears on the arXiv doesn’t mean it’s peer-reviewed or fact-checked. Even for “peer-reviewed” publications, there is a lot of gaming the system. Yes, landing an article in “Nature” is great for a company, but I would never take it as Gospel. Google “room temperature superconductors and Nature” as an example.

Don’t contact the world’s foremost experts [real or perceived as blessed by the media] asking for their time. Examples of this would be Yann LeCun for AI/ML, Scott Aaronson for quantum computing. You can try, but I think it’s a waste of your time because they’ll likely ignore you or say no.

2. Contact the expert.

The people you find above will be somewhat neutral, third-party experts. My first stop for outreach would be LinkedIn, though you can find some government emails on sites like Hunter.io and Rocketreach.com.

The challenge with emailing someone at their government email is they can become paranoid about engaging with you for fear of conflicts of interest. The government has to cater to the lowest common denominator of employees, because someone at some point has done something so stupid, unethical, and illegal that a bureaucrat felt they needed to write a regulation to prevent it in the future. Because most government workers want to stay within regulatory bounds, they go overboard in being cautious. (If you’re a government employee, you know this all too well!) So try to message them on a third party platform first. If you don’t get traction there, then send an email. Don't email their personal address unless you can name drop that a mutual party provided you their contact information.

Here is an example of how I would conduct outreach for the best chance of a response:

Title: Feedback on your paper/quote/article “Laser diodes on sharks”

Hi Dr. Powers,

I recently came across your paper about laser diodes mounted on sharks. I’m a current US Government employee at X (if you can say) looking to make the jump into the private sector. I’ve been talking to a few people in this field (as you go, start name dropping people you’ve spoken with for validation, but don’t lie) to vet the technology before I make the jump.

Your paper/article mentions that the biggest challenge/opportunity/question with the technology is the lasers. If you’re open to it, I’d like to ask a few follow-up questions, such as your assessment of [insert something else in a paper or research area that they or others have mentioned online].

Please let me know if you’re willing to set up a 30-minute call over the next few weeks. You can reach me via this email or my cell at 202-555-5555. I’m happy to send a few of my questions in advance.

Thanks,

Your name

3. Ask the expert questions.

You must put in your own effort here. Don’t waste your time and theirs if you haven’t spent a couple of hours watching YouTube videos and reading papers about the technology - at the least. Showing up to ask them to explain the basics of a technology is a waste of precious time that you could be using to advance your networking & actual knowledge (as described below). Plus, without any baseline, you have zero context of where to take the conversation based on the answers.

It should go without saying that you shouldn’t launch into an interrogation, so short pleasantries and your introduction are appropriate. Do explain what you do now, how you’re looking to make the jump, and on what timeline, why this technology appeals to you, and offer a bit of praise for their work, but not too much since you (and they) know you really don’t know what you’re talking about.

In the pleasantries, try to discern if there is anything of value, even if it is your own personal perspective from X government agency, that you can offer subtly in exchange during the conversation. There is probably nothing of value for you to offer them and that’s okay. Don’t force what isn’t there. In most cases, what you’re offering them is an ego boost that you read their work and have questions.

Also, ask these questions:

• I can imagine there are detractors in the field who believe this technology won’t work or be able to make the jump out of the lab and into real-world use. Who are they and what are their arguments on why it won’t work? What’s your view on the validity of each?

• Who do people in this space consider some of the foremost experts and why?

• What do people looking to commercialize this technology usually miss or get wrong?

• What do the media and outsiders often get wrong about the technology and its readiness for commercialization?

As you get further into the conversation and get more comfortable with each other:

• What are the companies out there working on this technology and what’s your assessment of them?

• Which companies would you steer clear of and why?

• So which companies do you think are largely approaching this the right way? [let them answer] Do you know anyone there? [let them answer; once they share, it’s easier for you to make an “ask” and harder for them to say no] What about the other experts you mentioned?

4. Ask the expert to introduce you to other experts.

Script continued:

Would you be willing to introduce me to them?

[Comment: I know sometimes it feels hard to ask so directly, but if you don’t ask, you won’t get an intro. If you’re too embarrassed, and/or the conversation has been stilted, you can pivot to the below. It’s best to make the ask in the flow of conversation - don’t let there be a gap between the end of #3 above and this ask.]

“The experts [or company rep] that you mentioned…What’s the best way for me to get in touch with them?

Assuming they say email

Do you have their email? [Assuming they say yes] Great, can you provide it to me? I’ll write it down here right now so I don’t forget. [Try not to give them time to say they’ll look it up and send later because they probably won’t].

In my experience, when asked any question, no matter how sensitive or controversial, most people feel obligated to answer. You just have to ask.

5. Send a thank you message.

Be polite. It’s the nice thing to do and you may be calling upon them again. Or they may encounter representatives of the companies you're interested in and pass them your name.

This isn't rocket science. But obvious things can also be difficult.