Hard-Tech Direction Selection

Hard-tech direction selection is the founder judgment pattern shown by Yao Song / 姚颂 in 173: 对话姚颂：深鉴、东方空间、再出发，「天才少年」十年后. The source does not treat his path from DeePhi Tech / 深鉴科技 to Orienspace / 东方空间 to Striding AI / 正行创新 as random curiosity. Yao says he looks for problems that matter to human development and where he can turn a technical origin into a product used by many people.

This concept sits between Founder Risk Calibration, Startup Timing Windows, and Deep-Tech Product Focus. A direction has to be important, technically reachable, commercially legible within a few years, and suited to the founder’s operating strengths. It also has to leave enough fallback capacity that a failed attempt does not end the founder’s ability to continue.

Key Claims

• Direction choice can begin with social importance, but it must pass through market, engineering, and product timing.
• The founder’s own motivation matters because hard-tech cycles are too long for prestige or default peer pressure to sustain the work.
• Post-exit exploration can be useful when it exposes the founder to multiple possible windows before choosing the next hard-tech problem.
• China-specific infrastructure needs can make a direction attractive even when global analogies are incomplete.

Connections

• Yao Song / 姚颂, DeePhi Tech / 深鉴科技, Orienspace / 东方空间, and Striding AI / 正行创新 — source path.
• Founder Risk Calibration, Founder Motivation Evolution, and Post-Acquisition Founder Identity — founder-side context.
• Startup Timing Windows, Hard Tech Fundraising, and Deep-Tech Product Focus — venture and product-side context.
• Space Economy Infrastructure and Physical Intelligence System Stack — later direction frames.