CHAPTER 8 · THE ASK
What to do Monday
Three things · in order · 14-day kickoff · 7-week proof · Q1 2027 ship.
SITUATION TODAY
Why Monday, and why these three things
PfS is open. SCIKIQ has an AVY tenant. HELIX is at-risk on the peel curve with a hard EU deadline. Every condition for a 14-day kickoff is already true. The only missing input is a CEO decision to fund the integration and pick HELIX as the wedge.
OPEN
Core Connect OData v4
Already exposed · no Thermo procurement
RUNNING
SCIKIQ AVY tenant
No new vendor onboarding
At-risk
HELIX status
Peel curve borderline · perfect wedge
$1.2M Y1
Funding ask
$0.4M integration + $0.8M HELIX wedge
$12–18M
Expected Y1 return
Across 3 pitches · payback <8mo
Friday
Decision needed by
To hit Q1 2027 HELIX deadline
BENEFIT
$1.2M ask · $12–18M Y1 return · $42M HELIX secured · payback <8 months
Three signatures Friday. Live in 14 days. HELIX ships Q1 2027.
DO 1
Fund the integration
$0.4M for the SCIKIQ landing zone + OData connector + KG bootstrap. Treat as engineering, not strategy. Live in 14 days.
▣ OData v4 connector · Azure landing zone · KG bootstrap
Approve $0.4M integration →
DO 2
Run HELIX as the wedge
$0.8M for the HELIX wedge programme. Dr S. Koen owns scientifically; SCIKIQ owns the NBE loop. Win HELIX, fund the next two programmes.
▣ Bayesian opt loop · RAG copilot · sustainability scoring
Greenlight HELIX wedge ($0.8M) →
DO 3
Hold the language
System of scientific record · System of enterprise intelligence. Never dashboarding · never analytics · never chatbot. The category we own.
▣ Internal narrative + board deck templates
Adopt the positioning →
14-DAY KICKOFF → Q1 2027 HELIX SHIP
W1
Approve · landing zone
→
W2
SCIKIQ live on PfS OData
→
W3
HELIX NBE first recommendation
→
W6
HELIX pilot batch · 18 kg
→
W10
Customer A-sample · DPP-ready
→
Q1'27
HELIX ships · narrative locked
HOW IT WORKS
Week-by-week · what actually happens
1
Week 1 · Approve + landing zone
CEO approves $1.2M. CIO opens Azure landing zone for SCIKIQ. Thermo R&D-IT enables Core Connect OData credentials. 1-hour kickoff meeting (CEO + CIO + Head of R&D + CSO + SCIKIQ + Thermo).
▣ Procurement: none. Provisioning: ~4 hours of CIO time.
→
2
Week 2 · SCIKIQ live on PfS OData
OData connector live; KG bootstrap loads 12,400 samples · 3,100 experiments · 8,900 results. First Copilot query: 'show all PFAS-free release-coating experiments' returns 18 with citations.
▣ OData v4 connector · KG ingest · embedding index.
→
3
Week 3 · HELIX NBE first recommendation
Bayesian optimiser trains on 21 prior HELIX runs; recommends HELIX-v1.5 composition; P(meet target)=0.82. Dr Koen approves; PfS sample created.
▣ BoTorch · GP · qNEHVI acquisition.
→
4
Week 6 · HELIX pilot batch (18 kg)
Thermo PfS records pass · SCIKIQ writes sustainability score back to PfS Sample UDF · ERP/PLM cross-check 5/5 green.
▣ Standard Thermo workflow · SCIKIQ UDF write-back via OData PATCH.
→
5
Week 10 · Customer A-sample · DPP-ready
GenAI assembles one-page sustainability + DPP substantiation + spec sheet + board narrative. CSO signs off.
▣ GenAI briefing-pack generator · ESPR DPP schema fill.
→
6
Q1 2027 · HELIX ships
$42M revenue secured · narrative locked · AVY becomes the reference for AI-native scientific intelligence in materials.
▣ —
BEFORE / AFTER
Friday's decision · in dollars
| Dimension | Today | With SCIKIQ + Thermo | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Funding required | $0 | $1.2M Y1 | +$1.2M |
| Y1 return | $0 | $12–18M | +$12–18M |
| Payback period | — | <8 months | Y1 |
| HELIX outcome | At-risk | Shipped Q1'27 | $42M secured |
| Position in category | Materials co | AI-native ref customer | Re-rating |
WHO WINS
"Three signatures Friday. $1.2M out · $12–18M back in Y1 · $42M of revenue secured · AVY becomes the reference customer for the category we're creating."
— CEO Deon Stander · Office of the CEO
⚠ IF WE DON'T
Cost of waiting one quarter
- HELIX slips past Q1 2027 EU deadline → $42M revenue exposure crystallises
- $12–18M Y1 ROI delayed by a quarter ($3–4.5M opportunity cost)
- Two more quarters of $4.3M / yr tab-switching tax on every scientist
- Competitor lands the AI-native scientific intelligence position first
14daysFrom approval to live integration
7weeksHELIX wedge proof
$1.2MaskY1 · integration + HELIX wedge
$12–18MY1 returnPayback <8 months
The lab is fine. The next product is the question. We have an answer.
AI / ML / LLM IN THIS CHAPTER
DATA SOURCES