Breaking into the big-boy sandbox

In partnership with

Hey everyone, we wanted to end strong for the last interview insight for 2024.

This week we’re diving into how Panos Adamopoulos from Seismos took on one of the toughest challenges start-ups face: selling into legacy industries. Seismos is a serious challenger in this space, and used the strategy they shared with us to grow their revenues 800% and its client base by 2x across the globe.

Before we start, here’s where to go if you’re looking for our products (like Momentum) or if you’d be interested in sponsoring Scale.

The Story

Before we get into that, a quick introduction to Panos Adamopoulos and Seismos.

Seismos is transforming how energy companies understand what's happening miles underground. Using advanced acoustic technology and AI, their customers can make real-time decisions about their operations. Think of it as giving energy companies "X-ray vision" into their assets. This has massive implications in terms of efficiency, and therefore cost and returns.

What is their problem - really? 

The energy industry presents a unique problem-solution paradox for innovators.

✅ Two big check marks:

1. massive market ($1 trillion+)

2. A clear need for technological innovation

❌ But there are two red flags as well:

1. Extremely long sales cycles

2. Resistance to unproven solutions. 

But why are they like this? It’s easy to look at a massive player like BP or Shell and think of them as slow-moving giants who have no incentive to innovate, but we found that that’s a (reasonably) small part of the problem. 

Looking under the hood, and speaking to a variety of experts on the energy sector, we’ve found that main reasons these sectors move slow is: 

Capital intensity: Energy assets are extremely capex heavy, i.e. you risk a lot of money upfront, and your returns follow after. Transitioning away or implementing solutions to these assets is not cheap either, with every decision potentially having millions of $s in revenue impact

Regulatory and policy uncertainty: (1) Massive energy players operate across the globe, dealing with an ever changing regulatory landscape that is extremely difficult to keep up with. (2) What if they implement your new, cool solution and it gets outlawed the next week? Now all the time / money spent has been wasted

Corporate culture: As we thought, this is part of the problem as well. Massive organisations in any sector, but especially ones that are highly regulated with massive stakeholder impact (energy companies touch millions, if not billions of lives daily) do not have the right incentive to continue regulating 

So how did Seismos win? 

Most B2B businesses take on the classic approach: 1) hire a sales & marketing team, 2) spend a bunch of money getting leads in, 3) try your best to convert them ASAP. 

This wouldn’t work for Seimos. The average sales cycle (time until you get your customer to say yes) is around 18 months, and that’s if the deal closes. This would mean that going down the beaten path probably meant that they’d run out of money before they got enough revenue in to keep going. So now you have two options: 

1. Brawn: raise a bunch of capital and dilute yourself to keep yourself alive until the top-line is flowing 

2. Brains: find a different way 

They (obviously!) did #2. Here’s how: 

1. Get the small wins in 

While most deeptech companies chase big logos immediately, Seismos deliberately started with smaller companies:

• 1-2 month sales cycles vs 18+ months for major players

• More willing to take risks on new technology

• Faster feedback loops for product development AND you get some revenue through the door, quick 

2. Narrow and deep, not broad and shallow

Given the long sales cycle, traditional B2B marketing isn’t too effective, instead Seimos focussed on making deep relationships via technical conferences: 

• They could demonstrate real scientific breakthroughs

• You get to access both large and small customers simultaneously 

• Use small players to get technical validation, through peer-reviewed studies for example 

3. Partner up

Instead of trying to change the industry alone, Seismos partnered up with other players to leverage their brand value and credibility whilst iterating their own product:

• Partner with up and coming players to reach mainstream customers

• Created joint scientific case studies with early adopters

• Build geographic partnerships for international expansion

What does this mean for you?

If you're bringing innovation to conservative industries, here's what you can learn from Seismos:

• Start small: get small customers in, iterate and improve your product, and get revenue in ASAP 

• Deep relationships: use in-person connections via conferences and industry events to get people who “champion” your product 

• Partnerships: Build credibility by leveraging another’s credibility, whilst continuing to iterate your product

Remember Panos's golden rule:

If you enjoyed this issue, please share it with fellow founders, operators, & investors and fill out our feedback form below:

See you next week!

Rahul & Aryaman