Front Lines

How ChargeLab's Platform Strategy Unlocked EV Infrastructure Adoption After watching Tesla build a closed charging ecosystem, Zak L. saw an opportunity for an open software platform. Today, ChargeLab has raised over $20M and powers charging networks across North America by providing the operating system that traditional businesses need to control their EV future. In this episode of Category Visionaries, Zak shared key lessons from selling infrastructure software into an emerging market. Here are the go-to-market insights: → Position Against Market Leader's Strengths. While Tesla offers a vertically integrated solution, ChargeLab became "the Android of EV charging," enabling customer control. → Time Market Entry Around Adoption. Started in 2016 but waited until 2019 to raise capital, when "every gas station with more than 20 sites... guaranteed is looking at" EV charging. → Turn Location into Advantage. Based in Toronto, they maintain in-house North American development while competitors offshore, delivering higher quality at competitive costs. → Reframe Value Proposition. Rather than sell charging as revenue opportunity, positioned it as essential amenity: "Nobody wants to spend $800,000 on a condo in a building that doesn't have a gym." → Focus on Removing Friction. Instead of adding features, they're "making it more frictionless for EV drivers and site owners," recognizing that infrastructure should be invisible. → Build Through Partners. As the market matured, they leveraged "a healthy ecosystem of partners that do the installs that sell the hardware" to focus purely on software. These insights from ChargeLab demonstrate how infrastructure software companies can successfully build platforms in emerging markets. Listen to the full conversation with Zak Lefevre on Category Visionaries to learn more about building adoption for infrastructure software. https://lnkd.in/dDx_WQ49

How do you get traditional businesses to adopt new technology? Khaled Boukadoum founded Torch Dental to solve supply chain inefficiencies in dental practices. They've raised $49.5M to date. Their initial approach: knock on dental office doors in Manhattan with a digital solution. The reality they discovered: dentists were skeptical of new technology. They were using whiteboards and Excel spreadsheets to track supplies. Everyone was paying different prices for the same products. The turning point came when they realized something crucial: dental practices wouldn't adopt tech unless the ROI was unmistakable. So they built a pre-demo analytics tool that showed practices exactly how much they could save on their current orders. No guesswork, just data. Their evolution:? → Started with door-to-door sales in NYC? → Built rapid product iteration loops using Manhattan's density? → Evolved to a fully digital acquisition model? → Now operating across 48 states Key insight: in traditional industries, showing a 15-25% cost reduction on exact same products matters more than fancy features. Today, they're opening an Austin office and expanding beyond supplies into broader spend management. The lesson: when selling to traditional industries, make the ROI so clear that saying no becomes harder than adopting new tech. Listen to the full episode to hear how Khaled is bringing digital transformation to a traditionally tech-resistant industry. Listen to the full episode: https://lnkd.in/ewtMNU2i #B2B #StartupGrowth #GTM

Creating the Confidential Computing Category: Lessons from Anjuna's Journey In this episode of Category Visionaries, Ayal Yogev, CEO of Anjuna Security, shared how they pioneered the confidential computing category. Here are the key go-to-market lessons from their journey: → Position Based on Buyer Reality, Not Internal View. Anjuna discovered their solution resonated as infrastructure, pivoting conversations from security teams to CIO organizations. → Use Missing Budget Lines as Strategic Opening. They transformed the lack of established budget into opportunities for board-level conversations about enabling new business capabilities. → Follow Proven Category Creation Models. By following VMware's virtualization playbook, they made complex technology accessible without requiring customers to rebuild applications. → Time Analyst Relations Strategically. They built customer proof points before engaging analysts, ensuring meaningful market validation. → Leverage Industry Tailwinds. Their GTM aligned with cloud providers and CPU vendors' market education efforts, amplifying their message. → Frame Security as Business Enablement. By positioning security as enabling new possibilities rather than just reducing risk, they gained board-level visibility. These insights from Anjuna demonstrate how creating a new category requires rethinking traditional positioning and go-to-market assumptions. Listen to the full conversation with Ayal Yogev on Category Visionaries to learn more about building the confidential computing category. https://lnkd.in/dD3kmExj

When Inna Tokarev Sela founded illumex in 2021, she bet on a controversial idea: enterprise data should serve business users, not just technical teams. At the time, this was radical thinking. The market was dominated by solutions built for technical users. Their initial go-to-market strategy targeted unicorn startups. Then 2022 hit: → Tech budgets froze → Their target market evaporated? → They needed a new approach Instead of compromising their vision, they made a bold pivot to enterprise:? → Pursued major manufacturers? → Targeted pharma companies? → Went after large retail corporations It took 18 months to land their first paying customer. A key lesson emerged: in enterprise data, you can't sell features piece by piece.? → You need a complete platform? → Even your MVP must solve end-to-end workflows? → "It's not enough to have one fork of the Swiss Army knife" Their unconventional marketing approach:? → No paid social? → Pure thought leadership? → Controversial content that challenged industry norms The bet paid off:? → Raised $13M from strategic investors? → Landed major enterprise logos? → Built a thriving customer community? → Positioned 2-3 years ahead in tech Today, illumex is leading a new category called "generative semantic fabric" - translating technical data into business language at enterprise scale. Their vision: an application-free future where business users can access any data through natural conversation. Listen to our latest episode of Category Visionaries to hear Inna's full story of building enterprise AI adoption from the ground up. #Enterprise #B2B #StartupStrategy #ProductLed Listen to the full episode: https://lnkd.in/euB2AezP

How does Nudge Security think about its market category? On Category Visionaries, Russell Spitler (CEO of Nudge Security) shared a key insight: "When people are looking for the product that we have, the SaaS security category is a very common one that's applied to us. The challenge that we have realized is that is not how most people think about the problem yet." His core insight: "SaaS is not the problem. It's the aggravating factor to existing problems you already had." The reality? "If there's 200 on this list, how many aren't on this list that have gone through? And the answer is typically that's about 30% of what you have in your environment." Rather than force fit into "SaaS security," Russell acknowledges they're in an emerging space: "someday we'll come with a beautifully terse acronym that I can use to evangelize my vision to the world, but we're still in that space where we are playing to that problem area, not necessarily to that solution category mapping." The lesson? When creating a new category, start with the customer's problems, not the industry labels. Listen to Russell's full episode here: https://lnkd.in/diANxeMf #CybersecurityGTM #CyberSecurity #GTM #gotomarket

The latest episode of Funding the Future is out! ?? Susan Liu, Partner at Uncork Capital recently joined us to answer this question and many more. Full episode here ???? https://lnkd.in/e9fVKc8S

FYLD raised $48M to solve a problem most founders and investors ignore: making infrastructure field workers more productive. In 2020, Shelley Copsey launched FYLD during the pandemic's peak. The timing seemed terrible:? → Their users worked in the field → The team couldn't meet them → Everyone was social distancing But they discovered something interesting about infrastructure work: → Industry claims there's a labor shortage → Data showed 30-35% of worker time is wasted → The real problem? Poor field execution Their early insight changed everything: → Previous solutions focused on back-office needs → Field workers hated using most platforms → No one was solving for the actual workers FYLD made three critical GTM decisions: Pricing transformation: → Abandoned per-seat licensing → Moved to enterprise-wide deals → Removed all barriers to adoption Safety as a growth lever: → Reduced injuries by 50% at major water company → Turned competitors into referral sources → CEOs share FYLD to help industry-wide recruitment User-first development: → Built for field workers, not executives → Achieved 8/10 satisfaction scores → Near-zero churn rates Results: → 3X ARR growth last year? → On track to double bookings this year? → Creating new category in field work execution The key lesson? Sometimes the biggest opportunity isn't in creating new technology, but in actually solving problems for the people doing the work. Listen to my conversation with Shelley on Category Visionaries to learn how FYLD is transforming infrastructure field work. https://lnkd.in/ePim8jGj #B2B #StartupGrowth #ProductStrategy

Dan Rua noticed a massive shift coming to the internet while running his previous company Grooveshark: Ad blockers, privacy laws, and the death of cookies were about to disrupt how websites make money. So in 2015, he launched Admiral - pioneering "Visitor Relationship Management" (VRM). The insight? → Publishers couldn't just track people and show ads anymore → They needed to actually build relationships with visitors → But there was no "HubSpot for media publishers" Today, Admiral serves major publishers like: → NBC Universal → Paramount CBS → Gannett → News Corp Their approach: → One platform to manage the entire visitor journey → From anonymous first visit to maximum engagement → Meeting visitors where they are vs forcing subscriptions Key metrics: → 130%+ net revenue retention → 100%+ Rule of X → Sub-1.0 burn multiple After raising $28M, they're now building AI to automate visitor journey optimization. Dan believes the publishers who survive will be the ones who master visitor relationships vs chasing viral hits. A fascinating peek into how publishers are adapting to massive industry disruption. https://lnkd.in/gGH6eKDc

What's the most important go-to-market decision Brightside Health has made? On Category Visionaries, Brad Kittredge (CEO of Brightside Health) shared their pivotal moment: Most mental health startups were running away from high-risk patients. Brightside ran toward them. "You know what happens when you refer those people out? Those patients are a hot potato. No one wants to take them because no one's trained specifically or very few providers are trained specifically to treat suicidality. And everyone perceives it as a risk. And by the way, it's hard enough to get a routine appointment, let alone an urgent suicide risk appointment." Instead of referring these cases out like everyone else, Brightside built a crisis care program specifically for high-risk patients.Why? Because the hardest cases drive the majority of healthcare costs. By focusing on what others avoided, they: - Differentiated in a crowded market - Became invaluable to insurance partners - Solved real problems others ignored The lesson? Sometimes the biggest opportunity lies in the problems everyone else is too afraid to tackle. Listen to Brad's full episode here: https://lnkd.in/dk8zTRHX #HealthcareTech #HealthTech #GTM #gotomarket

Homeward raised $70M to transform rural healthcare, where mortality rates are 23% higher than urban areas. A look at their evolution in building a new healthcare delivery model: Started with a strong foundation: - Local clinics - Telehealth services - In-home care - Value-based care model While their initial model saw success with strong NPS scores, they identified an even bigger opportunity to serve rural communities. The key insight: Rural healthcare needed a hybrid approach. "About a third of people hadn't seen a doctor in over two years," Amar explains. This understanding led to their expanded model:? → Value-based care enablement services? → Additional clinical capacity? → Focus on closing care gaps? → Supporting existing healthcare infrastructure The results validate their evolution:? → 80 NPS score (higher than any of their previous ventures)? → 3-4x annual growth? → Strong partnerships with local health systems? → Rapid market expansion in Michigan and Minnesota Their key learning: "Get close to the workflows... get close to the patient. But don't neglect other stakeholders - the provider, the payer. Because that's going to be your Achilles heel." Listen to our conversation with Amar Kendale to learn how they're scaling healthcare access in rural America while building a defensible B2B healthcare technology company. https://lnkd.in/eN9XNSX4