5 Critical Go-to-Market Lessons from Geminus: Building Credibility in Industrial Tech
The industrial sector isn’t known for rapid technology adoption. Yet in a recent Category Visionaries episode, Geminus founder Greg Fallon shared how his deep tech startup is convincing conservative industrial buyers to embrace AI-powered optimization. Here are the key go-to-market lessons from their journey:
- Partner First, Sell Later
In industrial tech, credibility is everything. Rather than trying to build trust from scratch, Geminus found success through strategic partnerships. As Greg explains: “We have found [it] helpful to identify credible companies to whom we can add value as a partner, who can bring us credibility to their customers who might be these large corporations.”
This partnership-first approach led to relationships with established players like SLB (formerly Schlumberger), giving Geminus instant credibility with enterprise buyers. The lesson? Sometimes the fastest path to market isn’t direct.
- Define Your Ideal Customer Profile with Surgical Precision
Instead of casting a wide net, Geminus developed an extremely focused definition of their ideal customer. Greg shares: “We found that if we can focus on to start a very small audience that is highly credible, that understands what we do inherently and has already looked at other forms of AI and is familiar with some of the drawbacks, we can resonate instantly.”
They specifically target companies with “very strong relationships between their chief digital officer, their digital transformation teams and their operating units.” This precision helps them identify organizations most likely to succeed with their technology.
- Leverage Modern Tools for Enterprise Intelligence
Rather than relying on gut instinct, Geminus uses sophisticated tools to identify and target potential customers. Greg explains they employ “really sophisticated tools that are available now to help target customers and really understand which customers are more likely to resonate with.” Tools like 6sense help them analyze “what are their employees searching on? What keywords are they looking at? How do they stack rank?”
- Map the Complex Enterprise Buying Journey
Success in enterprise sales requires understanding all stakeholders involved. Greg reveals: “We may have twelve stakeholders in a given deal, and it may be a split decision between, like, a chief digital officer who becomes our advocate, but then the operating teams that run these big assets who actually have to buy in and sometimes fund them.”
This understanding helps Geminus navigate complex sales cycles and ensure they’re addressing the needs of both technical champions and economic buyers.
- Redefine Rather Than Create Categories
Instead of trying to create an entirely new market category, Geminus positions themselves as modernizing an existing one. Greg notes: “I used to think that we’re creating a new category, and I’ve come to realize that there are a set of tools that have been around for about 40 years that kind of call themselves industrial optimization… I would say that we’re redefining a category, and I liken ourselves to the iPod. There were music players for sure, but the iPod completely changed what a music player was.”
This approach gives buyers a familiar framework while still emphasizing Geminus’s revolutionary impact. It’s often easier to redefine an existing category than create awareness for an entirely new one.
For B2B founders targeting enterprise customers, these lessons highlight the importance of strategic thinking in go-to-market execution. Success isn’t just about having superior technology – it’s about building credibility, focusing on the right customers, and positioning your innovation in a way that resonates with conservative buyers.
The goal isn’t just to sell technology, but to drive real transformation. As Greg shares his vision: “My vision for the next three to five years is to have AI helping to optimize every machine, plant and system on the planet.” By following these go-to-market principles, Geminus is steadily working toward making that vision a reality.