Bedrock’s Playbook for Managing 24+ Month Sales Cycles in Deep Tech

In deep tech, sales cycles rarely follow the neat quarterly rhythms of typical enterprise software. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Bedrock CEO Joselyn Lai shared insights into managing sales cycles that can stretch beyond two years – a challenge that’s particularly relevant for founders building complex physical infrastructure solutions.

The Reality of Extended Timelines

“Real estate decision making timelines can be long, construction schedules can be long, and it may take over a year from starting a conversation with somebody to really being able to start construction and sometimes even longer,” Joselyn explains. “Some of the projects that I’m talking about right now with customers are projects that might break ground in 2025 or 2026.”

Building a Long-Term Pipeline

This reality shapes Bedrock’s entire approach to pipeline development. Rather than focusing solely on near-term opportunities, they’ve built a system that accommodates various stages of customer readiness. As Joselyn notes, “In order to manage these long sales cycles, we have to build a pipeline that is really long term and really kind of just get a lot of excitement across many potential customers.”

Leveraging Ecosystem Partners

A key element of Bedrock’s strategy is working through established industry networks. “All real estate developers and owners, they have a large ecosystem of architects and engineers and construction managers who they rely on,” Joselyn shares. This approach helps maintain momentum during long sales cycles by engaging multiple stakeholders who can champion the solution.

Balancing Development and Commercialization

The challenge isn’t just managing sales cycles – it’s maintaining business momentum during extended development periods. Bedrock’s approach involves working with investors who understand that “in hard tech the timelines for development are a bit longer than in software, but they’re also excited about the reality that geothermal of this type is already in market.”

Learning Through Early Deployments

Their first installation with CIM Group provided valuable insights into managing complex deployment cycles. Joselyn details the learning process: “We learned about the process of setting up a construction site right outside the windows of a occupied office building where people were working. We learned just about all the steps in the construction process, ranging from getting that city permit and the state permit… We learned about just the integration between the geothermal system that we’re here to innovate on and connecting that to the h vac system inside the building.”

Building Customer Confidence

With such long cycles, building and maintaining customer confidence is crucial. Bedrock focuses on demonstrating clear value propositions that align with customer needs. As Joselyn explains, “This is a form of decarbonization, where we can actually put money into the pockets of real estate decision makers… Nothing good or positive for society can scale unless it also has a financial value proposition.”

Creating Market Momentum

Rather than waiting for sales cycles to complete, Bedrock works to build broader market momentum. They’re focused on making geothermal “much more scalable in terms of, is it de risked, is it accessible to a property that might be in a really dense location with small amounts of space? Is it bankable?”

For deep tech founders managing extended sales cycles, Bedrock’s approach offers several key lessons:

1. Build pipeline strategies that accommodate multi-year cycles
2. Leverage existing industry networks to maintain momentum
3. Focus on early wins that can serve as learning opportunities
4. Balance long-term development with near-term revenue opportunities
5. Create clear value propositions that justify extended timelines

The key to success isn’t shortening these inherently long cycles – it’s building a business that can thrive within them. As Bedrock demonstrates, this requires a careful balance of pipeline development, stakeholder engagement, and market education.