The Hydrostor Guide to Building Trust: Selling $1B+ Infrastructure Projects as a Startup

How do you convince risk-averse utilities to trust a startup with billion-dollar infrastructure projects? In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Curtis VanWallenghem revealed Hydrostor’s systematic approach to building enterprise trust, transforming skeptical utilities into billion-dollar customers.

Starting With the Trust Gap

The challenge was clear: utilities don’t experiment with unproven technology. As Curtis explains, “Most of our competitors are asking the utilities to front the $1 billion to buy the first system.” With a revolutionary approach to energy storage that involves drilling massive underground caverns, the trust barrier seemed insurmountable.

The Evolution-Not-Revolution Strategy

Instead of positioning themselves as disruptors, Hydrostor deliberately framed their innovation as an evolution of proven technology. “We’ve just tweaked what was already kind of a proven asset class,” Curtis notes about their compressed air technology. This framing helped utilities contextualize the risk within familiar parameters.

The Proven Components Approach

A crucial part of their trust-building strategy was using familiar technology. “There are no new widgets in what we’re doing. It’s more integration of proven components,” Curtis explains. This approach transformed the conversation from evaluating new technology to assessing new applications of trusted solutions.

Building the Trust Ecosystem

Hydrostor systematically assembled a network of credible partners. They had to:

1. “Get the ability to wrap it, guarantee and warranty that it would work”
2. “Convince the construction companies that build caverns and mines”
3. Get “oil and gas equipment suppliers to sell us their equipment and stand behind it”

The Risk Reversal Innovation

Perhaps their most powerful trust-building move was completely inverting the traditional risk model. “We kind of took a different approach, saying we’re going to develop and win the contracts and they don’t pay you a dime if you don’t perform,” Curtis reveals. This transformed the conversation from “Can we trust this technology?” to “What do we have to lose?”

Creating Precedent Through Pilots

Rather than asking utilities to take massive risks, Hydrostor built credibility through strategic pilots. This approach helped establish precedents that made larger deals possible. “We’ve set a fair number of precedents with our projects being kind of the first of a kind to do something in a certain regulatory construct,” Curtis explains.

The Long-Term Focus

Building trust meant playing the long game. As Curtis notes, “I like the fact that I’ve been able to focus because I know so much about our technology and the industry… you go to a conference, you recognize half the faces in the room and everyone on stage.” This deep industry expertise became a crucial trust factor.

The Results: From Skepticism to Billions

The strategy worked. “The fact that in Australia and California, we’ve come out on top on these pretty loud big procurements,” Curtis notes, “I think shows the value of our solution.” Today, they have “about two and a half billion dollars worth of contract signs for two facilities with more contracts to come.”

Lessons for Deep Tech Founders

Hydrostor’s approach offers crucial insights for founders selling to risk-averse enterprises:

1. Frame innovation as evolution, not revolution
2. Use proven components whenever possible
3. Build a network of credible partners
4. Reverse traditional risk models
5. Establish credibility through strategic pilots
6. Develop deep industry expertise

The key insight? Building trust for billion-dollar deals isn’t about a single silver bullet – it’s about systematically dismantling every reason for doubt. As Curtis’s experience shows, even the most conservative buyers will embrace revolutionary technology if you can make the risk feel manageable.