(or: why most commercial pipelines in engineering companies break early)

I keep seeing the same pattern.

A company has built a solid product:

• the thermodynamics are right
• the performance is proven
• the engineers know exactly what they’re doing

Then I ask:

“What market are you targeting?”

And the answer is:

“Industry.”
“Companies that need heat.”
“District heating.”

Now let's pause for a second. 'Cause hthis is the part where I need to repeat myself again and again:

That’s not a market.
That’s a universe.

And once you start from a universe, everything downstream gets messy.

Where things start to break

A few months later, it usually looks like this:

• Sales has a lot of “interesting” conversations
• Marketing is active but not really pulling the right people in
• Pipeline looks full… but nothing is closing predictably

And internally, you hear:

“It depends…”
“Every project is different…”

That’s often true technically.

But commercially, it’s usually a sign that the market was never defined properly.

The uncomfortable truth

In engineering, you would never design a system without knowing:

• temperature levels
• load profile
• energy source
• constraints

You wouldn’t even start.

But commercially, many companies do exactly that.

They go to market first… and define the conditions later, inside the sales process.

That’s expensive.

What a “market” actually is

Let’s make it simple. Let's see what it isn't.

A market is not:

“who could use this”

A market is:

the set of conditions where your solution works — and will be bought

Two parts:

• it works
• someone is actually going to act

If one of those is missing, it’s not a market.

How I usually see it play out

I once had a dialogue with a CEO of a company selling heat solutions.

They said:

“We target food & beverage.”

Sounds reasonable.

But when we looked at their actual projects, a pattern showed up:

• only plants with continuous processes
• only where steam demand was stable
• only where energy costs were already a problem
• and almost always when a boiler was close to replacement

Everything else?
Early conversations. No decisions.

So “food & beverage” wasn’t the market.

A more useful way to define your market

(think like an engineer and define the operating window)

Instead of starting with industries, start with conditions.

Here’s a checklist I use in practice.

1. Physics (non-negotiable)

If this doesn’t fit, nothing else matters.

Ask:

• What temperature range do we serve?
• What energy source is required?
• What load profile do we need?

Example – electric boiler

• Steam up to ~200°C
• Needs sufficient electrical capacity
• Works best with stable demand

If a site doesn’t have grid capacity → stop.
No amount of marketing will fix that.

Example – industrial heat pump

• Typically below ~140–160°C
• Needs a heat source (waste heat, ambient, etc.)
• Needs high utilization

No source? No project.

Already here, you’ve removed a big part of the “market”.

Good. That’s the point.

2. Process (where does it actually fit?)

Now translate that into real operations.

Ask:

• Where in the plant is this used?
• Is it core production or support?

Not:

“food industry”

But:

“continuous steam-based processes like pasteurization or drying”

Now it becomes concrete.

3. System context (how does it plug in?)

Your solution never stands alone.

Ask:

• Is this base load, peak, or backup?
• Is it connected to district heating?
• Is it part of a hybrid system?

Example – electric boiler

I’ve seen it work best as:

• peak load in district heating
• backup in industrial steam systems
• or full replacement when timing is right

Same product. Different markets.

4. Buyer (who actually cares?)

Not who uses it. Who feels the pain.

Ask:

• Who owns the problem?
• Who signs off?

Usually:

• plant manager
• energy manager
• utilities manager

If you can’t point to a clear owner, expect slow movement.

5. Trigger (why now?)

This is the one most teams underestimate. Even if everything fits, nothing happens without a trigger.

Typical ones I keep seeing:

• Boiler is 20–30 years old
• Energy prices suddenly hurt
• CO₂ costs become visible
• Grid capacity becomes available
• Plant is being upgraded anyway

No trigger?

Then it’s a “nice idea”. Not a project.

Put it together: what a real market looks like

Weak version

“Companies looking to decarbonize”

Real version

Steam-based production sites
with stable demand
existing boiler setup
access to electrical capacity
and a boiler approaching replacement

Now we’re talking.

That’s something you can actually build a pipeline around.

What happens when you get this right

This is where things start to feel different internally.

Marketing stops guessing

Instead of broad messages, you can say:

“If your boiler is reaching end of life and you have grid capacity, this is worth a look.”

That lands.

Because it reflects a real situation.

Sales stops chasing everything

You get faster conversations like:

“This fits, let’s move forward”
or
“This won’t work, let’s not spend time on it”

Both are valuable.

Pipeline becomes more predictable

When projects come from similar conditions:

• timelines align
• decisions follow similar logic
• forecasting becomes less of a guessing game

This is what I mean by engineering growth

You already think in systems when you build your product. The shift is to do the same commercially.

Not more campaigns. Not a new CRM.

But starting with:

• constraints
• operating conditions
• where it works
• where it doesn’t

A simple test

Ask your team:

“Can we describe our market like a system specification?”

If the answer is vague, you don’t have a defined market yet.

It should sound like this:

• temperature range
• energy source
• load profile
• system role
• buyer
• trigger

If one is missing, expect friction later.

One last thought for the road

I’ve yet to see a company struggle with growth because they didn’t run enough campaigns.

I’ve seen many struggle because they started from a universe instead of a defined system.

Define the system first.

Then build everything else on top.