Heard Around The Grove

Blake Newcomer • April 20, 2026

Hey Grove Readers, happy April! Thanks for tuning in each week to read + hear the stories these amazing climatetech operators have to offer.

Today we have an exciting evolution in our content: The Grove will be the go-to place for go-to-market content in hard-to-abate industries.

There is lots of content about entrepreneurship in general, a great amount about founder & investor journeys, really awesome stuff about overall industry themes (Cleantech group, Burnt Island Ventures, Catalyst, many more),

but not enough about the long journey to get it done in the hardest of industries!

The Grove will fill that gap.

We have always been about inspiration and GTM playbooks. This won't change. Now, those playbooks will address things like a Utility's 18 month selling cycle or a mining company's 2 years of due diligence.

I couldn't be more excited to meet, speak with, and document the brightest minds in this space.

The most critical infrastructure needs the most innovation and moves the slowest to adopt it. Let's accelerate this together.

2026 will see the launch of events, professional development cohorts, and a structured Grove community. Stick around and find out!

Let's keep making this world a better place.

In this week's issue

• Some highlights of past Grove guests & their wisdom on hard-to-abate industries

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Selling Into Hard-to-Abate Industries

Ben Silton // Trellisense (Landfills & Oil and Gas)

Ben spent 80%+ of his early days relationship building. He had a network from his consulting work & had a bunch of potential customers to ask, "What do we need to do before we're even in a room talking about a project with you?"

By doing this, he could sign NDAs and LOIs with target customers before the company was even incorporated. Some of those contacts disappeared for two years (happens) and eventually came back as real deals.

"Find your customer willing to pay the most to solve the problem your product most easily solves, and get there as fast as you can."

Vik Chaudhry // Buzz Solutions (Utilities)

Selling SaaS to utilities averages 12 to 18 months. Any new tech into Utilities needs cybersecurity review, procurement, business case validation, IT governance, and lots more. The flip side is a moat: once you're in, churn is nearly zero and contracts are multi-year.

Buzz Solutions beat out GE and ABB in a year-long RFP process to land the New York Power Authority as their first enterprise customer. That changed everything.

"No one wants to be the first or second customer for a new technology, but everyone wants to be the fourth and fifth."

The real skill Vik speaks to here is survival. Him and his co-founder spent 7 years developing their technology before bringing it to that RFP. Seven!

Greg Newbloom // Membrion (Industrial Water Treatment)

Greg's previous startup failed because they talked to customers to validate their own assumptions instead of discovering what buyers needed. At Membrion, he flipped the filter: the right customer is the one pulling you faster than you want to move. Turned out they're in wastewater.

"There's a million reasons why someone doesn't want something better than what they're doing today."

These facilities have done things the same way for 30 years. The assumption you're challenging isn't even visible to them. Find a way to gain permission and say "there's a different way to look at this problem". It won't be immediate.

Anthony DeOrsey // CleanTech Group

Anthony & his team watches hundreds of startups sell into cement, steel, batteries, and hydrogen. He says founders split into two camps as corporates go wait-and-see:

Go lean: contract manufacture, off-the-shelf components, sacrifice some IP utilization. It's revenue today.

Go all the way: investors are saying "we'll fund you to own the full value chain." Ex: Lithium refining technology but refiners won't adopt. Answer: Just produce and sell lithium yourself.

These aren't mutually exclusive. The founders winning right now are mixing and matching. "[The linear relationship to revenue] has really melted away. People are becoming very practical."

Feedback

Have any thoughts about what you'd like to see? Let's build together

Roundtables

Curated, pitch-free roundtables that spark real collaboration between and your prospects. GTM solution for long and complex sales cycles.

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Small groups (10-15 people) + industry expert speakers + 4-5 targeted sessions = accelerated career development. Want to participate or present? Reply to this email.

Podcast Guests

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With love, Blake

See you next week!