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High level early stage portfolio review

Portfolio review for business development gaps

Goal: for each company in the VC portfolio, identify obvious gaps in business development maturity and recommend remediation and growth tactics.
Methodology: Review public facing materials such as web, PR and LinkedIn.
Key evaluation criteria: Market focus and buyer definition, value proposition clarity, and organizational readiness.
Note: Companies in this list were only added if there were obvious gaps. Some companies in the VC portfolio appear to have an adequate baseline of market focus, buyer definition and org readiness - those do not show up on the list below.

Scoring:
To simplify evaluating each company, I’ve scored them on the following rubric. Details for each company are in the commentary if you click the “toggle” arrow below.
No clear market, message, buyer or product, limited or no BD activities or team in place
Market and buyer emerging, product obvious but not articulated, BD team initiating
Market and product mostly defined, can somewhat articulate buyer, Commercial team growing
Market and product clear, messaging improving in specificity, buyer identified, team ready to scale.
Focused messaging for product to a known buyer in one or two markets, with dedicated BD/Sales/Marketing team.

Advanced Ionics: 3

Thesis statement: Green hydrogen with electroayzers on top of existing infrastructure.
Market focus: Clear direction for selling product to buyers with capital resources: those with exothermic reactions with hydrogen needs.
Buyer focus: unclear, likely entry point is R&D team at facilities.
Messaging focus: Concept driven, but not tactical or implementable in language format. Feels early in messaging development.
Org Readiness: Low/Basic - Appears no BD operations, pricing planning/margin planning, sales operations or marketing management. Not ready to scale.

Tactical Business Development recommendations:

Conduct competitive pricing evaluation on products, services.
Assess differentiating beyond clean Hydrogen into revenue model and service types.
Establish clear margin plan for product development and scalability.
Identify key buyers, “personas”.
Develop and pressure test messaging.
Find pilot buyer and assess outcomes.

Bodhi Solar: 4

Thesis: Reduces cost for solar developers to implement/mange customers and grow revenue.
CEV Note: Not clear how this fits the Schick model of investing
Market focus: Clear direction for selling product to solar developers with focused, value added messaging.
Buyer focus: Appears clear - direct sale to developer owners/managers.
Messaging focus: Feels robust and focused, but don’t have metrics to identify traction.
Org Readiness: Moderate - core pilot BD team is in place - may be ready to scale.

Tactical Business Development recommendations:

Identify investment required for sales/marketing scale.
Assess establishing product beta testing program for customer feedback.
Establish senior level sales and marketing leadership to drive process and scale.

Boston Materials: 2

Thesis: Make anything renewably - manufacturing - replace carbon heavy materials.
Market focus: General value is clear, but market approach is too unfocused and opportunistic.
Buyer focus: Unclear, unavailable, unknown, no buyer messaging.
Messaging focus: Excitement driven, but too focused on capability, not implementation.
Org Readiness: Low - possibly some sales BD activities.

Tactical Business Development recommendations:

Identify high value industry buyer (through margin and market analysis) and narrow sales and marketing focus to single stream to generate traction.
Do direct outreach to targeted buyer to establish proof points and buying motivations.
Refocus all messaging on single buyer space and plan Go to Market.
Bring on revenue leadership to drive focus and growth before scaling

Carbon Upcycle: 2

Thesis: Reduce carbon from concrete and increase strength.
Market focus: General value is clear, but market is undefined out side of possible concrete manufacturers.
Buyer focus: Unclear, unavailable, unknown, no buyer messaging. Project based rather than product or outcomes based.
Messaging focus: Feels like R&D projects (See case studies) and not ready for scale.
Org Readiness: Low - possibly some sales BD activities.

Tactical Business Development recommendations:

Identify high value industry buyer (through margin and market analysis) for pilot.
Productize offering rather than projectize and re-message.
Refocus all messaging on single buyer space and plan Go to Market.
Bring on revenue leadership to drive focus and growth before scaling

Electrified Thermal Solutions: 2

Thesis: Replace flame with heated bricks for in industrial usage.
Market focus: General value is clear, but target market is unclear.
Buyer focus: Unclear, unavailable, unknown, no buyer messaging.
Messaging focus: Feels like a lab R&D project rather than a company.
Org Readiness: Low - needs a lot of work.

Tactical Business Development recommendations:

Identify SINGLE high value industry buyer (through margin and market analysis) for pilot.
Move messaging from mission to product and implementation know-how.
Refocus all messaging on single buyer space and plan Go to Market.
Bring on revenue leadership to drive focus and growth before scaling.

Leading Edge Equipment Technologies: 1

Thesis: Improving solar panel manufacturing.
Market focus: Market is clear (solar panel manufacturers).
Buyer focus: Unclear, unavailable, unknown, probable R&D teams.
Messaging focus: Startup focus - not yet a commercial entity ready to scale.
Org Readiness: Low - other than CEO, no obvious BD leadership.

Tactical Business Development recommendations:

Identify SINGLE high value industry buyer (through margin and market analysis) for pilot.
Move messaging from mission to product and implementation know-how.
Refocus all messaging on single buyer space and plan Go to Market.
Bring on revenue leadership to drive focus and growth before scaling.

Nth Cycle: 4

Thesis: Effectively extract high impact minerals from waste in circulation (rather than mining).
Market focus: Market is clear, value add is obvious.
Buyer focus: Not articulated, but should be easy to identify.
Messaging focus: Still feels like a startup, but one with traction.
Org Readiness: Moderate - need dedicated BD team to scale.

Tactical Business Development recommendations:

Change messaging to reflect growth as a company, not a start up.
Add implementation case studies.
Generate Go to Market plan with messaging, sales and outreach.
Bring on revenue leadership to drive focus and growth to begin scaling.

Rebound Technologies 3

Thesis: Improve commercial refrigeration with independent units that tie into infrastructure.
Market focus: Market is clear, value add is obvious.
Buyer focus: Not articulated, but should be easy to identify.
Messaging focus: Needs to move from technology to product model.
Org Readiness: Moderate - need dedicated BD team to scale.

Tactical Business Development recommendations:

Change messaging to reflect growth as a company, not a start up.
Add implementation case studies.
Generate Go to Market plan with messaging, sales and outreach.
Bring on revenue leadership to drive focus and growth to begin scaling.

SparkMeter: 4

Thesis: Revolution in power distribution for the undeveloped world. SaaS and meter company for international grids
Market focus: Market is clear, narrow, value add is obvious.
Buyer focus: Not articulated - might be obvious, but fragmented globally.
Messaging focus: Well focused on value, implementation - clear and narrow.
Org Readiness: High - ready to scale.

Tactical Business Development recommendations:

Develop robust go to market strategy globally.
Determine investment required for global BD upscale.
Add marketing and sales structures, processes and technologies.
Bring on revenue leadership to drive focus and growth to begin scaling.

Travertine: 2

Thesis: CO2 removal during mining on site.
Market focus: Market is wishywashy - decide on one and focus
Buyer focus: Not articulated, not obvious.
Messaging focus: Too focused on overall climate and potential of tech, not implementation.
Org Readiness: Low - need BD dev activities.

Tactical Business Development recommendations:

Identify starting market, buyer.
Move from tech potential to implementation in messaging.
Identify buyer and create single case study for exploitation.
Leverage BD consulting until ready.

Volexion: 2

Thesis: Using chemistry and graphene to dramatically improve Lith ion batteries.
Market focus: Market is wishywashy - decide on one and focus.
Buyer focus: Not articulated, not obvious.
Messaging focus: Too focused on the cool tech, not on buyer or implementation.
Org Readiness: Low - need BD dev activities.

Tactical Business Development recommendations:

Identify high value starting market, buyer. Just a single on - start there.
Move from tech potential to implementation in messaging.
Identify buyer and create single case study for exploitation.
Leverage BD consulting until ready.



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