Introducing Deploy 95
GTM for the physical world.
In the last few years, I've been in the room when technical founders light up after a great conversation with another engineer. The excitement carries through the POC. Then it dies somewhere between “this is amazing” and “let’s deploy.”
I've heard the frustration: "They just don't get it. We have the tech. Our team is brilliant." And then they get rejected, met with questions that feel like a congressional hearing, not a partnership.
95% of AI pilots never make it to production. Not because the tech fails, but because the path from demo to factory floor is broken.
Technology builders don't fully grasp factory reality. Decision makers are disconnected from the shop floor. Operators, who actually live with it daily, rarely have a seat at the table.
The go-to-market path for hardware and software founders building for the physical world isn’t as clean as the playbooks make it sound. Over time, I’ve started to see where it breaks and why.
That’s why I’m writing Deploy 95.
The real life of these founders deserves to be talked about. More specifically, the buyer’s point of view should be brought into the light. Not imagined from TV shows or pieced together from books, but from actual humans on the factory floor.
First post: “The gap between ‘we love it’ and ‘we’re deploying it.’” is live now.
Subscribe if this sounds like your world. If you know a founder stuck in pilot purgatory, send this their way.
A word about me
I grew up in manufacturing. My father built a business keeping a Japanese forklift manufacturer connected to its suppliers. Factory floors were never abstract to me.
I’ve been on both sides. Ran my own manufacturing operation. Then stepped into physical AI before it was called that, building vision technologies for factory environments at UnitX, working with teams deploying into Tesla and LG.
Over the years, I’ve talked to a lot of operators, factory leaders, and founders navigating the same patterns. I’m not an expert with all the answers. I’m someone who’s been in enough rooms to see where conversations break down—and curious enough to keep asking why.
P.S. If you're working on these problems, or living with them, I'd like to hear from you.
A word about founding subscribers
When I first shared the idea for Deploy 95, I had no posts, no archive, nothing but a landing page and a promise. 101 of you signed up anyway.
You’re the reason this is real. I don’t take that lightly.
Thank you and I hope what comes next is worth your trust.