Go-To-Market for Ocean Founders

Ocean founders: this is how go-to-market is different for you, and why it is harder to scale.

A basic go-to-market strategy is essentially made of these steps:

1. Understand who your ideal customers are (Target Market)

2. Craft your unique value proposition for them (Message)

3. Find out how best to reach them (Distribution)

4. Define how to package and price your solution (Business Model)

5. Select the best ways to execute, measure and iterate (Tactics)

However, for ocean startups that are bringing innovative solutions to the sector, there are a few extra layers to consider and deal with:

• Your buyers are slow and risk-averse. Procurement cycles run 3 to 6 months or more. Decision-makers face real downside if something fails and little upside if it succeeds, so the status quo always wins.

  
  

• Your buyers operate within strict regulatory frameworks. Liability, compliance and approved supplier lists shape what they can adopt.

  
  

• Credibility is hard to earn. Organisations hesitate when something isn't recognised as standard. You'll need transparency and proof.

  
  

• You have to speak multiple languages within the buyer organisation. Technical, procurement, finance, legal and insurance teams all assess your solution differently.

  
  

• Data has to integrate with existing systems. Producing good data isn't enough. It has to slot into the formats and systems your buyers already use.

This is partly why it's so difficult. It explains why so many startups get stuck, fail to scale and run out of money before they can make a meaningful impact.

From what I see, it is also easy to underestimate the human side of all this. Even when the right infrastructure is in place, you still need to know how to navigate it. That means understanding how your buyer thinks and makes decisions.

I wrote a guide about this, which you can download here.

If you want to go deeper on this, you might also want to check out my conversation with Emily Charry Tissier on The Ocean Age Podcast and her recent article in The Journal of Ocean Technology (link here).