In the latest Founder Spotlight Session, Techstars Managing Director Audun Abelsnes sat down with Vicki Knott, CEO and co-founder of CruxOCM, for a candid discussion on navigating the complex intersection of heavy industry and high-tech software.

From their early days in the 2018 Techstars Energy program to securing a strategic investment from Microsoft’s M12 in late 2024, Vicki’s journey offers a masterclass in resilience and strategic scaling.

From Pipelines to "Industrial Autonomy"

Vicki’s background as a chemical engineer in the pulp and paper industry revealed a startling gap: while paper mills were highly automated, the critical oil and gas infrastructure powering 83% of our energy was still being operated manually.

CruxOCM was founded to bridge this gap. Vicki describes their solution as the "Tesla for control rooms." Instead of operators manually adjusting set points, like driving a manual car with a clutch, CruxOCM provides a full closed-loop system that enables industrial autonomy.

"We're building the factory with electricity, whereas like the Emersons, the Honeywells, the Siemens of the world, they're trying to retrofit their factories for electricity."

Navigating the Investor Journey

Securing $17M in funding, including a pre-empted round from Microsoft's M12, didn't happen overnight. Vicki shared key takeaways for founders currently in the trenches:

• Top-Line Impact is King: In the energy sector, features aren't enough. Investors get excited when you can prove your software generates "hard barrels" — increasing utilization and creating "free money" for operators.

• The Power of the List: Vicki’s pre-seed round involved a list of over 80 investors. Her advice? "Live and die by the list."

• Storytelling as a Skill: Vicki credits Techstars for helping her master her narrative. Being "over-rehearsed" allowed her to be more relaxed and authentic in high-stakes meetings.

Strategies for Winning "Big Energy" Customers

Selling into asset-heavy sectors is notoriously difficult, with sales cycles often exceeding 18 months. CruxOCM successfully shortened theirs to 13 months by focusing on:

1. Bottom-Up Trust: While the C-suite signs the checks, the control room operators are the true decision-makers. CruxOCM builds trust by making sure operators are comfortable with the system, as their adoption ultimately generates the value executives want to see.

2. Strategic IP Protection: Vicki warns that large corporates often "try to take advantage of small startups." Having a robust IP portfolio and expert legal counsel is critical.

3. The "Bay Area" Lever: A pivotal moment for CruxOCM was Vicki’s move to the Bay Area. Recruiting executive talent from the region, specifically for CPO and CTO roles, meant hiring people who "really intimately know software," which Vicki says has done "almost a 180" for the business.

What’s Next for CruxOCM?

The company is now moving toward the Industrial Automation Hub, which is currently in beta. This package will allow engineering teams to build their own "automated workflows for their own control rooms," empowering clients to reach industrial autonomy faster without relying on long consultant-led cycles.

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