Earlier this week, we attended a venture and angel investor event organized by the Venture Club Innerschweiz (VCI). Five companies were each given five minutes to explain their business.
One company presented an advanced approach to energy-grid optimization. The presentation spent considerable time explaining the technology, yet even after five minutes, the customer problem and resulting value remained unclear.
Two days later, several of the presentations had already faded from memory.
Not because the technology was weak.
Not because the founders lacked credibility.
The signal was buried beneath the noise.
That experience reinforced an observation we have seen repeatedly over the last fifteen years.
Momenta has reviewed more than 8,000 companies across multiple industrial sectors, markets, and technology cycles. The companies that consistently rise above the noise are not necessarily those with the most sophisticated technology. They are the ones that make their value obvious. They communicate the problem they solve, the solution they provide, and the impact they create long before they explain the architecture, algorithms, AI models, or intellectual property behind them.
Earlier in the event, Momenta Founding Partner Ken Forster was interviewed by the moderator before the pitches began. One of the final questions was what advice he would give founders navigating constant waves of technological change. His answer was remarkably simple:
focus on the signal over the noise. Customer over all else.
After reviewing thousands of companies through multiple technology cycles, we have found this to be one of the most reliable indicators of long-term success.
Over the last fifteen years, industrial technology has moved through successive waves of Industrial Internet, Industrial IoT, Industry 4.0, Digital Transformation, Industrial Edge, AIoT, Digital Twins, Industry 5.0, Industrial AI, Physical AI, and Autonomous Industry.
Each wave introduced meaningful innovation and new language for describing it.
Today, that language is increasingly centered on AI.
In many cases, that makes perfect sense. AI is helping industrial organizations solve problems that were previously difficult or impossible to address. AI may become a company’s new superpower.
But a new superpower does not automatically require a new identity.
Technology only changes a company’s positioning when it meaningfully changes the problem being solved, the solution being delivered, or the impact being created. Otherwise, the terminology evolves far more than the value proposition does.
The transition I increasingly observe is therefore not from one technology category to another.
It is from:
Technology-Led Positioning → Impact-Led Positioning
This should not be interpreted as criticism of technology or innovation.
Momenta has invested across Industrial Internet, Industrial IoT, Industry 4.0, Industrial Edge, AIoT, Industry 5.0, Industrial AI, Physical AI, and Autonomous Industry because technology matters. Proprietary technology, deep domain expertise, intellectual property, and defensible moats remain essential ingredients of long-term success.
The distinction is that customers, investors, analysts, partners, and increasingly AI systems need to understand why the technology matters before they can appreciate how it works.
AI has only amplified this reality. As buyers increasingly rely on AI systems to research markets and build shortlists, companies have every reason to adopt language that helps customers understand where they fit.
The mistake is not using AI language.
The mistake is allowing AI language to replace the value proposition.
One of the most overlooked skills in industrial technology is storytelling.
The strongest founders do not begin with architecture diagrams, technical workflows, model descriptions, or feature lists. They begin with the problem. They explain who experiences it, why it exists, and what happens if it remains unresolved. Only then do they introduce the solution and the technology behind it.
A strong story does not simplify the problem. It creates a simple path to understanding.
Many companies believe complexity creates credibility. In practice, the opposite is often true. Dense diagrams, complicated workflows, and long feature lists may be technically accurate, but they often create confusion before they create understanding.
The goal is not to explain everything.The goal is to make people want to keep listening.
Open your homepage.
Give someone thirty seconds.
Can they explain:
Could they explain it accurately to somebody else?
At Momenta, we continue to come back to a remarkably simple framework:
Problem. Solution. Impact.
As Ken Forster reminded founders at the event:
"Focus on the signal over the noise. Customer over all else."
That is the 30-Second Test.
That is Industrial Impact.
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Momenta is the leading Industrial Impact® venture capital firm, accelerating industrial innovators across energy, manufacturing, smart spaces, and the supply chain. Our team of deep industry operators has helped scale industry leaders and innovators to improve critical industries, the environment, and people's quality of life for over a decade. PitchBook recognized Momenta as a Top VC Fund Manager from 2023 through 2026 in its Global Manager Performance Score League Tables. For more information, please visit http://www.momenta.vc
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