Market Development · Case Study
170+ conversations into six early adopters.
- Industry
- B2B SaaS
- Funding Stage
- Seed
- Engagement
- Market Development
Smart Access, a Seed funded startup based out of Canada, offers a unified frontline operations platform helping retail, warehouse, and manufacturing teams improve performance and operations outcomes. Smart Access automates companies’ improvement plans for the frontline by offering guided digitized observations and sending targeted capsules of information to the whole organization, instantly. Managers have clear visibility into who needs help, and know how to make the most impact.
Smart Access (Edmonton-born, now San Francisco-based) continues to operate and raised a $12M Series A led by Lobby Capital (with Aspenwood Ventures and Coelius Capital), counting large distributors such as KeHE among its customers.
The Challenge
Smart Access, a seed-stage startup enhancing worker performance in warehouses and retail environments, needed to validate and build a repeatable enterprise-focused go-to-market strategy following initial success with a Fortune 50 partner. The primary challenge was determining whether their value proposition would resonate across the broader enterprise market.
The Solution
Over three months, the team identified the core ICP and tested perceived unmet needs through 10+ buyer conversations. Key findings repositioned the coaching and observation module as the primary sales entry point rather than onboarding. The Market Development phase implemented a robust sales strategy with cold outreach, creating sales tools including a Discovery Deck, Executive One-Sheet, and customized scripts to nurture leads and deals.
The Results
The approach initiated 170+ sales conversations, generating 85 Sales Qualified Leads and 25 Qualified Opportunities. Smart Access acquired six early adopters with multiple five-figure and six-figure contracts, establishing a scalable growth strategy with reduced founder dependency.
Tim Regnier, CEO & FounderI thought I knew how to do sales, but I realized it was a major blind spot for me. To me, this builds a bit of a moat. I thought the product would move us through this — and it's just not. Connecting to the real problem, to dollars, to how someone's gonna write a check... I just didn't get what it would take to win. You guys are showing me what it takes to really drive this forward.
