ANNEAL

Durable traction for entrepreneurs in building electrification and the ownership economy.

/ uh-neel /  v. To anneal is to use controlled heat to make material permanently stronger.

That is the model: sustained commercial pressure until your market is proven and holds on its own.

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What Anneal Does

Anneal is a market development practice for companies proving new markets, whether that is a first product finding its early customers or an established business launching into a new geography.

Anneal gets in the trenches with entrepreneurs and their teams to emerge with more durable processes, products, and revenue.

You + Anneal

You built the product. You're still waiting on customers.

People said it was interesting, but "interesting" hasn't turned into paying customers. You're not sure whether the problem is the product, the pitch, the price, or the buyer. You suspect all four, and you don't have the bandwidth to untangle them while also building.

You're expanding, but the new market doesn't behave like the old one.

The thing that worked for your core business isn't converting in the new segment. Different buyers, different objections, different decision cycle. You know the opportunity is real but you can't prove it yet, and you're spending operational hours on something that hasn't earned them.

You're the founder, the sales team, and the closer.

Every deal runs through you. There's no pipeline underneath, no sequencing, no way to hand it off without the conversion rate collapsing. The thing you're best at building keeps not getting built because you're selling.

You've been told to "just hire a marketer."

You don't need a brand refresh or a demand gen contractor running campaigns into a market you haven't proven exists. You need someone upstream of all of that: which ten leads to talk to first, what to say, and how to structure the first deals so they generate revenue and proof at the same time.

Our Approach

Discovery

  • Ranked buyer list
  • Language they use
  • What they need to hear

Qualification

  • Pressure-tested shortlist
  • Passive interest vs. active intent
  • Quantify customer pain points

Pipeline

  • Sequenced conversion funnel
  • Outreach cadence
  • Partnerships that compound

Pilots

  • Revenue-structured agreements
  • Product or service feedback loops
  • Proof artifacts for funders

How It Works

Three engagements, each designed for a different stage of market proof.

Diagnostic

2 to 4 weeks

You walk away with a written brief: which market to pursue first, which to ignore, who the buyer is, and the competitive landscape around it. The brief is built from structured conversations with real buyers, not desk research.

Ideal for founders with a product direction who need sharper signal before committing resources into building a robust product or service offering.

Market Development

6 to 8 weeks

You walk away with the evidence that holds up in front of funders and buyers: letters of intent, pilot designs, buyer-language maps, and a market thesis backed by real conversations with customers. Anneal moves you from "we think there's demand" into "here's the proof".

Ideal for early-stage founders preparing for a raise of outside capital who need proof of demand, not a pitch deck.

Fractional GTM

3+ months

I carry the commercial motion so you can keep building. Pipeline development, channel partner enablement, outreach orchestration, and a weekly operating cadence. Customers come in. You keep building. No equity trade, no co-founder search.

Ideal for founders who need a commercial co-founder without trading ownership.

About

A decade of building zero-to-one, repeatedly.

Anneal is led by an operator who has spent the last decade leading commercial operations and programs across building electrification, small business development, and capital deployment. Anneal's method is rooted in the lessons learned from these experiences.

Those experiences:

  • Led program design and commercial strategy resulting in 130+ heat pump systems in the ground across a four-state playbook
  • Founded accelerator programs growing 30+ entrepreneurs
  • Secured paid pilots for Techstars-backed public benefit companies
  • Operated coworking space business to profitability by increasing revenues

Credentials

  • Head of Market DevelopmentHIVE OWNERSHIP
  • MBA, Haas + Master of City PlanningUC BERKELEY
  • Project Finance ModelingWALL STREET PREP
  • Building Science PrinciplesBPI CERTIFIED

Perspectives

Essays on building electrification and ownership economy markets.

Read Anneal's Perspectives

Contact

hello@withanneal.com

The first conversation is about whether the fit is real. No pitch, no follow-up sequence. Tell me what you're building.