Ready to build your own Founder-Led Growth engine? Book a Strategy Call
Frontlines.io | Where B2B Founders Talk GTM.
Strategic Communications Advisory For Visionary Founders
Actionable
Takeaways
Start with Focus:
Threedy learned to narrow their sales approach from broad technological possibilities to specific use cases and sweet spots. B2B founders should identify and focus on their most compelling use cases rather than trying to sell all possible applications of their technology at once.
Timing Market Entry:
The company's experience with fundraising during the metaverse hype cycle demonstrates the importance of market timing. Christian shared how delaying fundraising by six months significantly impacted their ability to capitalize on market momentum. B2B founders should carefully consider market conditions and industry trends when planning major business moves.
Bridge Technical to Commercial:
As a technical founder, Christian learned to structure the sales organization with the same systematic approach used in software development. B2B founders should apply their domain expertise to sales processes while recognizing when specialized commercial leadership is needed.
Strategic Customer Base Expansion:
Starting with German automotive customers provided early validation, but Threedy recognized the need to diversify into new verticals and geographies. B2B founders should plan their expansion strategy to reduce dependency on any single industry or region.
Evolution of Sales Approach:
Threedy's early sales efforts were hindered by overwhelming prospects with technical complexity. They succeeded by simplifying their message and empowering sales teams to focus on specific use cases. B2B founders should ensure their sales narrative is accessible and actionable for their target buyers.
Conversation
Highlights
When most startups begin their journey, they typically start with an MVP and a handful of potential customers. Threedy took a different path: they started with 20 employees, existing customers, and technology that had already proven its value in the market. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Christian Stein, CEO and co-founder of Threedy, shared how they transformed a research project into a venture-backed company that’s raised $11.5 million to revolutionize industrial 3D infrastructure.
The Genesis: From Research to Revenue
Unlike typical startup origin stories, Threedy’s journey began at the Fraunhofer research organization, where Christian worked on computer graphics and software engineering. What started as a research project took an unexpected turn when they secured their first paying customer – four years before the company even existed.
“We got the first paying customer roughly four years before we founded the company, which was also kind of the trigger to decide that, hey, we got something here,” Christian explains. This early validation prompted them to consider commercializing their technology.
The Unconventional Spin-out
In 2021, Threedy executed an unusual spin-out, transferring an entire department of approximately 20 people from the research institute to the new company. This wasn’t a typical startup launch with a small founding team and a blank slate. Instead, they had to navigate complex relationships with existing customers while building new commercial capabilities.
“There’s a few things that are very special about the company,” Christian shares. “We had a preparatory phase where roughly four years, went through a lot of different programs before actually spinning out the company with all the legal restrictions and all the different stakeholders that need to be satisfied.”
The GTM Challenge: Simplifying Complexity
Threedy’s initial go-to-market approach revealed a critical challenge: they were overwhelming prospects with technical complexity. Coming from a research background, they assumed they could easily replicate their success working with early innovators at large automotive companies.
“Coming out of the institute, I think we thought that it’s going to be very easy to replicate that way of finding these people,” Christian reflects. “And when we hire the first guys for the sales to go out and share the vision and sell the technology, I guess we overburdened them with the complexity of talking to different ICPs.”
The breakthrough came when they realized they needed to streamline their message. “The core learning there was that over the first years now we kind of stripped it down into different core use cases, into sweet spots where we can deliver very strong values,” Christian explains.
Evolving Commercial Leadership
One of the most significant lessons from Threedy’s journey was recognizing when to bring in specialized commercial expertise. “The core decision was understanding and accepting that given all the understanding that we might have as founders, there’s a point in time when other expertise is required,” Christian shares.
This realization led to a significant restructuring of their commercial operations as part of their Series A funding, bringing in senior expertise to take the company to the next level.
Market Timing and Strategic Expansion
Threedy’s experience with fundraising highlights the importance of market timing. They delayed their fundraising by six months during the peak of the metaverse hype cycle, a decision that significantly impacted their ability to capitalize on market momentum.
Today, they’re focused on strategic expansion beyond their initial market. “Given that we have this historic core of the business with the German automotive, we decided that the core strategy focus for this year should be to win new logos outside of automotive and do our first internationalization,” Christian explains.
The Future Vision
Threedy’s vision extends beyond just providing industrial 3D technology. As Christian articulates, “The same way that over the past two decades maybe the Internet has become an everyday tool that you use on every device and anywhere, we think that the same is going to be true for 3D data.”
This vision positions Threedy at the intersection of several emerging trends: the increasing importance of 3D data, the rise of mixed reality applications, and the growing role of AI in industrial settings.
Key Takeaways for B2B Founders
Threedy’s journey offers several valuable lessons for B2B founders, particularly those commercializing complex technology:
- Early customer validation doesn’t guarantee easy sales scaling
- Technical complexity must be translated into clear, focused use cases
- Market timing can significantly impact fundraising success
- Commercial expertise is as crucial as technical excellence
- Strategic market expansion requires careful vertical selection
As the industrial world increasingly embraces 3D data and mixed reality applications, Threedy’s story demonstrates how deep tech startups can successfully bridge the gap between research innovation and commercial success.
Recommended Founder
Interviews
Patricia Thaine
Co-Founder & CEO of Private AI
Patricia Thaine, Co-Founder & CEO of Private AI: Over $11 Million Raised to Help Organizations Anonymize PII to Achieve Regulatory Compliance
Suman Kanuganti
How Personal AI scales enterprise contracts by selling to COOs and business users first | Suman Kanuganti ($16M Raised)
Aron Kirschen
CEO of SEMRON
Aron Kirschen, CEO of SEMRON: $7.3M Raised to Build Ultra-Efficient 3D AI Chips
Davit Baghdasaryan
Co-Founder and CEO of Krisp
Davit Baghdasaryan, Co-Founder and CEO of Krisp: $19 Million Raised to Build the Voice Productivity Category
David Reger
CEO of NEURA Robotics
David Reger, CEO of NEURA Robotics: €185M Raised to Power the Future of Cognitive Robotics
Joe Witt
CEO & Co-Founder of Datavolo
Joe Witt, CEO & Co-Founder of Datavolo: $21 Million Raised to Unlock the Potential of Unstructured Data for AI
Anand Kulkarni
CEO of Crowdbotics
Anand Kulkarni, CEO of Crowdbotics: $58 Million Raised to Power the Future of Rapid Application Development
Sercan Esen
CEO & Co-Founder of Intenseye
Sercan Esen, CEO & Co-Founder of Intenseye: $93 Million Raised to Transform Workplace Safety Through AI-Powered Computer Vision
Ashley Montanaro
CEO and Co-Founder of Phasecraft
Ashley Montanaro, CEO & Co-Founder of Phasecraft: $22 Million Raised to Build the Future of Quantum Software
Anand Gopalan
CEO and Co-Founder of Vayu Robotics
Anand Gopalan, CEO & Co-Founder of Vayu Robotics: $12.7 Million Raised to Build the Next Wave of Robotics Solutions
Ryan Alshak
CEO & Founder of Laurel
Ryan Alshak, CEO & Founder of Laurel: $55.7 Million Raised to Build the Future of Gen AI for Timekeeping
Krishna Gade
CEO & Founder of Fiddler
Krishna Gade, CEO & Founder of Fiddler: $68 Million Raised to Build the Future of AI Observability
Gabriel Bayomi Tinoco Kalejaiye
CEO and Co-Founder of Openlayer
Gabriel Bayomi, CEO and Co-Founder of Openlayer: $4.8 Million Raised to Power the Future of Machine Learning Testing
Vahan Petrosyan
CEO & Co-Founder of SuperAnnotate
Vahan Petrosyan, CEO & Co-Founder of SuperAnnotate: $53 Million Raised to Build the Future of AI Training Data Infrastructure
Jorge Penalva
CEO & Co-Founder of Lang AI
Jorge Penalva, CEO of Lang.ai: $40 Million+ Raised to Build the Customer Experience Operations Category
James O’Brien
Co-Founder & COO of Ducky AI
James O’Brien, Co-Founder & COO of Ducky: $2.7 Million Raised to Build Internal Data Search for LLMs
Nilo Rahmani
CEO & Co-Founder of Thoras AI
Nilo Rahmani, CEO & Co-Founder of Thoras AI: $6.5 Million Raised to Build the Future of AI-Powered Infrastructure Optimization
Malte Pietsch
CTO & Co-Founder of Deepset
Malte Pietsch, CTO & Co-Founder of Deepset: $45 Million Raised to Build the Future of LLMs
Chandini Jain
CEO & Co-Founder of Auquan
Chandini Jain, CEO & Co-Founder of Auquan: $8 Million Raised to Transform Financial Intelligence Through AI
Sauraj Gambhir
Co-Founder of Prior Labs
Sauraj Gambhir, Co-Founder of Prior Labs: $9 Million Raised to Build Foundation Models for Structured Data
Justin McCallon
CEO and Co-Founder of Callidus Legal AI
How Callidus scaled Google ads from 3 to 40 leads per day | Justin McCallon
Barbara Lewis
CMO of Coactive AI
The Siebel vs Salesforce Truth Every B2B Marketer Should Know
Ravin Thambapillai
CEO and Co-Founder of Credal
Ravin Thambapillai, CEO and Co-Founder of Credal: $5 Million Raised to Build the Future of AI Security
Darko Vukovic
CEO & Founder of PolyAPI
Darko Vukovic, CEO & Founder of PolyAPI: $5 Million Raised to Transform Enterprise Middleware Through Native Code Developm
Ofer Ronen
CEO & Co-Founder of Tomato.ai
Ofer Ronen, CEO & Co-Founder of Tomato.ai: $12 Million Raised to Build the Accent Softening Category
Phillip Liu
CEO of Trustero
Phillip Liu, CEO of Trustero: $8 Million Raised to Build the Future of Compliance AI
Tom Trowbridge
Co-Founder of Fluence Labs
Tom Trowbridge, co-founder of Fluence Labs: $9 Million Raised to Build the Future of Decentralized P2P Computing
David DeWolf
CEO & President of Knownwell
David DeWolf, CEO & President of Knownwell: $2 Million Raised to Build the Future of Commercial Intelligence
Deirdre Mahon
VP of Marketing of super{set}
Why Marketing Beats Sales Hiring at AI Startups
Rich Taylor
Vice President of Seek AI
Rich Taylor, VP of Marketing at Seek AI: $10.5 Million Raised to Transform Data Analysis with Generative AI
Alon Talmor
CEO & Founder of Ask-AI
Alon Talmor, CEO & Founder of Ask-AI: $20 Million Raised to Power the Future of Enterprise AI
David Plon
CEO & Co-Founder of Portrait Analytics
David Plon, CEO & Co-Founder of Portrait Analytics: $10M Raised to Build an AI-Powered Thought Partner for Institutional Investors
Damien Garot
Stellar of Stellar
Damien Garot, CEO & Co-Founder of Stellar: $9.3M Raised to Build the Future of Reliable Internet Connectivity for Autonomous Vehicles
Krish Ramineni
CEO of Fireflies
Krish Ramineni, CEO of Fireflies: $19 Million Raised to Build the Future of AI Meeting Assistants
Matt Theurer
CEO & Co-Founder of HyperSpectral
Matt Theurer, CEO & Co-Founder of HyperSpectral: $8.5 Million Raised to Power the Future of AI-Powered Spectral Intelligence
Jeong-Suh Choi
CEO of Bobidi
Jeong-Suh Choi, CEO Bobidi: Nearly $6 Million raised to Deliver Better, More Inclusive AI Solutions for Developers
Rick Bentley
Founder of Cloudastructure
Rick Bentley, Founder of Cloudastructure: $57 Million Raised to Build the Future of AI Video Surveillance
Bob van Luijt
CEO and Co-Founder of Weaviate
Bob van Luijt, CEO and Co-Founder of Weaviate: Over $67 Million Raised to Power the Future of Vector Databases
Meryem Arik
CEO & Co-Founder of Titan ML
Meryem Arik, CEO and Co-Founder of TitanML: $2.8 Million Raised to Revolutionize LLM Deployment
Jonathan Corbin
CEO & Co-Founder of Maven AGI
Jonathan Corbin, CEO and Co-Founder of Maven AGI: $28 Million Raised to Build the Future of Customer Experience
Douwe Kiela
CEO and Co-Founder of Contextual AI
Douwe Kiela, CEO and Co-Founder of Contextual AI: $20 Million Raised to Build the Future of Enterprise Language Models
Nikola Borisov
CEO & Co-Founder of Deep Infra
Nikola Borisov, CEO & Co-Founder of Deep Infra: $9 Million Raised to Build the Future of AI Model Hosting
Ryan Sevey
CEO of Mantium
Ryan Sevey, CEO of Mantium: $12 Million Raised to Help Teams Deploy and Monitor their AI Process Automations
Sud Bhatija
Co-Founder & COO of Spot AI
Sud, Co-Founder & COO of Spot AI: $93 Million Raised to Build Video AI Agents for the Physical World
Deon Nicholas
CEO & Co-Founder of Forethought
Deon Nicholas, CEO & Co-Founder of Forethought: $92 Million Raised to Power the Future of Customer Support with AI
Jonathan Dambrot
CEO and Founder of Cranium
Jonathan Dambrot, CEO and Founder at Cranium: $32 Million Raised to Power the Future of AI Security
Adi Bathla
CEO & Co-Founder of Revv
Adi Bathla, CEO & Co-Founder of Revv: $33 Million Raised to Power the Future of Auto Repair
Tony Zhang
Founder & CEO of Tera AI
Tony Zhang, Founder & CEO of Tera AI: $8M Raised to Build the Future of Robotics Operating Systems
Igor Jablokov
Chairman of Pryon
Igor Jablokov, Chairman of Pryon: $50+ Million Raised to Build the Future of Enterprise Knowledge Management
Amr Awadallah
CEO & Founder of Vectara
Amr Awadallah, CEO & Founder of Vectara: $53 Million Raised to Build the RAG-as-a-Service Category
Jonathan Schneider
CEO and Co-Founder of Moderne
Jonathan Schneider, CEO & Co-Founder of Moderne: $20 Million Raised to Build the Future of Code Remediation
William Gaviria Rojas
Field CTO & Co-Founder of CoactiveAI
William Gaviria Rojas, Field CTO & Co-Founder of CoactiveAI: $44 Million Raised to Build the Future of Multimodal AI Applications
Don Gossen
CEO & Founder of Nevermined
How Nevermined coined “AI commerce” in 2023 to create category language before market adoption | Don Gossen
Jorge Torres
CEO and Co-Founder of MindsDB
Jorge Torres, CEO and Co-Founder of MindsDB: $50 Million Raised to Enable Developers to Integrate Machine Learning into Applications
Johannes Peeters
Co-Founder & CEO of VoxelSensors
Johannes Peeters, Co-Founder & CEO of VoxelSensors: $7 Million Raised to Build the Future of Spatial Computing
Richard Potter
Co-Founder and CEO of Peak
Richard Potter, Co-Founder and CEO at Peak: $118 Million Raised to Power the Future of AI-Enabled Businesses
Jayashree Rajan
CMO of Nexla
From Engineer to CMO — Lessons From Jayashree Rajan’s Journey
Tanay Kothari
CEO and Co-Founder of Wispr Flow
How Wispr Flow manufactured viral moments by personally onboarding 500 users on Google Meet | Tanay Kothari ($56M Raised)
Roger Luo
Founder & Managing Partner of Embedding VC
Funding the Future: Roger Luo, Managing Partner at Embedding VC
Harry Xu
CEO and Co-Founder of Breeze ML
Harry Xu, CEO and Co-Founder of Breeze ML: $4.6 Million Raised to Create the Future of AI Governance
Alan Cowen
CEO and Founder of Hume AI
Alan Cowen, CEO and Founder of Hume AI: Over $17 Million Raised to Measure and Improve How Technology Affects Human Emotion
Inna Sela
CEO & Founder of illumex
Inna Tokarev Sela, CEO & Founder of illumex: $13 Million Raised to Power the Future of Enterprise LLM Deployments
Jason Corso
Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Voxel 51
Jason Corso, Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Voxel 51: $15.5 Million Raised to Build the Future of Developer Tools for Machine Learning
Daniele Grassi
CEO of Axyon AI
Daniele Grassi, CEO of Axyon AI: $5.5 Million Raised to Power the Future of Financial Markets with AI
Kostas Pardalis
Co-Founder & CEO of Typedef
Why Typedef starts go-to-market activities during the design partner phase instead of after | Kostas Pardalis ($5.5M Raised)
Alex Sambvani
CEO & Co-Founder of Slang AI
Alex Sambvani, CEO & Co-Founder of Slang AI: $20 Million Raised to Power the Future of Voice AI for Restaurants
Sumanyu Sharma
CEO & Founder of Hamming AI
How Hamming AI accidentally created a new category by focusing on customer problems instead of category creation | Sumanyu Sharma ($3.8M Raised)
Mike Conover
CEO & Co-Founder of Brightwave
Mike Conover, CEO & Co-Founder of Brightwave: $6M Raised to Build the Future of AI-Powered Investment Research
Linda Watkins
SVP of Marketing of Edge Impulse
The Founder Whisperer: A Marketing Leader’s Guide to Technical CEOs
Alex Levin
CEO & Co-Founder of Regal AI
Alex Levin, CEO & Co-Founder of Regal AI: $82 Million Raised to Transform Customer Communication with Voice AI