One of the biggest challenges for any startup is to come up with a concise, yet compelling answer to the question: “Why does your company deserve my attention?” (the elevator pitch). This answer is simple when your solution replaces an existing one. People have a strong understanding of what it is, what it does, and they even have a budget line item for it.
Everything changes when you’re introducing a new concept to the market. It doesn’t fit in any one well-understood category. In a way, it’s in a category of its own. However, it solves an existing problem differently. It is the same and different. It is better. It doesn’t replace the old ways but improves the overall solution so much that it adds real business value.
Our Pipers® solution is an example of this. In each of the different sectors where we are active – oil & gas, water & wastewater, and mining – there are highly specific solutions typically focused on solving one challenge, e.g. leaks, wall thickness, or mapping deposits. We don’t want to replace those tools; we operate alongside those solutions, improving overall pipeline integrity management.
Our goal is to collect information on all aspects that impact pipeline safety and make this independent of pipeline diameter and fluid (or sector). This approach allows our clients to get full visibility across all their pipeline assets, which enables better decision making about how to manage pipeline integrity as a whole and take action when and where needed.
- The pipeline integrity program is the computer,
- The Pipers® solution is the operating system, and
- The dedicated pipeline integrity solutions (e.g. MFL, eddy current, ultrasonic) are the programs running on top of the operating system.
This analogy works for us because the operating system on a computer helps the programs interact with the computer hardware. In a similar way the Pipers® solution data feeds the pipeline integrity program with the information about which dedicated pipeline integrity solution (if any) is required, or which action is needed to maintain pipeline safety and efficiency.
Having used this term for a while, we recognize it only works if the audience can immediately draw the parallel. If not, we need to take it one step further. In this case, our mission statement takes the description one step further: “We provide full visibility across the global pipeline infrastructure ensuring pipeline safety and efficiency.”.
Getting to this description has been a long and intense road. In the next couple of months, we are going to see if it supports our growth. We will continue to learn what works, what doesn’t and, if necessary, we’ll get back to the drawing board.
