Overview

CRWN.ai builds pole-mounted IoT sensors that predict transmission-line insulator failure before it becomes an outage or a wildfire ignition. The sensors read the electrical precursors to failure, corona, surface tracking, and arcing, on high-voltage lines. Indigenous-owned and based in Kelowna, BC, the company is advancing toward commercial production readiness.

The Challenge

CRWN's technology was field-validated, but the commercial engine was not. Marketing was ad hoc and founder-led with no research behind it. Sales ran on warm relationships with no repeatable motion. The company was not yet investor-ready, and the pathway to majority Indigenous ownership was not mapped.

Our Approach

ClimateDoor embedded as CRWN's external growth team across four streams. On sales, we built a repeatable playbook and outreach cadence and ran it into the Canadian transmission market. On marketing, we replaced founder instinct with a researched strategy: buyer and competitor analysis, three message pillars (wildfire prevention, grid reliability, asset monitoring), a LinkedIn voice system, a conference and events plan, and sales-ready materials. On capital, we rebuilt the pitch deck and stood up a full investor data room. On Indigenous partnerships, we mapped the ownership pathway toward 51%+ and opened conversations with mission-aligned nations and Indigenous capital.

Impact

CRWN now reads as commercial. It has 4 pilots secured, roughly $210K in pilot revenue secured, and 19 of Canada's 31 transmission utilities engaged, with 10 in active conversations. Part of that revenue is a secured pilot on Indigenous-owned assets, which links the customer story directly to the ownership story. Positioning has moved from generic monitoring to prediction, reading failure before it forms, and CRWN is showing up in the conferences and conversations where utilities and investors decide. The rebuilt deck and investor data room are in market, and the engagement is ongoing.