Ep. 200 Samuel Rabinowitz, CEO at LANTANA LED | Data Center Go-to-Market Podcast

So to kick things off, what would you say is the biggest go-to-market challenge, the biggest GTM challenge that companies like Lantana LED are currently facing in the data center industry?

I think that the biggest challenge is that there is a very serious knowledge and relationship gap.

Tom Ozden- People have now heard of data centers you know versus five years ago when.

Tom Ozden- Nobody really knew what a data Center was but there's been so much negative publicity, as well as positive publicity about.

Tom Ozden- All of the incredible projects that are going on right now all the money that's being invested in these data centers.

And I think people have heard that this is an interesting market when it comes to whatever product that they are selling, whatever type of business that they have.

And they think, oh, we're going to treat this just like any other project, just like any other construction project, just like any other product.

We have exactly what we need right off the shelf.

It's going to be perfect for the data center market.

And I think that there's a fundamental knowledge gap there, which is that data centers really are different and that the data center market really is different than previous types of construction, than previous types of application of products.

There are different inherent demands in a data center.

There's a different operating environment in a data center than there is in, say, a typical warehouse or an office building, per se.

It's just a very different environment.

And I think that people don't really understand that there's a cognitive dissonance about, you know, really say, okay, well, it must be the same as what I've been doing for the past 10, 15, 20 years.

Incorrect.

It's a different market.

It's approached a different way.

It has different demands.

And I think as well, that goes to relationships as well.

You know, that there is a, a very serious gap in terms of somebody entering into the data center market and assuming that they have all the relationships that they need from all of their previous 25, 30 years of experience with, you know, another type of construction or another type of market.

It's a different beast.

It's a different group of people who are really driving this.

And it takes a different, you know, it takes a different mentality and a different way of approaching the market and building those relationships over time, as opposed to just assuming you're going to have the same set relationships that you had before and assuming that that's going to work time in time out and data center market that you're new to.

Yeah, super interesting to hear you bring up the idea of relationships and the first cousin trust.

I've observed there's a local data center development project in my region and in South Florida, the Metro West Palm Beach area called Project Tango.

So to kick things off, what would you say is the biggest go-to-market challenge, the biggest GTM challenge that companies like Lantana LED are currently facing in the data center industry?

I think that the biggest challenge is that there is a very serious knowledge and relationship gap.

Tom Ozden- People have now heard of data centers you know versus five years ago when.

Tom Ozden- Nobody really knew what a data Center was but there's been so much negative publicity, as well as positive publicity about.

Tom Ozden- All of the incredible projects that are going on right now all the money that's being invested in these data centers.

And I think people have heard that this is an interesting market when it comes to whatever product that they are selling, whatever type of business that they have.

And they think, oh, we're going to treat this just like any other project, just like any other construction project, just like any other product.

We have exactly what we need right off the shelf.

It's going to be perfect for the data center market.

And I think that there's a fundamental knowledge gap there, which is that data centers really are different and that the data center market really is different than previous types of construction, than previous types of application of products.

There are different inherent demands in a data center.

There's a different operating environment in a data center than there is in, say, a typical warehouse or an office building, per se.

It's just a very different environment.

And I think that people don't really understand that there's a cognitive dissonance about, you know, really say, okay, well, it must be the same as what I've been doing for the past 10, 15, 20 years.

Incorrect.

It's a different market.

It's approached a different way.

It has different demands.

And I think as well, that goes to relationships as well.

You know, that there is a, a very serious gap in terms of somebody entering into the data center market and assuming that they have all the relationships that they need from all of their previous 25, 30 years of experience with, you know, another type of construction or another type of market.

It's a different beast.

It's a different group of people who are really driving this.

And it takes a different, you know, it takes a different mentality and a different way of approaching the market and building those relationships over time, as opposed to just assuming you're going to have the same set relationships that you had before and assuming that that's going to work time in time out and data center market that you're new to.

Yeah, super interesting to hear you bring up the idea of relationships and the first cousin trust.

I've observed there's a local data center development project in my region and in South Florida, the Metro West Palm Beach area called Project Tango.