Corey Williams - 7 Exits and Counting

My guest today is Corey Williams, who is one of the most successful entrepreneurs in water. He has built and sold no less than seven companies, with his latest, SmartCover, selling to Badger Meter for $185 million at the start of 2025. Corey is one of the most thoughtful people I know on the art of sales, not only to utilities, but recognizing that great selling is primarily a function of listening and the accurate diagnosis of a customer's reality. His adherence to this principle of really getting to know people, taking their interests seriously - not his own - is at the core of why he's one of the most respected members of our industry. We get into dealing with the RFP process, building sales teams, the opportunity in the under-instrumentation of the collection network, and why sometimes the best management trick is to ask people to keep up - I'm not sure I could. Please enjoy my conversation with Corey Williams. Subscribe to The Fundamental Molecule here: https://www.burntislandventures.com/the-fundamental-molecule For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fundamental-molecule/id1714287205 \----------- Corey Williams leads corporate business development for Badger Meter, where he runs merger and acquisition strategy. He was previously President and CEO of SmartCover until its $185 million acquisition in 2025. A licensed Civil Engineer, Corey has built and sold seven companies, including Optimatics, and previously led technology departments for national engineering firms. He serves as Vice President of the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and is on its 2025-26 Board of Trustees. Corey believes in building sales teams on listening and education to solve the problems utilities actually face. 00:00 - Introduction 02:15 - How to Win Utility Buyers' Attention 06:56 - Master Customer Discovery Without Pitching 09:10 - Solving Workforce Challenges with Services 14:19 - Build Trust to Shorten Long Sales Cycles 17:06 - How to Sell Breakthrough Water Technology 20:18 - Why Water Utilities Are Great Customers 24:13 - How to Build High-Performing Water Teams 29:08 - Building Companies for a Successful Exit 35:07 - Exit Negotiation Tips Every Founder Needs 40:22 - How AI Will Transform Water Engineering 42:52 - The Biggest Opportunity in Water Infrastructure **Links:** Burnt Island Ventures: https://www.burntislandventures.com/ Corey Williams Badger Meter **SM Material** **Key Takeaways:** “This market is unbelievably polite and we don't like to tell people ‘no’, but what you're competing for is bandwidth and attention, not dollars.” “If I'm solving a problem you didn't know you had, now I'm really competing for new attention, and I have to frame that.” “If you have something that has some merit, you'd be amazed at how much the utilities are willing to actually help you.” “If you take that feedback and make the adjustments, you really learn something if you listen.” “Hire people smarter than you, at least in the respective areas that you need them. And more important than just hiring them, let them do it.”