Thing Company is led by Harinderpal (Hans) Hanspal, who has worked on one commercial problem as each new technology arrived: good technology that does not convert. He has seen it as an operating executive building the commercial model, as a founder selling one, and as an investor underwriting other people's.
The failure looked the same from every seat: the technology works, the buyer was never tested, and by the time that shows, the money is committed.
Harinderpal Hanspal, Founder and Principal. He writes every paper, insight and field note on this site, and the byline on each one links here. → Harinderpal Hanspal on LinkedIn · → The papers · → Field notes · → Insights
Started in computing infrastructure: mainframes, then Unix and high-availability client-server systems.
Then network, billing and value-added services systems for wireless carriers, through two mobile transitions: analog to digital, then 2G to 2.5G and 3G. At an enterprise infrastructure company, part of the move from selling hardware into the customer's data center to delivering it as a service. That went first through service providers, then to cloud, where the provider answers for the outcome instead of the customer's IT team. At that company's first cloud business, on the founding commercial team, selling white-label subscription backup through carriers and device makers, billed on the partner's bill.
Today, leads industry solutions for an industrial IT and automation group that builds its own software, resells other vendors', integrates control systems, machine vision and robots, and runs implementation and managed services. Current roles are disclosed in writing before any engagement they could affect.
Co-founded a subscription and usage billing company and ran its commercial organization from founding through exit: pricing, packaging, partnerships, channel and market entry.
Five years as a partner at an industrial venture capital firm, doing commercial and technical diligence from seed through Series A. Directly responsible for eight portfolio companies across go-to-market, including each strategic partner's channel program (deal registration, market development funds and rebates), fundraising, executive hiring and board matters. Their products run in plants and in the field: robotics and autonomous navigation, adaptive control for robot arms, autonomous agriculture, machine vision and defect detection, bioprocess AI for pharma, industrial asset monitoring, and sensor hardware and precision positioning. Two were acquired.
Board member at one of them through its acquisition, and at an industrial AI company. Earlier, an advisory board member at a technology company.
At an enterprise software vendor, part of the shift from perpetual licenses to recurring revenue: an open-source software platform became a subscription business. The questions: what enterprises would pay for in software their developers had already downloaded free, from early preview to enterprise adoption, and what they would pay every year instead of once.
At the billing company, customer discovery tested who needed usage billing enough to pay for it, and found the market in industrial enterprises. The company passed 100 customers and was acquired by its first channel partner.
There, led monetization, developer onboarding and customer development for an industrial internet platform, with subscription, pay-per-use and pay-per-outcome models. The work spanned several industrial sectors and resolved a pricing conflict that had stalled revenue for both the platform and its applications.
In the current role, led the buyer discovery that took a new industrial software product from concept to a first customer engagement in four weeks.
Seven category names, and none retired. Underneath them, the buying process has stayed put: a committee, separate capital and operating approvals, and several functions that can each say no.
So Thing Company is positioned on the buyer and how the buyer decides, not on whichever category name is current.
Each engagement is led by a senior practitioner matched to the sector and the decision: Harinderpal Hanspal, or an industrial technology expert from a network built across these transitions. Every lead works to the same evidence standard and stays on the engagement to the verdict. Scope, deliverables and the fee are fixed before the engagement begins. The practice stays small on purpose, so each engagement has its lead's attention from scoping to the verdict. → The evidence standard · → Harinderpal Hanspal on LinkedIn
A reshoring story prompted a year studying how US manufacturing works: its events, its institutes and its regional networks. It led to a published three-part research series. Everything since has been industrial.
Founded and co-organizes IoT Hub, a Seattle community for industrial technology, AI, and operational systems. → The community
Mentor in the Manufacturing stream at CDL-Seattle, the Creative Destruction Lab hosted by the University of Washington, since 2022.
Papers on validating industrial technology, from multi-site rollouts and servitization to agentic and physical AI. Chapter author of The Open Manufacturer (Springer). Inventor on a US patent for cloud services business management. → The papers
BSc with Honours in Mathematics and Computational Science, University of Leeds. Graduate exchange in business administration and computer science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Harinderpal Hanspal, Founder and Principal, leads Thing Company. Each engagement is led by a senior practitioner matched to the sector and the decision: Harinderpal Hanspal, or an industrial technology expert from a network built across these technology transitions. Every lead works to the same evidence standard and stays on the engagement to the verdict, and the practice stays small on purpose.
He has worked on one commercial problem as each new technology arrived: good technology that does not convert. He has seen it as an operating executive building the commercial model, as a founder who co-founded a subscription and usage billing company and ran its commercial organization through exit, and as a partner at an industrial venture capital firm doing commercial and technical diligence from seed through Series A.
No. There is no equity, referral fee or vendor compensation in any company Thing Company assesses. The fee is fixed at scoping and does not vary with the verdict, and any prior or concurrent relationship is disclosed in writing before the engagement begins. The method page sets out the independence commitments in full.
A small number a year, and only where nothing else the practice or its lead is involved in could bear on the verdict. Where there is a conflict, Thing Company says so before scoping and, where it can, points to someone who fits. That is how each engagement keeps its lead's attention from scoping to the verdict.
Yes. He has written papers on validating industrial technology, from multi-site rollouts and servitization to agentic and physical AI, and they are free on the papers page. He is also chapter author of The Open Manufacturer (Springer) and an inventor on a US patent for cloud services business management.
One conversation on the hypothesis.
Or reach us directly at hello@thing.company