Infrastructure is the foundation of modern civilization. Clean water flowing through pipes. Electricity powering cities. Networks connecting billions. Transportation moving goods and people. Yet despite infrastructure's $94 trillion global market, there's no transparent benchmark for evaluating the companies building its future.
That changes today.
## The Problem: Infrastructure Innovation Lacks Transparency
Traditional venture capital has clear signals. SaaS companies have MRR growth, user acquisition costs, and churn rates. Consumer apps have DAUs and viral coefficients. But infrastructure? The metrics that matter are different, and often invisible.
When a water technology startup claims 'pilot traction,' what does that actually mean? One municipality testing their system for three months, or twenty utilities with signed contracts? When an energy company touts 'regulatory progress,' are they navigating permitting bureaucracy, or do they have strategic partnerships with grid operators?
The infrastructure investing community operates on anecdotes, relationships, and opaque deal flow. Founders struggle to understand what 'good' looks like. Investors miss opportunities because there's no systematic way to identify rising stars. Industry partners can't efficiently scout innovation.
## What We're Building: The Goshen Index
The Goshen Index will be a transparent, data-driven scoring system for infrastructure innovation readiness. It will measure the factors that actually predict whether an infrastructure technology can scale from pilot to platform.
Our methodology focuses on five core dimensions: Pilot Traction (not just the number of pilots, but conversion rates from pilot to paying customer), Regulatory Progress (certifications obtained, strategic relationships with regulatory bodies), Partnership Depth (quality and engagement of strategic partners), Capital Efficiency (runway, burn rate, and revenue relative to capital raised), and Market Timing (alignment with policy tailwinds, technology maturation curves, and market readiness).
Each dimension will be scored on a 1-10 scale, with sector-specific adjustments. A water technology company's regulatory requirements differ from a telecom infrastructure play. The Index will account for these nuances.
## How We'll Do It: Building in Public
Here's what makes the Goshen Index different: we're building it transparently. Over the next 90 days, we're conducting 50 founder conversations across our six focus sectors: Energy, Transportation, Water & Sanitation, Telecommunication, Urban Infrastructure, and Agriculture. Each conversation will be documented and published as part of our Field Notes series.
We'll share what we learn. The patterns we see. The insights that surprise us. The methodology will evolve based on real data, not theoretical frameworks. By the end of Q1 2026, we'll publish Goshen Index Methodology v1.0 - a detailed framework that anyone can use to evaluate infrastructure innovation. By Q2, we'll release our first scored Index featuring the top infrastructure innovators across sectors.
This isn't a black box. We're inviting the infrastructure community to build this with us.
## Why This Matters
A transparent benchmark for infrastructure innovation creates value for everyone. For founders, it provides clear signals on what matters and a framework to communicate traction beyond vanity metrics. For investors, it offers systematic deal flow intelligence and early identification of companies gaining momentum. For industry partners, it enables efficient innovation scouting and data-driven partnership decisions. For the ecosystem, it increases capital flow to infrastructure innovation and accelerates deployment of technologies that improve lives.
## Join Us
We're interviewing 50 infrastructure founders in the next 90 days. If you're building technology in energy, water, transport, telecom, urban systems, or agriculture, we want to hear your story. Not just the polished pitch deck version. The real story. What's actually working. Where you're stuck. What metrics matter to your customers. How you're navigating procurement cycles, regulatory hurdles, and pilot-to-production challenges.
These conversations will shape the Goshen Index. Your insights will help define what 'good' looks like in infrastructure innovation.