Heavy Industry Customer Discovery

A founder came to me today asking how to conduct customer in heavy industry (e.g., metals and mining, utilities). He went to a major conference in the water treatment space, learned a lot about the industry, but couldn't find the technical people he was looking for to answer some of his questions.

What's worked for you when you've faced a similar problem?

I recommended that he make sure to ask questions about team and org structure when he finds someone from an org he's interested in, and to target smaller, more technical conferences where engineers often congregate.