Stop doing pilots without discussing the end deal.
Stop “testing waters” if you never intended to swim.
Stop taking “small steps” if you never intended to travel.
I came across this article on how a startup struggled to do business with large corporates because they never had any intention to, or at least could not figure out how to.
“By the end I was a pilot master — I knew exactly how to sell a pilot to a bank. We could have built a business just out of doing pilots — but that’s obviously not what we had set out to do, says Nielsen.”
“Often the pitch days and accelerators were attended only by very junior employees on the bank’s side, none of whom would have any power to make decisions.”
What a painful reality.
Are we just paying lip service to innovation and not really planning to do anything about it?
I recognize that it is hard for employees in corporates to handle their stakeholders, persuade management, deliver results and move as fast as the startups do, but how do we really improve all of that?
On the one hand, you can’t fault the corporates for trying.
On the other hand, it is inherently unfair for the startups who are trying to survive.
Then again, there are always two sides to any story.
To all my B2B founders out there, hang in there and be patient.
Consistency and smart work will pay off eventually.
What do you think?
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