Ask HN: Startup, how to get companies to take you seriously?

#1

Post by wizwit999 » Tue, May 18, 2021, 8:18 AM UTC

So I'm starting a startup. Its just me and my brother in our apartment really. I have a good idea of what to do and am currently building a prototype/MVP.

I'm running into in issue, as I need to integrate with some enterprise-y type APIs for parts of my product and I can't seem to get ahold of sales/anyone. My emails/contacts go unanswered.

I am sending from my personal email so I wonder if that's the issue. I'm pretty early so haven't set up a landing page etc. I was thinking to grab a domain with any name / set up a simple webpage to just appear as 'a company' ?

Anyone been through this, any tips?

Re: Ask HN: Startup, how to get companies to take you seriously?

#2

Post by op03 » Tue, May 18, 2021, 9:51 AM UTC

Depends on the org. It definitely makes a diff to look professional.

Keep at it. Thats the secret. With covid everyone has their hands full. If you are that guy who shows up every 2 days for a month or two someone will remember you and decide to respond. Otherwise the chance of forgetting about you and your mail within 2 minutes is quite high inside a busy workplace.

Best way ofcourse, is to get someone you know to put you in touch with someone inside. Then you spend time circulating till you find someone with authority to take the decision. Unless you are extremely lucky or your project is extremely interesting the whole process can take months (depending on what type of data it is).

Re: Ask HN: Startup, how to get companies to take you seriously?

#3

Post by nowherebeen » Tue, May 18, 2021, 10:10 AM UTC

To sell to enterprise you kind of have to have an existing network for introductions. They get tons of cold emails and phone calls everyday.

Re: Ask HN: Startup, how to get companies to take you seriously?

#4

Post by FrankLicea » Tue, May 18, 2021, 1:32 PM UTC

I recommend you setup a landing page and get your own custom email domain. Doesn't take long, it's cheap to do, and will help move one one level above the random spam emails employees at large enterprises get.

Even then, having your emails being ignored is pretty standard, just from previous experience I'd expect to send out hundreds of emails before getting any kind of response, so a warm introduction if you can get one is much faster.

Re: Ask HN: Startup, how to get companies to take you seriously?

#5

Post by bwb » Tue, May 18, 2021, 1:37 PM UTC

I've had this issue, I've literally gone months without a reply when trying to buy access to an API for $1,000 a month... i don't know either... it def showed they are not a place to do business.

Re: Ask HN: Startup, how to get companies to take you seriously?

#6

Post by TuringNYC » Tue, May 18, 2021, 1:41 PM UTC

- Set up a domain with a landing page, or ideally a one-page company site. Explain what you are building/selling.

- When reaching out, reach out to the "VP of Partnerships"

- Seek warm intros via people you already know

Re: Ask HN: Startup, how to get companies to take you seriously?

#7

Post by tashoecraft » Tue, May 18, 2021, 1:50 PM UTC

What my last company did was to find any way to integrate with the apis without contacting them. Throttle and cache calls to avoid hitting limits, use web scrapping to access any data you can to avoid restrictions. Some companies may never interact with you whilst you are small. But if your customer is also their customer you might be able to make headway, and if you can onboard without the relationship then it may lead to one

Re: Ask HN: Startup, how to get companies to take you seriously?

#8

Post by jrockway » Tue, May 18, 2021, 1:52 PM UTC

nowherebeen wrote: post #3

To sell to enterprise you kind of have to have an existing network for introductions. They get tons of cold emails and phone calls everyday.

I think the OP wants to buy, not sell. I have never had the experience of not getting at least a 30 minute meeting with someone I've wanted to buy from.

Re: Ask HN: Startup, how to get companies to take you seriously?

#9

Post by aminozuur » Tue, May 18, 2021, 1:53 PM UTC

Cold emailing people has an incredibly low success rate. Though getting a professional looking website and email address might help.

The emails often end up at some assistant who's afraid to bother the big boss. If you can, try to get in direct contact with people who call the shots, and ask them to take a 10 min meeting or phone call.

Re: Ask HN: Startup, how to get companies to take you seriously?

#10

Post by throw14082020 » Tue, May 18, 2021, 1:55 PM UTC

I've gotten emails from random people/ companies in the past. They found my name on LinkedIn and proceed to spam firstname.lastname@company.domain

These get ignored first time round. Second time they get marked as spam. Third time onwards, well I just get a bit annoyed. But I never reply. I should probably try to block that email straight up.

For example, I've received emails from someone every Monday for 5 weeks in a row. And then a few weeks of silence, and then a "circle back on this" email, followed by another few weeks of emails.