Product-market fit for a B2B company
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Product-market fit for a B2B company
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Re: Product-market fit for a B2B company
#2> Enterprises buy what other enterprises have already approved.
I understand why vendors believe this. But I had my share of purchasing discussions when I worked in Enterprise IT, and this was a factor in our decision-making literally zero times.
But we never told the sale guys that when they put a bunch of logos into a presentation. We smiled and nodded at all the crap they threw at us, and then promptly ignored 80% of it and discussed the 20% that really mattered behind closed doors once the sales guys had gone home. And most of the time, it was an analysis of many factors, including how well their capabilities matches our needs, whether their pricing was cheaper than the "build" option with internal talent, and how low-maintenance it would be. We loved buying solutions that affordably provided direct solutions to business needs that did not impact the work of IT department at all. That is why SaaS has taken over, BTW... not because the solutions are better that what could be built internally, but because it lets the internal IT shop just get rid of one problem, so they can spend their time on other problems.
That is truly how to hit product/market fit for an Enterprise product. Just make a problem disappear for the IT folks, and they'll buy.
Re: Product-market fit for a B2B company
#3> Enterprises buy what other enterprises have already approved. I understand why vendors believe this. But I had my share of purchasing discussions when I worked in Enterprise IT, and this was a factor in our decision-making literally zero times. But we never told the sale guys that when they put a bunch of logos into a presentation. We smiled and nodded at all the crap they threw at us, and then promptly ignored 80%…
I speak to a lot of enterprise buyers ands startups and it's definitely a major issue when it comes to buying products, especially from a startup.
There's a big difference between what a product does in theory vs in practice - and social proof is a big guiding factor for what it can do in practice.
Re: Product-market fit for a B2B company
#4> Enterprises buy what other enterprises have already approved. I understand why vendors believe this. But I had my share of purchasing discussions when I worked in Enterprise IT, and this was a factor in our decision-making literally zero times. But we never told the sale guys that when they put a bunch of logos into a presentation. We smiled and nodded at all the crap they threw at us, and then promptly ignored 80%…
Not necessarily the logos in the presentation, but I saw a lot of purchases where knowing someone who used the product in other similar companies was a decisive factor in the purchase. These meetings that you mention would almost always involve something in the lines of ”I will ping a friend on company X using this and check what they think of it”. Or the product was being considered in the first place because someone had worked on a company that used it or a friend working on another company have recommended it.
Re: Product-market fit for a B2B company
#5> Enterprises buy what other enterprises have already approved. I understand why vendors believe this. But I had my share of purchasing discussions when I worked in Enterprise IT, and this was a factor in our decision-making literally zero times. But we never told the sale guys that when they put a bunch of logos into a presentation. We smiled and nodded at all the crap they threw at us, and then promptly ignored 80%…
Agree with all of that, except that for some companies logos are used as a substitute for internal expertise.
Most people who know what they're about will also know that companies sometimes pay to have other companies use their product, just for the logo on the presentation. Or that it could just be used in one little local office of a multinational. Or that it's just shelfware, bundled with whatever it is they bought that they actually wanted.
Everyone else thinks, "Oh wow, X are using it? Must be good!" And it grabs those people as customers. And that's why it's done.
Re: Product-market fit for a B2B company
#6At my startup [0] it's still early days, but we're trying to use the Superhuman "engine" [1] for testing PMF. Basically this is a survey where you ask your users how disappointed they'd be if they couldn't use your product anymore, and if enough say "very disappointed", then you're on to something. By no means is it the only/best measure of PMF, but it's a data point.
1: https://firstround.com/review/how-superhuman-built-an-engine...
Re: Product-market fit for a B2B company
#7> Enterprises buy what other enterprises have already approved. I understand why vendors believe this. But I had my share of purchasing discussions when I worked in Enterprise IT, and this was a factor in our decision-making literally zero times. But we never told the sale guys that when they put a bunch of logos into a presentation. We smiled and nodded at all the crap they threw at us, and then promptly ignored 80%…
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Re: Product-market fit for a B2B company
#8> Enterprises buy what other enterprises have already approved. I understand why vendors believe this. But I had my share of purchasing discussions when I worked in Enterprise IT, and this was a factor in our decision-making literally zero times. But we never told the sale guys that when they put a bunch of logos into a presentation. We smiled and nodded at all the crap they threw at us, and then promptly ignored 80%…
> cheaper than the "build" option with internal talent
I'm curious how that gets evaluated, is it more of a ballpark estimate or is there a more formal process involving engineering teams providing time and effort estimates?
Re: Product-market fit for a B2B company
#9At my startup [0] it's still early days, but we're trying to use the Superhuman "engine" [1] for testing PMF. Basically this is a survey where you ask your users how disappointed they'd be if they couldn't use your product anymore, and if enough say "very disappointed", then you're on to something. By no means is it the only/best measure of PMF, but it's a data point. 0: https://kitemaker.co 1: https://firstround.com…
In your experience, how does that compare to measuring continual "use" of your product, like churn, cohort tracking, and others?
From the linked article, I'd say the "what's missing" question is perhaps the best signal, if customers list tons of missing things yet continue using the product despite those shortcomings, as measured by usage stats for instance, then you know you not only have PMF but also the beginnings of a lock on the market.
Re: Product-market fit for a B2B company
#10> Enterprises buy what other enterprises have already approved. I understand why vendors believe this. But I had my share of purchasing discussions when I worked in Enterprise IT, and this was a factor in our decision-making literally zero times. But we never told the sale guys that when they put a bunch of logos into a presentation. We smiled and nodded at all the crap they threw at us, and then promptly ignored 80%…
Sounds like The Chasm [0] to me. Conservative early majority people are by definition the majority and in enterprises probably even more so.