Breaking through to the enterprise buyer 

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When selling AI-powered solutions to enterprise buyers, particularly at the application layer, there are several critical factors to consider in order to find product-market fit (PMF) and scale effectively. Even in the age of AI when everything seems new, there are fundamentals that can’t be overlooked.

Just as innovation within AI is accelerating, so too is the maturity and education of the buyer prompting them to focus on the key areas listed below. While your solution may be better than the existing products, it needs to meet enterprise buyers’ criteria on multiple dimensions to succeed.

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1. Aligns user feedback with strategic AI initiatives

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While your early users may provide feedback that your solution is “better,” that doesn’t guarantee it will get approval from buyers or trigger a purchasing decision. Confirm that your solution directly aligns with the company’s top-level strategic objectives. Understand what matters to executives and make sure that your solution ties into their broader vision and business goals, rather than just addressing operational pain points for a particular set of users.

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2. Accelerates growth

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While efficiency improvements are valuable, enterprises are largely driven by growth goals. Your solution must demonstrate how it contributes to expanding the business, increasing revenue, or capturing market share. Solutions that focus on achieving measurable growth outcomes — whether through automation, data insights, or scalability — are far more likely to resonate with decision-makers.
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3. Provides a domain-specific workflow
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That being said, to drive adoption, your solution must deeply understand and align with the user’s needs and workflows. This is why at Unusual Ventures, we often back founders with a unique insight and deep domain knowledge of an industry through past work experience. An intuitive, easy-to-use interface and smooth integration with existing systems are essential to reduce friction and ease the process of switching from an incumbent. If your solution requires significant change management or training, it can delay or even prevent adoption. Prioritize simplicity, and accessibility, and ensure that your product feels like a seamless extension of the user’s daily tasks.
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4. Battles the inertia of established workflows
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A solution that is “better” than the incumbent (either third-party or home-grown) may not be enough to displace a current system. Founders often hear positive feedback from early users and they automatically assume a commercial deal is going to materialize soon. Unfortunately, this is only part of the battle. Many enterprises continue using “good enough” solutions due to the inertia of established workflows, integration with existing tools, or the perceived risk of switching. To catalyze change, your solution must uniquely address a strong enough pain point — something that outweighs the cost or effort of switching from the status quo.

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5. Understands the organization’s partner/vendor strategy
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Enterprises have to be selective about the new partnerships they form each year and they are often looking to reduce the number of external partners. Understand your ideal customer profile (ICP) and assess whether they prefer best-of-breed tools in specific areas or if they are looking for broader, integrated solutions. Consider how your product can interoperate with other systems, and whether your offering should/can expand to meet additional needs within the organization as your relationship matures.

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‍Lars Albright is a 3X founder of enterprise software companies. He sold his last two companies to Apple and MasterCard, respectively. His last startup, SessionM, was a pioneer in customer engagement and loyalty for leading Fortune 500 brands. As a partner at Unusual Ventures, Lars leads investments across fintech and vertical SaaS. To hear more about his third startup, SessionM, check out the Startup Field Guide podcast on Apple and Spotify.

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