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As a startup looking to transform an industry or launch a new technology, your focus is on the long-term success of your product and brand. If you are ROI focused and want to instantly determine your products validity and scalability, you probably use the prooV Pilot-as-a-Service platform in order to connect with decision makers of large-scale enterprises and instantly gain access to their secure infrastructure in order to launch a PoC (and if not, you should!).
Being part of a PoC marketplace is a win-win-win for you, your tech team, and your potential enterprise partner! Since prooV does the heavy lifting where integration is concerned, all your tech team has to do is integrate one time with the secure prooV cloud in order to access dozens of enterprise calls for PoCs.
Not only does this reduce your costs and minimize the time wasted on futile integrations, but it puts the focus back on your technology and increases the chances of completing a successful PoC with a large scale enterprise; something that is important for your growth strategy, potential investment funds and long term growth as a company.
However, as the person in charge of business development, that’s only the start of your journey towards long term success. Completing a successful PoC is not enough – you need to take your success and leverage it into future goals.
So how can you do that? Here are four things you can do to leverage a successful PoC into long-term success:
1. Heighten the Buzz with PR
If you successfully completed a PoC, you probably want to shout it out from the rooftops, and guess what – you should! Completing a successful PoC with a large scale-enterprise is buzzworthy news and you should treat it as such.
Successfully meeting the needs of an enterprise shows that your product is not just good because you say it is – you have proof that it works – and this could be exciting news for your entire industry.
Working with a PR company or having press contacts on hand to share this knowledge with is a great way to improve your brand identity and to strengthen your position in the market as a leader in your industry. Package your success in the sexiest way to sell it to everyone you can. The more buzz you get, the longer people will remember your brand!
2. Keep Your Foot in the Enterprise-Door
Once you successfully prove your product on an enterprises eco-system, you have a foot in the door – now you need to work hard to open that door wide open for future collaborations.
The first thing you should do is ensure that your communication lines with the decision makers at the enterprise remains open. If you took advantage of the prooV platform, you were able to directly communicate with a key decision maker about the particular PoC; now you need to broaden the spectrum and work on building a relationship with that enterprise.
If you already have one successful PoC, there is a much higher chance of continuing to collaborate and see if your product can meet additional needs that enterprises may have. Focus hard on building a relationship – you never know where it can take you down the road.
3. Share the Success With Investors
As a startup, your investors are never really far from your mind. Since their investment was based on the belief that they would gain a high return, showing that your hard work is gaining success is proof that your product is on the rise and you are one step closer to gaining them the return they sought.
If you are looking towards another investment round, it will be a lot easier for you to tap existing and potential investors for funds after you have a successful PoC behind you. Not only can you use this to increase your valuation and keep more equity, but you can also use this to alter your future projections and see how you can bring your product to positive ROI sooner rather than later.
4. Get More Enterprises On Board with Your Product
Unless you successfully completed a PoC with the first enterprise you ever spoke to, chances are you have a list of potential enterprises that your product would be a great fit for and that you would love to collaborate with.
After completing a successful PoC, it’s time to dust up that list and start making calls, sending emails and reaching out, only this time your message has changed. After a successful PoC, you are no longer asking enterprises to take a risk with your product, but rather inviting them to enjoy your product – just as another enterprise is already doing. This simple validation is a great way to leverage the success of a single PoC into additional enterprise level collaborations.
