Dear SaaStr: How Can an Early Stage SaaS Startup Get its First 1-3 Pilot Fortune 500 Paying Customers?
Getting your first Fortune 500 paying customers is not magic or a mystery, although it may seem that way until you’ve achieved it yourself.
There are essentially two paths to follow, along with one crucial step:
The crucial step is that your product must excel in at least one important aspect that is significantly better (10x better) than existing “enterprise” solutions.
This one aspect must be so superior that it is worth the risk for a larger company to try your product instead of relying on established solutions like Salesforce, Oracle, Microsoft, etc.
If your product doesn’t offer this level of improvement, no one will take the risk.
It’s not necessary for every aspect of your product to be 10x better, just one key aspect of it.
In addition, the risk involved must be manageable.
Large companies aren’t going to replace their current systems with your product on a whim. The risk needs to be contained and limited to a small group or a specific business function.
So, even if your product has limited features, security issues, and bugs, as long as it excels in one important area, has a manageable risk, and can be tried without significant consequences, you have a chance (even if the competition is using paper or Excel).
Now, how do you go about attracting these customers?
You have the option of outbound or inbound strategies.
You can reach out to potential customers through calls or emails (which is how I acquired my first Fortune 500 client in my first startup).
Alternatively, you can wait for them to come to you. Industry tradeshows are effective for this purpose, as top buyers attend these events to discover new emerging vendors. Additionally, a strong PR strategy or participating in CIO-style pitch competitions can also attract attention from potential Fortune 500 customers.
