This week I was fortunate to join a panel in Manila to discuss problems faced in the region when scaling an AI startup, although many factors are also encountered by other internet startups, but with corporations being the core force in driving innovation in the Philippines, the conversation was very focused on how to sell to and how to sell within a corporate setting. Here are 3 major takeaways from the panel which took place on Wednesday:
1. Manage expectations: This is one of the most important aspects when entering a new project. AI is not magic, you don’t want to over sell and under deliver. Manage their expectations and be honest, let them know how long it’ll take to get clean, usable data and how long it’ll take to train the model at what accuracy. Nothing cancels the project faster than failing to deliver repeatedly.
2. Understand how decisions are made in the corporate setting: Every company make decisions differently, just because you are selling to corporates doesn’t mean they all make decisions the same way. Some might require the CEO to make the call, some might be CTO, sometimes the decision might lie within the unit. You need to spend time to understand how the decision is made and solve their concerns accordingly.
3. Sell with the upside and mitigate the downside: Profit and Loss (P&L) are a manager’s nightmare, try proposing to only take a portion of the profit you generate at first, this way you won’t hurt their bottom line. This is a great way to get the ball rolling and get buy in from decision makers to try out your solution. Once you proof you are able to generate significant upsides, you can also better position your future deal.
- Jack An
Analyst, AppWorks
