To break into slow-moving hospitals, Aegis initially targeted smaller, more agile medical billing companies that serve them. This strategy builds a proven product and case studies with customers who have a direct need and faster sales cycles, creating a powerful entry point to the larger hospital systems.
Related Insights
Startups often fail to displace incumbents because they become successful 'point solutions' and get acquired. The harder path to a much larger outcome is to build the entire integrated stack from the start, but initially serve a simpler, down-market customer segment before moving up.
The world of Fortune 500 executives is a small, interconnected community. Rather than casting a wide marketing net, focus all energy on securing one key 'lighthouse' customer. Over-deliver value for them, even if the deal isn't profitable. Their endorsement and introductions to peers are more effective than any marketing channel.
When moving beyond your initial niche, target adjacent verticals. For example, a company serving realtors should target mortgage brokers next, not an unrelated field like lawn maintenance. This strategy maximizes the transfer of product features, market knowledge, and potential word-of-mouth.
Pursuing large "whale" customers for early validation is risky because they often come with heavy demands that can derail the product vision. Instead, seek out innovative, mid-level companies who are early adopters. They provide better feedback, and building traction with them opens doors to larger clients later.
In industries with long sales cycles like healthcare, early traction isn't about dozens of logos. For YC's Demo Day, Aegis focused on securing just one large medical billing company as a happy, paying customer. Deep engagement—evidenced by data sharing and product co-development—is a powerful early signal for investors.
Instead of pursuing large companies, elite sellers identify and focus on key business events, like mergers or new market entries, that create an urgent need for their product. This strategy shifts focus from account size to the probability of a timely need, leading to more efficient prospecting.
Jumping to enterprise sales too early is a common founder mistake. Start in the mid-market where accounts have fewer demands. This allows you to perfect the product, build referenceable customers, and learn what's truly needed to win larger, more complex deals later on.
Instead of failing with hard-to-reach C-suite targets, new reps should engage easier-to-access, adjacent personas (like insurance brokers). These conversations serve as low-stakes training, rapidly building the specific industry language and knowledge needed to credibly approach senior decision-makers.
Enterprises are comfortable buying services. Sell a service engagement first, powered by your technology on the back end, to get your foot in the door. This builds trust and bypasses procurement hurdles associated with new software. Later, you can transition them to a SaaS product model.
Briq accelerates enterprise sales by focusing on a small, specific pain point and securing an initial payment, however small. This 'land and expand' approach, centered on tangible micro-value, builds commitment and opens the door for larger deals, collapsing sales cycles.
