Enterprise buyers don't trust startups because of technical novelty. They trust personal relationships, founder reputation, and brand credibility. Creator-led applications work especially well because they signal expertise and let small companies win contracts with much larger organizations.
How does a startup sell to enterprise? I get this question a lot from Statechains because Statechains is heavily made up of people who are building startups, are mostly business-to-business. They know that the bigger money is to help the larger companies because there is more value to be created in being a multiplier when the company already has some kind of asset. So how do you do that? How do you get them to trust you and say this is what you want to do? And the key word in that sentence is you. They're not going to trust your product. Because your product is new, your technology is new, is innovative, maybe what's really cool about it, but it's not going to be the basis of trust. The question of trust is going to come from the relationship with you. It's going to come from your brand, your personal brand, your— the way that you have a relationship with them. That is the reason why creator-led apps are such an important part of the market. And when you look at it in business, you're going to find that people who are— products that are led by business experts are going to be the ones that have the trust, and that trust will allow them to be able to sell even though they're a small company to a big client.
