KEY TAKEAWAYS
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Large organizations often have good reasons to purchase from startups and growth-stage companies: specialized expertise, new technology, greater responsiveness, and innovative solutions large suppliers may not offer. Yet, while interest can be entirely genuine, the buyer’s obligations — to boards, shareholders, regulators, customers, oversight bodies, taxpayers and the public — remain. They shape how organizations spend money, manage risk, protect information and demonstrate that decisions are responsible and defensible.
Forrester’s 2024 research found that an average of 13 people are involved in a B2B buying decision and 86% of purchases stall during the buying process.² More recently, 6sense found that buyers make first contact with sellers around 61% of the way through the buying journey. As an opportunity progresses, procurement, security, privacy, legal, finance, technology, operations and other functions may become involved, each looking at the proposed purchase through a different lens.
Those figures help explain why strong interest and a stalled decision are not contradictory.
of the purchase process occurs before
seller engagement.¹
people are involved in the average
buying decision.²
of B2B purchases stall during the buying process.²
A deal can have an enthusiastic champion and no determined opponent, and still stop moving because the combined uncertainty and exposure become too difficult to carry. The stall is often cumulative: no single issue is fatal, but each unanswered question adds uncertainty until the decision becomes harder to support internally.
A buyer cannot simply suspend its security standards because it likes the technology, or bypass procurement because the founder is impressive. It cannot accept unclear liability because the solution is innovative. A promising opportunity therefore becomes a security questionnaire, insurance request, procurement assessment, implementation review and several rounds of redlines - questions raised by people who were not part of the original conversation.
None of those mean the buyer has lost interest. The buyer is not looking for a risk-free supplier. It is looking for evidence that the seller understands the risks it is asking the buyer to accept and has a credible way to contain them.
The purchase now has to survive scrutiny.
Before interest, the seller is proving relevance. After interest, the seller is proving readiness.
Growth companies do not always recognize that shift. Early conversations tend to center on the product, the problem and the potential outcome. Once the opportunity becomes real, the buyer begins examining the business behind the product: its controls, financial resilience, delivery capability, service model, technical environment and ability to meet enterprise obligations.
The resulting requests can appear disconnected—a security questionnaire, proof of insurance, compliance credentials, implementation detail, service levels, staffing assumptions or changes to the commercial terms. They are not. Each is part of the same underlying assessment: what will the buyer be exposed to if the seller cannot perform as promised?
Assurances may be sincere, but they still leave the buyer carrying the risk.
A credible plan shows what exists today, what still needs to be done, who owns it, when it will be complete and what evidence will demonstrate progress. It also makes the remaining assumptions and dependencies visible.
What the buyer needs will vary. In some cases, a defined plan may be enough. In others, the buyer will expect an operating capability, tested control or evidence that can withstand scrutiny.
There is no universal standard for being “enterprise ready.” Requirements change with the buyer, use case, geography, data involved, service criticality and procurement model. Readiness therefore starts with the buyers you intend to serve. Define the ideal customer profile, understand the conditions those buyers are likely to impose, and assess the current position against them.
The objective is not maximum maturity everywhere. It is to identify where gaps could affect buyer confidence, approval, timing or deal economics before they become friction in a live opportunity.
In practice, scrutiny tends to concentrate across nine recurring areas. The level of readiness required in each will depend on the buyer, use case and deal. Hover over the cards to see what the buyer may be testing.
Security, Privacy
& Compliance
Procurement & Assurance Evidence
References &
Case Studies
Contract Baseline & Risk Apportionment
Commercial Structure & Pricing
Implementation Planning
Delivery &
Support Readiness
Service Continuity & Resilience
Governance & Accountability
Not every gap deserves the same response. Some issues can block approval, whereas some exposure may be commercially reasonable to accept.
The practical question is: Where does action have the greatest potential gain?
The objective is not to eliminate scrutiny. It is to reduce avoidable friction before it enters a live deal by strengthening the evidence, capabilities, commercial positions and operating arrangements most likely to matter to the buyers you want to win. That means looking beyond the size of a gap to consider its likely impact on approval, how long it will take to address, and what it could mean for timing, margin, delivery and contractability.
Reducing that friction also makes the decision easier for the buyer to carry internally. The strongest sellers do more than persuade the person in front of them; they give procurement, risk, legal, finance, technology and operations fewer reasons to stop — and greater confidence in the commitment being made.
Some constraints will remain outside the seller’s control: a budget freeze, leadership change, shifting priorities or procurement delay. Others are addressable: missing evidence, unsupported commitments, unclear implementation responsibilities, weak commercial positions or risks sitting with the wrong party.
Revenue readiness is not about doing everything. It is about understanding where friction is most likely to arise, deciding what is worth addressing, and being better prepared before scrutiny begins.
Need help preparing for enterprise buyers?
Orelia helps founders, CEOs, CROs, senior leaders and deal teams navigate the enterprise deal chain, where corporate and government buyers need confidence in more than the technology before a contract is signed. We help you understand how you are likely to be viewed through the buyer’s lens, identify the areas most likely to influence buyer confidence, approval and deal momentum, and prioritise actions with the greatest potential gain.
Check out our Enterprise Revenue Readiness services.
References
1. 6sense, The 2024 B2B Buyer Experience Report.
2. Forrester, The State of Business Buying, 2024.
