Enterprise or bust

“Go enterprise”

Sounds like a great idea - larger deals, bigger logos, and faster growth.

Until your first enterprise security review feels like defending your PhD thesis when you're still in high school.

Enterprise readiness isn't just about your product. It's about your entire company infrastructure.

Before you even get to the product conversation, you need to be prepared for:

• Security and compliance theater: ISO certifications, SOC 2, detailed security questionnaires that ask about disaster recovery plans you haven't thought about yet

• Shared services gauntlet: IT teams, security teams, legal teams- each with their own process and timeline

• Documentation requirements: Not Google Docs you threw together over the weekend, but properly published policies and procedures

Enterprise sales cycles aren't just longer - they're fundamentally different.

In SMB, you close deals in a few days with 2-3 stakeholders.

In enterprise? Prepare for:

• Multiple introduction rounds: You'll pitch your company 3-4 times to different groups before getting to the actual evaluation

• Stakeholder sprawl: The enthusiastic champion who first engaged? They might not even be in the decision-making loop

• Timing dependencies: In SMB, urgency drives decisions. Enterprises have specific windows for vendor changes

Your entire operating cadence slows to enterprise tempo.

You need sales engine.

Subscribe now

Enjoyed reading this?

Then check out my conversation on the focal podcast with Matt Harmon, a seasoned revenue leader who has successfully moved upmarket from SMB into enterprise many times, including at companies such as Box, Asana and SurveyMonkey.

Youtube | Apple Podcast | Spotify

Recently started a company or thinking about it?

At focal, we’re technical, AI native builders’ first choice for their first check.

We lead their first round at the very start with up to $1M. Often before they even write their first line of code.

Reach out.