“At Halozyme, I learned that one enthusiastic user rarely has signing authority; find their procurement, finance, and quality counterparts early, because the PO will stall without all three in the room.”
“I treat that enthusiastic user as a lead, not the buyer. I ask them to map the budget owner, the security reviewer, the legal signatory, and the executive sponsor before I spend any cycles on a demo.”
“I’ve watched a single enthusiastic user turn into a six-month ghost deal because nobody mapped who actually signs above the PO threshold. Ask them who else has signed off on similar spend, then work outward from that name.”
“Your champion is gold, but they rarely sign the check. I always ask them two things: who owns the budget for this category, and whose signature is needed above their spend threshold. That usually surfaces the department head, finance lead, or procurement contact who can actually move it.”
“I spent years on the other side of this, running $30 billion in supplier spend at BP, and the best thing you can do is stop selling to the enthusiast and start co-selling with them. Ask them who signs the business case, who owns the budget line, and who would get fired if it goes wrong; then map your proof of value directly to that person's problem, not your product's features.”
“I would ask your enthusiast to map the buying committee with you: who owns the budget, who signs the contract, and who needs to say yes before it gets to the CFO. At Under Armour, the best embedded finance people spent their time with the business, not in finance, because decisions get made where the value is felt.”
“I’d ask that enthusiastic user to walk me through their company’s purchase order flow: who signs requisitions, who owns the budget line, and whether procurement or a department head has final authority. In my time bridging purchasing and finance at AAPA, the real buyer was rarely the person excited about the product.”
“I spent too long early on treating the champion as the buyer, only to watch deals stall because I never mapped who actually signs. Now I ask the enthusiast straight up: walk me through who else cares, who writes the check, and what has to happen for this to get approved.”
“I would ask that enthusiastic user, flat out: Who else needs to love this for you to buy it?”
“At Halozyme, I learned that one enthusiastic user rarely has signing authority; find their procurement, finance, and quality counterparts early, because the PO will stall without all three in the room.”
“I treat that enthusiastic user as a lead, not the buyer. I ask them to map the budget owner, the security reviewer, the legal signatory, and the executive sponsor before I spend any cycles on a demo.”
“I’ve watched a single enthusiastic user turn into a six-month ghost deal because nobody mapped who actually signs above the PO threshold. Ask them who else has signed off on similar spend, then work outward from that name.”
“Your champion is gold, but they rarely sign the check. I always ask them two things: who owns the budget for this category, and whose signature is needed above their spend threshold. That usually surfaces the department head, finance lead, or procurement contact who can actually move it.”
“I spent years on the other side of this, running $30 billion in supplier spend at BP, and the best thing you can do is stop selling to the enthusiast and start co-selling with them. Ask them who signs the business case, who owns the budget line, and who would get fired if it goes wrong; then map your proof of value directly to that person's problem, not your product's features.”
“I would ask your enthusiast to map the buying committee with you: who owns the budget, who signs the contract, and who needs to say yes before it gets to the CFO. At Under Armour, the best embedded finance people spent their time with the business, not in finance, because decisions get made where the value is felt.”
“I’d ask that enthusiastic user to walk me through their company’s purchase order flow: who signs requisitions, who owns the budget line, and whether procurement or a department head has final authority. In my time bridging purchasing and finance at AAPA, the real buyer was rarely the person excited about the product.”
“I spent too long early on treating the champion as the buyer, only to watch deals stall because I never mapped who actually signs. Now I ask the enthusiast straight up: walk me through who else cares, who writes the check, and what has to happen for this to get approved.”
“I would ask that enthusiastic user, flat out: Who else needs to love this for you to buy it?”