Rapid prototyping > selling
I had a conversation recently with the founder of a mid-sized B2B company that’s been around for over two decades. 80+ people. Top-tier customers. Steady business, but he’s feeling the ground shift. The sentiment was that they used to win deals based on their knowledge and expertise. But now they see a need completely evolve how they’re serving their customers.
It’s not just him. It’s happening across the board. The B2B model that’s worked for decades with pitch decks and proposals, discovery phases, six-month roadmaps, and all the other variations of the business-to-business sales cycle is breaking. AI is part of the reason. But the bigger reason is customer expectations are changing. People want tangible value quickly.
Here’s how the smartest companies are adapting.
Stop selling, start prototyping.
The old playbook is identify/diagnose the problem, talk about how you’re uniquely qualified to help the customer solve it with case studies and evidence that you’ve done it before, sell the vision, and MAYBE.. EVENTUALLY.. get to building.
The new playbook?
Start doing the work before you sell. Show real, tangible examples tailored to their needs/problems and deliver value quickly to earn trust. Get scrappy and create things faster with AI to prove you can help them. People aren’t asking for polish. They’re asking for proof. Not in slides and presentations, but in the form of real, actual work.
For example, last month we pitched a new web experience for a client in the home services space. But instead of wireframes and ideas, we showed them a live prototype of an AI agent personalized to their brand and trained on a sample set of their data. It wasn’t flawless. But it worked. And that prototype helped us get buy-in faster and move quickly to contracting.
You don’t need weeks. You need a day (maybe two) and the right tools. Your AI stack should let you prove value faster than clients/customers expect.
Speed to value is your moat.
Large enterprise companies have capital and brand equity. Mid-sized companies are in the danger zone. They’re too big to move fast, too small to lean on legacy. The ones thriving have narrowed their focus. They’re not trying to do everything. They’ve built systems to show value and build trust, fast.
Start with this question. “What’s one problem we solve better than most?” Define it, decompose it, and turn it into a repeatable process for creating personalized/tailored prototypes that show customers what you can do. You could also consider codifying it into a product.
Build during the sales process.
This might feel like a giveaway. It’s not. It’s an investment.
Building something before the contract is signed feels backwards, but it actually saves you time. It de-risks the deal. It gives the customer confidence. It shows you don’t just get the problem. You’ve already started solving it.
If your company is built on knowing stuff, AI is coming for you. GPT-4o knows stuff too. And it costs ~$20/month. What AI can’t do is build trust, context, and momentum. That’s your edge. The smartest B2B companies are combining speed to value and this edge to become their advantage.
Try running a 1-day sprint during your pre-sales/sales process. Use AI to speed up the process. Walk the customer through a scrappy prototype or demo a proof-of-concept. We’ve done this with B2B SaaS onboarding flows, back-office automations, and customer self-service portals. The pattern is the same.
Prototype first, contract second.
The messy middle of transformation
Many mid-sized companies are trying to bring everyone along. But not everyone wants to sprint. There’s tension here. You want to preserve culture. But you also can’t let legacy processes drag innovation down.
Let your A-players build the future. Carve out space for them to explore, experiment, and ship. Don’t wait for the entire org to align. Prove the model with a few key wins then roll it out wider. We’ve seen this work with AI transformation, service redesign, and internal automation.
Start small. Prove value. Then scale.
Wrapping up
The B2B game (like everything), is changing fast. Slides, and documents, and standard proposals won’t win for much longer. Real things will. Mid-sized companies can’t compete on size. But they can compete on speed, clarity, and trust. And in this new era, the ones that lead will be the ones who:
Build before they sell
Use AI to go faster and deeper
Let their top talent run fast
The future will be won with rapid proof and rapid value. Not long-winded pitches and presentations.
Onward & upward 🤘
Drew
P.s. If we haven’t met yet, hello! I’m Drew Burdick, Founder and Managing Partner at StealthX. We work with brands to design & build great customer experiences that win. I share ideas weekly through this newsletter & over on the Building Great Experiences podcast. Have a question? Feel free to contact us, I’d love to hear from you.