🔀 The pilot anti-pattern

The Pivot: This week's anti-pattern? Pilots that test for feasibility, before you have viability.

Hey friends 👋

Welcome to the inaugural edition of our new weekly email: The Pivot.

Each Wednesday, we share one anti-pattern we’re seeing from founders in the Traction Lab ecosystem, and the quick redirect that makes all the difference—all in less than 250 words.

Here’s this week’s:

The anti-pattern:

Founders set up pilots to test if their product “works”, rather than if anyone will pay to use it.

You’ve got three companies using your product weekly, giving tons of feedback, helping you improve features—but you’re “not charging yet because we want to nail product-market fit first.”

That’s backwards.

You’re running a feasibility study when you should be running a desirability test, burning runway to perfect a product for freeloaders.

The fix:

Every pilot needs a clear path to payment, or it’s not a pilot at all.

It’s just free consulting.

Set an end date (30-60 days max). Define the specific outcome you’ll deliver. State the price they’ll pay when you hit that outcome.

If they won’t commit to converting to paid at a specific milestone, they were never a real pilot “customer”.

Pilots aren’t beta tests.

The tool: the “Pilot-to-Paid Contract”

Your pilot agreement should include:

1. Duration of pilot

2. What you need from them

3. Specific success metrics

4. Price upon conversion

If they won’t sign, it’s not a real pilot. Read the full guide here →

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The Pivot is an experiment for us, and we’d love your feedback. Hit reply and let us know: what did you think of the email?

Until next week,

—Cam and JDM