(𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗱) 𝗣𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁𝘀 - 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗗𝗩𝗧 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘀.

Pilot is a flexible term. When expectations aren’t managed well, it will derail.

Whether your customer pilot is successful gets defined at the very beginning when the startup and customer agree on the pilot application. 

𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥:

What does the startup need to prove — technically, commercially, operationally — and what does it need from the customer to get there?

What is the customer actually paying for — early co-development access or near-production-grade reliability and support?

The answers define where expectation management is required and what scope becomes the common ground. 

𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.

With expectations managed, there is nothing against running even a paid pilot with DVT units. But when the customer expects nearly perfect operation (and is paying for), a serious pilot will only start post PVT using the first mass manufactured batch with implemented and confirmed FATP.

𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗹𝘆.