Before you have a case study, you're going to need enough credibility to make your first sale. Here's how to build some.
Case studies are the best way to build confidence around your product. They show real results, real competency, and things that are hard to communicate on a slide deck, like how you work with the customer.
The problem is that you typically need a deployment to get a case study. So before you have one, you need other ways to build confidence — not just in paying for your service, but in being the first person to pay for your service.
That has been my job for the last six months, and these are a few methods that helped our five municipal partners feel confident enough in our abilities to take a chance on us.
1. Personal rapport
A case study is really just a tool for building confidence in you. But if the goal is trust, you can build that trust directly.
Consult with your potential clients. Bring them along as you develop the tool. Ask for their input, then implement it. Ask what it would need to look like to be worth paying for, then go build that.
If you have them help you bake the cake, they will be much more willing to try it when it's finished.
2. Self-administered case study
If you cannot get a formal case study yet, make a rough one yourself.
A case study is just proof that your product works, and there are plenty of ways to prove that without waiting for a government to hand you the opportunity.
For example, we mapped a large portion of the Denver metro area for potholes, processed the data, used our system to identify the five potholes most likely to cause an accident in the region using real data, and sent that information to the governing body for free.
That created immediate value and proved the system worked. At that point, the conversation was no longer about whether the product functioned. It became about whether it could save them money, which is a much better place to sell from.
3. Leverage someone else's credibility
Governments are fatigued by vendors pitching vaporware and are naturally skeptical. Their advisors and partner organizations, though, are often in a better position to evaluate new ideas with an open mind.
There are organizations like the Denver Regional Council of Governments and the Colorado Smart Cities Alliance whose place in the ecosystem is built on credibility with their member governments.
If you can prove yourself to them, they can help do some of the vetting for you. A warm introduction or outside validation from a trusted intermediary can go much further than another founder insisting their startup works.
Do be mindful that the people and organizations most willing to hear you out are often also the most qualified to see through weak products. "Fake it till you make it" only works until you have to convince someone like Florine Raitano or Tyler Svitak, so be sure your shit actually works.