Your first pilot partner: choose before you test

After years of research, getting genuine interest from industry is a big moment.

A company sees potential in what you have developed. They are willing to give you access to their environment, people or data and explore whether your technology could work for them.

Getting that first “yes” feels like progress. And it is tempting to immediately start discussing what needs to be tested and when the pilot can begin.

But it is worth slowing down just a little.

Because your first pilot is not only a technical exercise. It is one of your first opportunities to collect real-world evidence about the commercial potential of your research.

And that makes the choice of your first pilot partner more strategic than it may initially seem

Start with the opportunity, not the partner

Research-driven technologies often have more than one possible application. The same technology might solve different problems, serve different industries or create value for very different types of customers.

That flexibility can be an advantage. Early on, however, it can also make commercialisation more difficult.

When a company shows interest, it is easy to let that opportunity determine your direction. Instead, your first pilot should ideally fit with the market opportunity you want to explore.

That requires a sufficiently clear view of the problem you believe is worth solving, who experiences that problem and where your technology could create meaningful value.

You don't need to have your entire market strategy figured out. That's partly what early industry conversations and pilots are for.

But there is an important difference between using a pilot to learn more about a promising market and simply testing your technology wherever someone is willing to let you in

Working is not the same as creating value

For a researcher, proving that the technology works in a real-world environment can already feel like a successful outcome.

Commercially, it is only part of the story.

A future customer will eventually need a reason to change what they are doing today. Your technology may be faster, more accurate or more sustainable. It may reduce costs, waste, risk or energy consumption. Or it may enable something that simply wasn't possible before.

Whatever that value is, your first pilot should give you an opportunity to start making it visible.

Ideally, you want to move beyond:

“We demonstrated that our technology works.”

Towards:

“We demonstrated that our technology works in this environment and creates this value for this type of customer.”

 That second statement starts to become commercial evidence.

The first company to say “yes” doesn't have to be your first pilot partner

This is where choosing becomes important.

A large or well-known company can be attractive. Its logo may look great on your pitch deck. But size and reputation alone don't make it the right first pilot partner.

Sometimes a smaller organisation with a real and urgent problem, access to the right environment and an engaged internal champion can be much more valuable.

What matters is whether the partner can help you learn something relevant about the market you want to enter.

There also needs to be enough commitment on the other side. A pilot driven by one enthusiastic innovation manager, but disconnected from the people experiencing the problem or eventually making purchasing decisions, may give you interesting technical results without bringing you much closer to the market.

So look beyond technical fit. Look at the problem, the potential value, the people involved and the relevance of this partner to the market you want to explore.

Think one door further

There is one more dimension worth considering before committing your time and resources.

Where could this relationship potentially lead?

That doesn't mean your first pilot partner needs to promise a large contract before you start. At this stage, you are both still learning.

But there is a difference between a partner who is curious to test an interesting technology and one who has a genuine problem and a reason to continue if you can solve it.

A good first pilot might lead to a paid project, another site, a broader application, a reference case, introductions to other customers or a longer-term strategic relationship.

None of those outcomes are guaranteed. But thinking about them before choosing a partner helps you distinguish between an interesting experiment and a potentially valuable commercial step.

Research from BCG and Hello Tomorrow involving more than 400 deep-tech startups illustrates why this matters. While 95% wanted to develop long-term corporate partnerships, only 57% had actually established them. Among the obstacles identified were inadequate preparation, unclear value propositions or applications and insufficient alignment between both sides.

Getting access to industry doesn't automatically translate into commercial progress.

Three things to get sharp before you choose

At Heirloom Labs, we like to bring the choice back to three things.

-       The problem. Are you using the pilot to explore a problem and market that are commercially relevant?

-       The value. Could this pilot help you demonstrate why your technology matters to a potential customer?

-       The partner. Can this organisation help you learn, build evidence and potentially open the next door?

You don't need to have all the answers before talking to industry.

Quite the opposite. Those conversations are part of how you find them.

But being clear about what you want to learn makes it much easier to recognise the right first pilot opportunity when it appears.

Because getting a pilot is an achievement. Choosing one that helps you move towards commercialisation is the real opportunity.

In Part 2, we look at what happens once you have found that partner: how to structure your first pilot so that it doesn't end with a technical report, but gives you something to build on.