7 Go-to-Market Lessons from Arch Systems’ Journey Through “Ultimate Pilot Hell” to Enterprise Success

Sometimes the most counterintuitive strategies yield the best results. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Andrew Scheuermann shared how Arch Systems transformed from a struggling IoT platform into a thriving manufacturing optimization company by breaking conventional GTM wisdom. Here are the key lessons from their journey:

1. Listen to What Customers Do, Not Just What They Say

Early on, Arch Systems faced a crucial disconnect between customer words and actions. As Andrew explains, “All of them would say, ‘I want to build my own AI models.’ But they didn’t necessarily have the capacity, they didn’t have the team… talent is so hard to come by.” This misalignment between customer intentions and capabilities led to their first major pivot.

2. Turn Pilot Hell into Strategic Advantage

Instead of trying to minimize pilot phases, Arch Systems intentionally extended them with key customers. “We hacked this Pilot Hell that everybody talks about,” Andrew shares. “We went into the most Ultimate Pilot Hell you’ve ever seen with some key customers, but by doing so, got access to all their data.” This unconventional approach transformed what most startups consider a problem into a strategic advantage.

3. Focus on Value Creation Before Revenue

The company made a bold bet by prioritizing access and learning over immediate revenue. Andrew describes their approach with a major customer: “We worked early on with Flex… We almost did free work for them for a long time and they essentially gave us access to all of their factories worldwide.” This investment in learning and relationship-building eventually led to dramatically faster sales cycles, reducing pilot phases from three years to just four months.

4. Navigate the IT/OT Divide Strategically

Enterprise sales in manufacturing requires understanding complex organizational dynamics. Andrew reveals, “In our sales, we have pretty sophisticated playbooks to be able to identify in a given customer who are the digitization champions… Are they in IT? Are they in OT or are they both?” This sophisticated understanding of organizational dynamics helps them navigate enterprise complexity effectively.

5. Verticalize When Horizontal Fails

One of Arch’s most crucial pivots was abandoning their horizontal platform approach for a vertical-specific solution. “When we finally got that focused on a vertical specific solution, we built the whole thing right. We built the analytics and the intelligence and were able to start providing awesome optimizations inside of our customers,” Andrew explains. This focus allowed them to build deeper, more valuable solutions.

6. Build for Enterprise-Wide Buy-In

Enterprise sales often require broader organizational support than expected. As Andrew notes, “It is surprisingly common that they do have to go all the way up to the CEO COO, even for a pilot approval.” Understanding this reality shaped their approach to product development and sales strategy.

7. Combine Pattern Matching with First Principles

Their approach to product development balances both methodologies. Andrew illustrates this with a practical example: “From a first principles perspective, you’ll say why understand exactly the data inside this machine and what is or is not possible from any statistical algorithm… if your machine is down because you ran out of materials, or your team just decided to change the schedule that day and they’re not even running, there is no first principles in the data to predict that.”

The story of Arch Systems challenges conventional wisdom about enterprise GTM strategy. Instead of rushing through pilots and pushing for quick revenue, they invested in deep customer relationships and thorough product development. This patient, strategic approach ultimately enabled them to build something truly valuable for their target market.

For founders navigating enterprise sales, particularly in complex technical markets, these lessons offer an alternative to the typical “fail fast” mentality. Sometimes, the path to success requires embracing the complexity and turning apparent obstacles into strategic advantages.