Enterprise software is bought by a committee, not a person. A deal threaded through a single champion is one resignation away from dead — and champion turnover is high. Multi-threading is risk management.

Multi-threading deliberately

  • Map the committee. Economic buyer, technical evaluator, end users, security, procurement. Know who must say yes.
  • Tailor the value per role. The CFO, the admin, and the daily user care about different outcomes. One pitch doesn't move all of them.
  • Build a second champion. Never depend on one internal advocate; cultivate a backup before you need one.
  • Give your champion ammunition. They sell internally when you're not there — arm them with the business case.

Bottom line: thread the deal across the whole committee and build a backup champion — single-threaded enterprise deals are one departure from collapse.