POCs Are a Polite Way to Let Prospects Fail Your Product in Public

POCs are killing deals.
And too many operators pretend they don’t know why.

A Proof of Concept is a test. By definition, a test implies a pass or a fail grade.
Leaders treat POCs like due diligence. In reality, it’s a roll of the dice.

Most POCs fail for reasons that have nothing to do with the actual product value vendors are trying to sell:

• wrong, inconsistent, messy data
• rushed timelines
• unclear success criteria (the worst offender!)
• stakeholders who have already made up their minds
• zero operational support to make the thing work in the real world

Yet when it fails, the vendor wears it. They don’t have a choice.
That’s not an evaluation, is it? More like self-inflicted risk.

Industry data shows that more than half of POCs don’t convert into closed deals, underscoring that technical success doesn’t guarantee commercial success. So, enter the POV argument (Proof of Value). A real POV stops proving the product and starts proving the outcome. Certainly different from POC.

Free trials and POCs optimize for buyer safety, not seller (or buyer) success.

They transfer all the downside to the seller and none of the accountability to the customer.
If it doesn’t work, very few truthfully ask why. They just label the product “not a fit” and move on.

So, why would you do this as a seller? And worse, you trained the prospect to believe your product must prove itself before they commit.
That’s not confidence. That’s commoditization. Unless you’re selling soybeans, oil, or gold, you’re in the wrong game.

I’ve watched this play out for years across SaaS, data, martech, and analytics. The companies that win don’t gamble their credibility on a pass/fail experiment. They do something else entirely.

They sell outcomes, not access.

Instead of POCs, they:

• run paid discovery engagements with defined decisions at the end
• anchor on use-case validation, not feature exposure
• pre-qualify deals where operational readiness exists
• deliver guided pilots with shared ownership and success criteria
• price learning, not licenses

Notice the shift:
From “try it and see” to “decide, then implement correctly.”

Real buyers don’t want a sandbox. They want certainty. If your sales motion requires a free trial to close, the problem isn’t trust.
It’s positioning.

Traditional POCs may demonstrate feasibility — but seldom close deals. When sellers structure evaluations around outcomes (what gets measured gets funded), conversion and value clearly rise.

Stop gambling your growth on tests designed to fail.
Start selling conviction, clarity, and commitment. The right customers will thank you, and the wrong ones will self-select out.