McKenzie agreed. "They have to talk about the business, same as we do. I can't talk technology to my internal customers." One startup came in to pitch her a certain product for a specific situation. But when she saw it, she knew it would be better for something else. "So we had a back-and-forth; we modified his original idea."
Something else to work on with a startup, Soderstrom said, is the amount of time and number of licenses you can use to test the product or service. "In my world there's a very long sales cycle, so giving me one unlimited license for a month is useless," he said.
Instead, "give me four licenses for six months." That allows him to show the product to others in his group -- and beyond -- which generates some excitement and demand for the product or service.
At some point, though, you just need to jump in, said Intuit's Goodarzi . "We look at the startup's technology, the gap we have internally and whether it will be a cultural fit," he said. "But you just have to lean forward and play offense. Be thoughtful and manage risk, but don't spend too much time on it."