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Why we picked it When you are cold emailing a big enterprise, the hardest part is not the wording, it is knowing who to write to. This piece from MIT's Disciplined Entrepreneurship platform maps the buying unit inside a large org (champion, primary economic buyer, end user, influencer, veto power) so you email the person who can actually move your deal instead of guessing at a CEO who will never reply. It is written for founders selling into large organizations, which is exactly the spot you are in.
The Decision-Making Unit: The Who-is-Who of Your B2B Sales Process
From Disciplined Entrepreneurship (MIT) by Matthias Hilpert and Martin Giese
- Your first cold email should usually go to a champion (someone whose job gets better if your thing works), not the person who signs the cheque; they help you build the internal case.
- In a big company the CEO is rarely the buyer. Look for the director or department head who owns the problem you solve.
- Map the full buying unit before you write anything: knowing who influences and who can veto keeps a single yes from stalling out later.