Customers are suspicious of small startups’ viability, yet they refuse to give the startups the one thing they need most to survive and extend their technology.

Far-sighted CSR’s public endorsement of Ciranova Helix is a recent, heartwarming exception: http://www10.edacafe.com/nbc/articles/view_article.php?section=CorpNews&articleid=808293&interstitial_displayed=Yes

I agree with Coby Hanoch. It is very frustrating to have that better mouse trap used by anonymous -almost secret- satisfied customers. I also understand the gag-orders that many tool users face from their management who do not wish to either give away a competitive advantage or upset their current vendor.

Customer testimonials are the most powerful form of marketing for a young company. I can point to THE customer testimonial that opened the first doors in every single start-up that I have helped to develop. Tight venture capital and industry consolidation leave little room for even the most innovative independent technologies without customer proof.

End users need to remember that using the latest technology is also an advantage to their own careers, but without their word-of-mouth help, there will be fewer and fewer independent innovative technologies to choose from.

End Users, push back on the gag-orders, write to Cooley, trade discounts for testimonials, but tell the world about the better mouse trap, so more mouse traps can make it to the market.

The result was that many customers relied on the marketing BS instead of real customer testimonials and many fell in the marketing trap. Today, when the competing technology is considered a “standard” I have many of those original customer come crying to me that their companies are forcing them to move to an inferior technology and a product they don’t want. If only they had spoken when they had the chance…