People make decisions on a pilot (here is the first post on winning pilots). Organizations don’t. Therefore, it is important to map out the people involved in the pilot directly or behind the scenes: 

• Who are all the persons that the pilot can impact?
• How does each person show they are doing a great job? 
• What is each person’s aspirations in their career or outside? (Typically one learns this only after building a relationship and can be mutually beneficial)

For example, suppose a startup provides marketing automation SaaS to the Marketing division. In addition to this division, the customer’s Engineering division needs to implement APIs and the Security and Compliance divisions needs to permit access. Additionally the CFO or COO’s office needs to manage budget. A junior analyst may calculate the facts and figures. In this example several divisions in addition to Marketing have a say in whether a pilot is deemed successful or not. 

Build an organization chart

To be comprehensive, consider the following dimensions:

1. Division
2. Decision-making privileges
3. Level in the organization structure 

A person could have one or more decision-making privileges. Is someone an initiator, a gate keeper, an influencer,  a user, a buyer, or a decision-maker? Often people in the senior levels of the organization structure may initiate pilots but will look to other people in their organization for information to make a decision. 

Finally, 

A person’s a person no matter how small. 

– Dr. Seuss in Horton Hears a Who!