5 Game-Changing GTM Lessons from Veeve’s Enterprise Hardware Journey

5 Game-Changing GTM Lessons from Veeve’s Enterprise Hardware Journey

Hardware startups often struggle with lengthy enterprise sales cycles and complex integration requirements. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Veeve founder Shariq Siddiqui revealed how his team transformed their smart shopping cart business by fundamentally rethinking their go-to-market approach. Here are the key lessons from their journey:

1. Create a Wedge Product to Bypass Integration Hurdles The biggest breakthrough in Veeve’s GTM strategy came from simplifying their offering. “The core definition of a wedge product is that it is not your actual product, it is a subset of your product, which is so simple, which is so easy to understand. And you see the benefit, the ROI, immediately when you’re the buyer,” Shariq explains. By creating a version that didn’t require POS integration, they eliminated the need for extensive technical evaluation and dramatically shortened sales cycles.
2. Map and Target Different Stakeholder Pain Points Enterprise sales requires understanding multiple decision-makers. As Shariq notes, “I would literally have multiple different versions of our pitch deck for the same company, but depending on who I was talking to… I need to tell them how I will solve their problem, not their counterparts problem.” This approach led to unexpected champions, including a C-level pharmacy executive who saw value in using smart carts for prescription notifications.
3. Build Beyond One-Trick Solutions Avoiding the commodity trap is crucial for hardware startups. “I don’t want to build one trick pony, because one trick pony products is that somebody can come in and immediately offer a cheaper solution to a retailer or to any industry, and then you’re kind of like left in a really bad place,” Shariq emphasizes. This philosophy guided Veeve’s evolution from smart carts into comprehensive retail intelligence.
4. Design Around Technical Constraints When COVID-19 tripled raw material costs, Veeve had to innovate: “We figured out how to basically take an existing shopping cart and embed a wing scale in that. So that allowed us to reduce our cost by almost 90%.” This pivot demonstrates how technical constraints can drive product innovation.
5. Focus on Autonomous Value Creation The key to accelerating enterprise adoption was eliminating dependencies. Shariq explains: “Let’s figure out a solution where we do not have to integrate with the retailers POS systems.” This approach transformed their pitch: “If these guys are saying that these carts or these devices are fully autonomous… store operations isn’t really doing anything. But they’re getting so much in return that makes their conversation with their counterparts a lot easier.”

The journey from complex integration requirements to autonomous value creation wasn’t just about technology – it was about understanding enterprise buying psychology. By removing the need for cross-departmental approval and delivering immediate standalone value, Veeve created a scalable path to enterprise adoption.

This shift in thinking extended to their entire product strategy. Rather than trying to replicate Amazon Go’s full-store approach, they identified a more focused opportunity: “I thought, wouldn’t it better if you just basically put these cameras on a shopping cart? Because when you walk into any grocery stores or any large format stores, shopping cart is like the first thing you grab.”

For hardware startup founders, these lessons highlight a crucial truth: sometimes the fastest path to enterprise adoption isn’t through your complete solution – it’s through strategically chosen subset that eliminates organizational friction while still delivering clear value. By rethinking their integration requirements and creating targeted value propositions for different stakeholders, Veeve didn’t just shorten their sales cycle – they created a repeatable model for enterprise hardware success.