Gave a big enterprise a free 30-day pilot. They used 500 hours of our time and ghosted us.

A few months ago, a massive prospect (a 2,000-person company) reached out. They were interested in our SaaS but wanted a "proof of concept" before committing to a contract. Against my better judgment, we agreed to a free 30-day pilot.

I thought this was our big break. Over those 30 days, we rolled out the red carpet:

• We assigned our lead engineer to build a custom data connector for their legacy system.

• We held 8 onboarding calls with their various department heads.

• We spent at least 500 hours of combined team time making sure the pilot was a success.

By the end of the 30 days, their team was actively using the product and told us they loved it. We sent over the $500/month contract, expecting an easy signature.

Then... radio silence.

No replies to emails. No answers to calls. I finally got ahold of the junior project manager we’d been working with, and he gave me the standard corporate excuse: "Oh, our budget for Q3 got frozen. We might revisit this in January."

I was devastated. We had essentially acted as a free consulting agency for a massive corporation for a month. They got a custom integration and free workflow consulting, and we got absolutely nothing. I realized I made a massive mistake by not setting boundaries. I was so desperate for the logo that I let them dictate the terms of the pilot without requiring any financial commitment or a signed agreement that they would buy at the end.

For founders who have run pilots: How do you structure a pilot so that you don't get taken advantage of?

Do you charge a discounted rate for the pilot (and credit it toward the contract if they sign)? Do you require a signed letter of intent (LOI) before starting? I need to figure out how to protect our time and resources moving forward.