Openplan AI

We spent 3 months building Requirements Management for OpenPlan. Full traceability from a Need down to Component level, coverage dashboards, verification tracking, the whole thing. Showed it to four hardware startups who matched our ideal customer profile almost exactly drones, EVs, medtech, the kind of company that actually needs this.

All four said they loved it. Two asked when they could start using it. One wanted to know if it could plug into their existing DVT process.

None of them have paid.

I keep going back and forth on what this means. Maybe the timing's off they're mid-raise, or mid-crunch, and RM isn't urgent enough to prioritize this month. Maybe "I love this" is just what people say when a demo goes well and there's no cost to saying it. Maybe the budget owner wasn't in the room.

Or maybe requirements management is a genuinely hard sell as a standalone thing in this market. Nobody wakes up wanting to buy a requirements tool. The pain shows up later at a failed audit, a missed cert, a DVT gate nobody can close because nobody tracked what needed verifying. By then it's a fire, not a purchase decision.

We're not killing the feature. But I've stopped counting "they loved it" as a signal of anything, and I'm doing structured interviews with all four before we put more engineering time into this. If you've hit this same wall good demos, no signed contracts I'd like to hear how you told the difference between "not ready yet" and "not actually going to buy."

What makes this obviously AI generated:

• The three "maybe" sentences in a row read like a generated hedge-list rather than someone genuinely turning something over

• "Nobody wakes up wanting to buy a requirements tool" is a decent line but sits a little too polished next to the rougher paragraphs around it

• The closing question is well-formed but slightly too tidy real forum posts trail off messier

Now revised:

Spent three months building Requirements Management for OpenPlan full traceability from a Need down to Component, coverage dashboards, verification tracking. Demoed it to four hardware startups that matched our ICP almost exactly. Drones, EVs, medtech.

All four loved it. Two asked when they could start. One wanted to know if it plugs into their DVT process.

Zero have paid.

I don't actually know what to make of this yet. Could be timing they're mid-raise or mid-crunch and this isn't the month for a new tool. Could be that "I love this" costs nothing to say in a demo. Could be requirements management is just a bad standalone sell, because the pain doesn't show up until later a failed audit, a DVT gate that won't close because nobody tracked what needed verifying and by then it's an emergency, not a purchase.

Not killing it. But I've stopped treating "they loved it" as a real signal, and I'm doing actual structured interviews with all 4 before sinking more engineering time in.

If you've had good demos that went nowhere how'd you tell "not ready yet" apart from "never going to buy"?