What if your startup’s next major milestone didn’t require raising another round, but signing your first serious client?
Across the world, founders are often trained to think in fundraising cycles. From pre-seed to seed to Series A, everything is framed around equity capital. But in today’s market, with tighter terms and slower VC deployment, many startups face an uncomfortable dilemma: either raise under pressure, or stall entirely.
There’s a third option, and it’s one we’ve seen deliver exceptional results: venture-clienting.
This model isn’t new, it was pioneered in the DACH region by innovation-forward corporates seeking early access to breakthrough technologies without waiting for a Series A. But it remains underused in CEE.
And yet, when structured right, it can unlock something far more valuable than capital: proof that your product works, in the real world.
From Startup to Strategic Partner: 3d Signals at SAMSON AG
3d Signals, an Israeli Industry X tech startup, had developed an end-to-end manufacturing AI-driven intelligence solution capable of monitoring factory-floor assets, old or new, from any vendor, type or age without modifying their internals. The challenge: how do you prove its value in a live production environment, with all the risks and integration barriers that typically deter conservative manufacturers?
The answer came in the form of a venture-client collaboration with SAMSON AG, a Frankfurt-based global leader in industrial process control, which chose this model to explore 3d Signals’ solution in a structured, low-risk way. The partnership was established to address concerns about integration and production disruption, offering a fast path to validation without equity involved.
At that time, with more than 4,500 employees and over €650 million in annual revenue, SAMSON’s Frankfurt site alone houses over 100 critical production machines, many of them legacy assets with limited digital traceability. Samson AG has implemented 3d Signals’ solution in its factories across Germany, Turkey, and the United States.
Instead of pursuing a conventional vendor contract or unpaid proof-of-concept, 3d Signals and SAMSON structured a pilot designed for speed, visibility, and results. Within weeks, non-invasive sensors and Industrial IoT were installed across dozens of machines, requiring less than an hour per asset. There was no need for factory downtime, no changes to warranty terms, and no cybersecurity exposure, an essential factor in heavily regulated industrial environments.
What happened next transformed SAMSON’s operations entirely, introducing data-driven, and KPI based work practices that redefined their operational decision-making processes. The result? A 30% increase in machine productivity within months. With such results, pilot easily turned into a multi-site rollout.
Afterwards, SAMSON AG didn’t just remain a client, it became a design partner, helping shape how the software evolved for broader industrial use. This was not a transaction. It was a co-built bridge between startup agility and industrial credibility.
Five Lessons on venture-clienting for founders
For many CEE startups, the biggest hurdle isn’t talent or vision, it’s distribution. How do you land your first major client when you’re based in Cluj, Sofia, or Vilnius, and your target market is in Munich or Zurich? The venture-client model addresses this asymmetry by focusing on value over valuation.
You don’t need to dilute equity. You need to deliver measurable outcomes to a customer with a defined problem.
At InnoSource Ventures, we work closely with founders to shape these engagements from the inside, translating startup speed into corporate value, and helping define terms that protect both sides. Done well, a paid pilot is more than cash flow. It’s a credibility engine.
These are lessons we share with founders preparing for a venture-client engagement:
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- Think like a solutions provider, not a startup. Corporates don’t care about your tech stack. They care about outcomes. Make the benefit visible and quantifiable.
- Minimize integration risk. Even great products will be rejected if they touch production systems, trigger IT compliance reviews, or require employee retraining. Non-invasive wins.
- Align on one metric that matters. In the case of 3d Signals, it was machine productivity. For others, it might be downtime reduction, energy use, or defect rate. Choose one, and prove it.
- Design for the buyer, not just the user. The floor manager may use your product, but the person signing the pilot likely sits elsewhere. Map the stakeholder network early.
- Capture the story while it’s happening. Pilots succeed not just when KPIs are hit, but when they’re visible to others. Collect testimonials. Build slide decks. Make sure your next client sees the first one.
Market fit through impact, not just equity
As VCs retrench and late-stage capital slows down, the startup ecosystem in Central and Eastern Europe faces a pivotal moment. The region is rich in technical talent, but it must be matched by smart go-to-market strategies.
Venture-clienting is not a silver bullet. It requires operational maturity, discipline, and a willingness to build alongside your customer. But as the 3d Signals case shows, it can also turn an eight-week pilot into a company-defining opportunity.
At InnoSource Ventures, we believe that CEE founders are uniquely positioned to lead in this model. Why? Because they’ve had to be efficient from day one. Because they solve real problems. And because in today’s world, value creation beats valuation inflation, every time.
If you’re a founder in the region thinking about what comes after your seed round, don’t ask only “how do I raise?” Ask: “who will pay to prove that my product works?” That’s where the real scale begins.
