When I joined a Series B startup as the Senior Director of Operations, I learned firsthand that software evaluation isn't just another task on an ops leader's plate – it's a mission-critical function that can make or break your scaling efforts.
Get it right - things get easier.
Get it wrong - waste months and have to do it again.
We had a lot to do when I arrived:
1. Our sales cycles needed shortening while simultaneously increasing lead volume
2. Customer attrition was climbing, requiring deep-dive analysis across sales, implementation, and product
3. Our tech stack was fragmented – different dialers and CRMs across pre and post-sales teams
4. We lacked a single source of truth for company performance and board reporting
The mandate was clear: consolidate our tech stack while solving multiple business challenges. With limited headcount, managing multiple systems wasn't sustainable. So we spoke with our current vendors and a few prospective vendors about our detailed needs.But here's what I discovered during this process:Traditional software evaluation is broken.
We'd sit through countless vendor demos, desperately trying to get answers about our specific use cases and migration concerns. Despite urgent needs for quick solutions, we were forced to follow predetermined sales processes that didn't align with our priorities.
This experience revealed a fundamental truth: as operations leaders, we don't just need new software – we need a new way to evaluate it. We need vendors who can rapidly demonstrate solutions to our specific problems, prioritize implementation services, and understand that our time is our most valuable asset.
This realization eventually led to the creation of buyrs. We built what we wished we had: a platform where buying teams can clearly communicate their priorities, get direct answers to their questions, and collaborate effectively on software decisions – all without sitting through irrelevant demos or juggling notes across multiple tools.
Software evaluation isn't just about finding the right features – it's about finding partners who understand your operational context and can move at your speed.
