Episode 852 | Getting Big Name Customer Case Studies and More Listener Questions (with Ruben Gamez)

Synthesis

1. 01

   Talk to people to learn how buyers behave, not to validate product-market fit

   When speaking with founders or growth people from similar spaces, the goal is not to validate whether people will pay for the product, but to learn how people buy, what channels work best, and why previous attempts succeeded or failed.

   Supporting evidence 1

   Original excerpt

   I think of it more in terms of you’re not validating the product, you’re trying to find out how people buy, what the best channels are, things like that.

   Ruben Gamez · Paragraph 8

   Episode 852 | Getting Big Name Customer Case Studies and More Listener Questions (with Ruben Gamez) · Sep 29, 2026

   Context

   Yeah. No one’s going to do that. I think we’ve talked about this multiple times in the past. It’s so much work. It’s just so much work too. Even if somebody thinks, “Oh, this is a good idea. I’m going to do it,” nobody actually does that. But if they were to do that, then they might have a burst of energy for what? For a day, for a few days, for a week, but to actually build it out and do all that work, yeah, people don’t do that. The other thing I had was that he was talking about it in terms of validation, and So I did that with SignWell. I talked to several people that had done e-signature startups either as founders or growth people, part of the team for certain products.

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2. 02

   Include an opt-out clause to reduce customer risk in case study agreements

   To address customer concerns about premature commitment, offer a time-bound opt-out clause (e.g., 60–90 days) allowing them to decline the case study if the product fails to deliver value.

   Supporting evidence 1

   Original excerpt

   We’re going to sign this contract with this discount if you do a case study, and you’re agreeing to do it now, but you can basically say no between now and the first 90 days or 60 days.

   Rob Walling · Paragraph 34

   Episode 852 | Getting Big Name Customer Case Studies and More Listener Questions (with Ruben Gamez) · Sep 29, 2026

   Context

   Now. He had an objection to that already where he said, “If they haven’t really used this yet and they’re just signing, they may not want to agree to it because it might not work for them.” I would say then offer them a 90 day out clause just on the case study. Be like, “ ” I’m making up the time here, but I understand that. We actually at TinySeed MicroConf recently signed a deal like this, and someone gave us a really good deal, a good price reduction, with the thought that our case study, if it is viable, I mean if it becomes a thing, is worth a lot to them.

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3. 03

   Leverage needed for big-company case studies

   Securing case studies from larger companies requires internal advocacy because they often have formal policies; without someone internally championing the request, it's very difficult to obtain them after the customer is already using the product.

   Supporting evidence 1

   Original excerpt

   if you’re dealing with a bigger company where they have a policy or something, you really need somebody to fight for that in some way, shape, or form.

   Ruben Gamez · Paragraph 37

   Episode 852 | Getting Big Name Customer Case Studies and More Listener Questions (with Ruben Gamez) · Sep 29, 2026

   Context

   Yeah. You need leverage for them to actually… We’ve gone back and we’ve gotten case studies afterwards. We did, once Sam, the new CEO for SignWell, got in, he did a bunch of that. And some said yes, some just didn’t reply or anything like that. But And once they’re already using the product, if you can’t find any leverage, then it’s going to be really tough.

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