Why Most Enterprise AI Pilots Never Scale and How to Fix It

Enterprise AI startups don’t fail because the tech is weak. They fail because they sell the wrong way.In this episode of the Alchemist Influencer Series, Ravi Belani sits down with Gnani Palanikumar, former Head of Product at Apigee (acquired by Google for $725M) and chair of Alchemist’s GenAI track.Gnani shares a tactical, operator-level playbook for turning AI pilots into real enterprise adoption.They discuss:Why traditional enterprise org structures break AI deploymentsThe mismatch between 2-year AI cycles and 12-month buying cyclesWhy founders should sell at the department level, not enterprise-wideHow to find pre-approved budgets and avoid multi-stakeholder gridlockThe “4-week proof” tactic for voice AI in financial servicesWhy domain expertise and fractional operators matterHow to identify whether a company is AI-native or stuck in SaaS thinkingWhy AI projects must deliver value within a quarterGnani’s 5-word takeaway says it all:Lead with trust. Deliver proof.If you’re building enterprise AI, this episode is pure tactical insight.