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FREMONT, Calif., June 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dmitry Shubov Consulting, an advisory firm helping Southeast Asian startups scale into the U.S., is telling founders to watch out for what it calls the 2026 U.S. “pilot trap.” The warning stems from a recent LegalBooks article, “How to Structure Enterprise Pilots That Show Traction,” which highlighted why clear success metrics and a direct path to full adoption are so vital. Looking at this issue through a cross-border lens, Dmitry Shubov Consulting notes that many Southeast Asian startups can misread early U.S. pilot projects, software trials, or enterprise testing as a sign of market readiness. The trouble is, they are rarely prepared for the complex pricing, contracting, procurement, and rollout demands needed to turn that initial interest into a lasting commercial deal.

For many founders, getting a U.S. company to test a product feels like a major breakthrough. And in some ways, it is. But Dmitry Shubov Consulting says a pilot only matters if the company knows how to carry that momentum forward once the trial period ends.

“Too many founders see a pilot in the U.S. as proof that they’ve already gained real traction, when often it only shows that a company is willing to test something new,” said Dmitry Shubov, founder of Dmitry Shubov Consulting. “If there’s no clear plan for pricing, internal ownership, decision-makers, and what happens after the pilot ends, that momentum can fade very quickly.”

The firm says this is where many promising expansion efforts begin to lose steam. Startups may focus heavily on product performance during a pilot but spend too little time thinking through what comes next — who owns the budget, how success will be measured, what legal review may be required, and what would need to happen for the customer to move from a short-term test to a paid relationship.

Rather than treating a pilot as a simple sign that the product works, Dmitry Shubov Consulting says founders should look at it as the beginning of a much bigger business process. That means being clear on what success looks like, who inside the customer’s organization is actually making the decision, what issues might come up during legal or procurement review, and what needs to happen for the relationship to continue after the pilot wraps up. With funding still tight in 2026, the firm says startups cannot rely on early interest alone — they need to show they can follow through.

By raising this pressing issue now, Dmitry Shubov Consulting hopes to encourage founders to look at pilot activity more carefully and more strategically. Early U.S. interest can be valuable, but only if a startup is prepared to turn that opening into something lasting. Reach out to Dmitry Shubov Consulting for more information.