When we think about product adoption, the focus usually falls on the end user. Product managers map user needs with frameworks like jobs-to-be-done (JTBD), ensuring the product fits a real workflow. But in B2B, adoption doesn't always equal purchase. Deals often hinge on an informal buying committee — a shifting group of individuals who influence or approve decisions, even if they never use the product directly.
This isn’t a boardroom-style committee. It’s a loose network of roles that naturally forms around a purchase: the user who advocates, the technologist who evaluates feasibility, the security lead who vets risk, the finance partner who manages cost. Ignore them, and even the best user experience may never see scale.
Jobs to Be Done Beyond the User
JTBD applies here too. Each member of this informal committee has their own “job” in the decision:
- End User: Get the job done more efficiently or effectively.
- Technologist: Ensure the product integrates cleanly with existing systems and doesn’t add unnecessary complexity. This is especially critical with APIs, developer platforms, or middleware where integration risk is high.
- IT/Security: Protect the organization’s data, ensure compliance, and manage operational risk.
- Finance: Control budget, reduce cost unpredictability, and avoid unplanned long-term lock-in.
- Legal/Procurement: Minimize exposure and standardize contracts.
Each role brings a different definition of success. Together, they form the real decision-making environment.
Why It Matters: The Case of API Adoption
Consider APIs and developer-focused products. Developers may love a tool for its speed or flexibility, but purchase rarely happens on their enthusiasm alone. Technical architects and platform teams often step in as the evaluators. Their “job” is to protect long-term maintainability and ensure integrations won’t break under scale. Without satisfying that committee, a product risks remaining in pilot purgatory — tested but never rolled out.
Gartner research on B2B buying groups shows that enterprise decisions typically involve six to ten stakeholders, many with veto power. That’s the informal committee at work.
The Product Manager’s Takeaway
It’s not enough to solve the end user’s job. To win in B2B, product managers must anticipate the informal buying committee and their jobs as well:
- Map the committee early. In discovery, ask who else needs to sign off or influence the decision.
- Frame outcomes for each role. Translate product value into the language of risk, cost, and integration as much as user efficiency.
- Enable champions. Give end users the narratives and artifacts they need to persuade their own internal committee.
Products succeed when they work for users. Businesses succeed when they also work for the informal committees shaping the path to purchase.