Real Futures: Fire Side Chat with Robin Mesirow (PGIM Innovation Leader)
Winning large customers can change the trajectory of a startup, but pitching into enterprise organisations is rarely straightforward.
From the first conversation to pilot design, procurement, and long sales cycles, founders must balance ambition with realism, speed with credibility, and innovation with enterprise constraints. The way you pitch, position value, and navigate internal stakeholders often determines whether a conversation moves forward or quietly stalls.
This session focuses on how founders can successfully pitch and sell to large customers, particularly in real estate and the built environment, with clarity, credibility, and commercial judgement.
Designed for early and growth stage founders, this is a practical session grounded in real enterprise buying dynamics, not theory.
We will explore how to:
Approach large, complex organisations with a clear and credible value proposition
Understand how enterprise customers actually make buying decisions
Pitch pilots, proofs of concept, and early deployments effectively
Navigate multiple stakeholders across innovation, operations, and procurement
Avoid common mistakes that derail start up to enterprise conversations
Build trust and momentum without over promising or under pricing
Participants leave with:
Clear frameworks for pitching to large customers
A stronger understanding of enterprise incentives, risks, and constraints
Practical guidance on structuring pilots and early commercial engagements
More confidence in senior level conversations with corporate buyers
Better judgement around timing, pricing, and long-term partnerships
Session Lead: Robin Mesirow
Robin Mesirow is a Director of Global Innovation at PGIM. In this role, she leads innovation initiatives aligned with business priorities across teams and regions, driving the implementation of technology to improve operational efficiency, productivity, and investment decision making.
Robin also leads initiatives that contribute to RealAssetX, PGIM’s innovation lab, focused on accelerating the adoption of technology across the real assets industry. She works closely with startups, operators, and investment teams, giving her a firsthand view of how large organisations evaluate, pilot, and adopt new solutions.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan, where she double majored in Economics and Organisational Studies, and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Real Futures: Catalyst Converge Accelerator
Real Futures: Catalyst Converge is CSRI’s accelerator for ventures building sustainable real estate and built‑environment solutions. The programme accelerates bold, scalable innovation by connecting founders with researchers, industry partners, and real‑world pilot opportunities.
Ventures receive guided diagnostics, expert mentorship, access to PGIM and UCL resources, and a collaborative ecosystem focused on real‑asset transformation.
What the accelerator offers:
Tailored workshops and matched mentorship
Access to researchers, industry leaders, and investors
Pilot opportunities with PGIM
Support for innovation grant applications
Real‑world validation and market‑readiness
The accelerator integrates with the wider CSRI ecosystem - from Bartlett Invents to executive education, hackathons, and thought leadership - creating a clear path from idea to pilot to scale.
👉 Register your interest in Real Futures: Catalyst Converge Accelerator