Acme Corp is a 1,200-person manufacturing firm moving their engineering team off a legacy project-tracking stack. Sarah Chen, VP Engineering, owns the decision with full budget authority up to $150K — the additional $30K requires CFO sign-off. Their fiscal year closes Oct 31, which creates hard pressure to execute before Sep 28 to get value in FY25 books. The deal has strong technical footing: we passed all evaluation criteria, cleared the Aug 22 security review, and champion Michael Torres (Director of Engineering) went on record Aug 30 saying the team is aligned. The gap is on the commercial side — no Finance champion has been formally identified, and the $30K overage against the budget ceiling is unresolved. On a forecast call, I would say: "Acme is a Sep 28 close. Technical and security sign-off are done. Legal kickoff is scheduled Sep 4. The one risk is the $30K above Sarah's direct authority — we're working to get CFO Sarah Okonkwo looped in before Sep 12. If that's resolved by end of next week, I'm putting this at Commit."

[CONFIRMED] Signed NDA executed Jun 14, 2025 [CONFIRMED] Technical evaluation completed Jul 8–22 — passed all criteria [CONFIRMED] Security review Aug 22 — SOC 2 Type II compliance confirmed [CONFIRMED] Champion Michael Torres stated "team is aligned" on Aug 30 call (Zoom transcript on file) [ASSUMED] Close date Sep 28 — verbal commitment from Michael, not yet in MSA [ASSUMED] Contract value $180,000 ACV — quoted, not countersigned [AT RISK] Budget ceiling $150K — Sarah Chen's direct authority cap; $30K overage needs CFO sign-off [AT RISK] No Finance champion identified — CFO Sarah Okonkwo not yet engaged [AT RISK] Competing vendor (Notion Enterprise) still in active evaluation per Michael's Sep 2 email

1. Finance gap ($30K over Sarah Chen's direct authority) Mitigation: Request intro to CFO Sarah Okonkwo through Michael Torres by Sep 5. Frame as routine budget approval, not re-negotiation. Prepare ROI one-pager showing $210K first-year value vs. $180K cost. 2. Competing vendor still active (Notion Enterprise) Mitigation: Accelerate legal kickoff to Sep 4 to signal commitment. Request exclusive evaluation window through Sep 28 close. Differentiate on security posture — Notion cannot match SOC 2 Type II without enterprise add-on at comparable cost. 3. Legal review could stretch beyond Sep 28 Mitigation: Confirm Acme legal team capacity before Sep 4 kickoff. Propose a standard MSA with minimal redlines to compress review cycle. Identify whether CFO sign-off can happen in parallel with legal, not sequentially.

1. Sep 5 — Secure intro to CFO Sarah Okonkwo through Michael Torres Owner: AE (Marcus Reid). Confirm email intro or calendar invite by EOD Sep 5. 2. Sep 4 — Legal kickoff: send MSA draft to Acme legal team Owner: AE (Marcus Reid) + Legal (Dana Cho). Use standard enterprise MSA template. Request 10-day turnaround. 3. Sep 12 — CFO budget sign-off: $30K over-authorization Owner: AE (Marcus Reid). Meeting with Sarah Chen + Sarah Okonkwo. Deliverable: written approval or counter-proposal.