In 2021, enterprise distributed ledger technology has evolved beyond the proof-of-concept stage. It is now providing business value to large consortia in several successful and well documented case studies. Nevertheless, other consortia and initiatives are stuck in early stages of consortium formation or conceptualization. They stand to benefit from lessons learned by successful consortia, but an in-depth comparison has not yet been conducted. Thus, this study performs the first methodological comparison of large DLT consortia that have launched a product. Based on the temporal evolution of these consortia, a lifecycle with 4 stages and 12 sub-phases is developed to provide further guidance for early-stage consortia. The results show how 9 pioneer consortia have successfully integrated novel DLT into existing processes, but also point out challenges faced on the way.