Partnering with Big

Businesses

7 ways startups can find success

Great partnerships…

Me

You?

Why Partner?

• 1+1 = 3

• Leverage mutual strengths

• Distribution

• Channel

• Acquisition (M&A)

Why don’t we partner more?

• Opportunity cost

• Difficult to justify equitable value

• Large company friction

• Long legal processes

Finding success – My Story

clients+250 offices3 countries21rewards+1,000

Topics for Today

Mentality

Approach

Meetings

Conferences

Champion

Contracts

Implementation

Tip #1 - Mentality

• Place as much importance on partnerships as

you do on your product

• Think about your value to the partner

– Short Term (help them)

– Long Term (help you)

• Equitable Value Exchange

Tip #1 - Mentality

From: Business Model Generation, Osterwald & Pigneur

Tip #1 – Your mentality

Focus on partnerships like you focus on

your product – with intensity

Your goal initially is to make your partner

successful, not yourself

Be conscious of the value exchange

Tools to use:

• Yahoo Finance

• Press Releases on companies

website

Super Tips:

• Chart out short term and long

term goals

• Read Annual & Quarterly

Reports

Tip #2 – Approach

• How do you approach a big business?

– Identify the organization’s structure

– Map out key employees

• Research key priorities

• Create an internal structure for the team

Tip #2 - Approach

1. LinkedIn connection introduction to

VP to you & CEO or Board

Member/Advisor

2. Follow up email to VP

3. VP sends email copying 2 folks on

team

4. Team follows up asking for time

5. You meet with team (no VP in

meeting)

6. Send follow up meeting notes to full

thread

7. Team becomes unresponsive

8. CEO/Board Member pings VP

9. Team responds and pushes for next

step

1. LinkedIn connection introduces you

to PM

2. Follow up email to PM

3. PM cc’s technical resource & asks

for call

4. Proceed with call

5. Send follow up meeting notes

6. Team becomes unresponsive

7. Continue pinging PM

8. Attempt to get Board Member to

introduce VP Payments

9. Team tells VP payments that they

have already met

Tip #2 – Your Approach

One opportunity to get it correct, so be

thoughtful

Leverage introductions through trusted

contacts

Be cognizant of key priorities & trends

Tools to use:

• LinkedIn Premium Version

• Mind Meister Mapping

Super Tips:

• Corp Dev teams are good

resources for introductions

• Look for Lab teams within an

organization

Tip #3 - Meetings

• Your initial meeting is the most important

• 30/20/10

– 20 minutes listening

– 10 minutes speaking

• Goal is to understand partners strategic interests & align

your initiative with theirs

• Focus restating your pitch with their terms – “trigger

words” & get them excited

Meetings

Ideal 30 minute meeting script for a 9:30am meeting.

9:35am - Partner walks in 5 minutes late to a f2f meeting and immediately says that he has a hard stop at 10am

9:36am – Ask them about their role & the key strategic priorities they focuses on in the company

9:41am – Continue to ask them questions on their focus for the year & resource allocation

9:45am – Open your laptop and show 1-2 slides maximum (ideally a demo) of the product from the consumer standpoint. Use terms that they mentioned in the first 10 minutes while describing your product.

9:55am – Complete your speech and ask immediately about what they think and how they could fit in

Last 5 minutes (most crucial) – Critical to get names, next steps & they will ask for a deck

Tip #3 – Make the most of your

meetings

30/20/10

Focus on getting further introductions,

always take away something

Have them commit & put deadlines / next

steps in writing

Tools to use:

• Boomerang for Gmail

• Streak

• Clearslide (Deck)

Super Tips:

• Do not add people on LinkedIn

right away, adding on LinkedIn can

be used strategically

• Camp out at the coffee shop in big

companies

Tip #4 - Conferences

Tip #4 How to become a

conference “ninja”Pre Conference

• Book your hotel before anything

• Find a local restaurant or cafe at the hotel & ask people to meet there

• Book your plane ticket only when you have guaranteed meetings

During Conference

• Eat lunch 3 times – maximize the potential to meet new people

• Approach speakers after each session, guaranteed business card

• Ask speakers to meet you in the speaker lounge & stay there

Post Conference

• Never email 3-4 days afterward – send a short email right after you meet someone at the conference – they are much more likely to respond

Tip #4 - ConferencesAttend partner sponsored conferences &

events

Focus on time outside of sessions

Approach every speaker from partner

companies

Tools to use:

• Lanyrd – Social

Conferencing App

• Sonar / Highlight

• LinkedIn Connect

Super Tips:

• Ask conference organizers to see

if they have startup specials

• Hang around at the conference

hotel bar @ night – you’ll over

hear great tidbits

Tip #5 Champion

• A Champion is the key point of contact in

your partners organization that gets things

done

Traits of a champion

• Decision Maker

• Does not dominate the conversation with

“resource constraints”

• Does not start a sentence with “No”

Respond to emails within 30 minutes of when

they send something

Do their job for them – ask them if they need you

to craft an email for them to send to a certain

group

Continue to reinforce the fact that you want them

to succeed

Tip #5 – How to make a champion

Tools to use:

• Paper and Pen

• Postable

Super Tips:

• Send handwritten notes thanking

them after meetings

• Gifts at specific times (non

holidays) like books, etc.

Tip #6 Contracts• Make your legal process dead simple

• Each page adds a week to the legal process

Tip #6 Contracts

• Legal can take the most time, make their jobs

easy

• Negotiate business terms outside of the legal

process

• For Purchase orders, create an invoice like first

page

Tools to use:

• DocuSign

Super Tips:

• Have your lawyers chat directly

with their lawyers (or offer to)

• Have an exploding date / offer (a

special deal) that speeds up legal

• Call your lawyers – don’t email

them

Tip #7 Implementation

• The pilot test, is the real test

• Put all of your efforts in the first 4 weeks

after contract signature to effectively

execute the test

• You only have one shot to get it right. If

the test doesn’t work, the company will not

talk to you again

Tip #7 Implementation

• Customizing is OK

• If you feel like it won’t work, don’t launch

• Establish KPI’s pre-launch & communicate

constantly

Tools to use:

• Tag Management

Solutions

• Google Analytics

Super Tips:

• Chat with other successful

partners to understand success

• Find opportunities to integrate

where switching costs are high

In Review: 7 ways to find

successTreat navigating an organization like you’re

building a product

How you approach the company is critical to

success

Make each meeting important – 30/20/10

Utilize Conferences to deepen relationships

Find & develop a champion

Make your contracts dead simple

Make your pilot a success, no matter the cost

Thank you!

suchit.dash@gmail.com

@suchit

Berlin, Germany

Other Topics

• Hiring Sales Executives (Direct & Indirect)

• Top 5 responses to when a business says “no”

• Deep Dive: Maximizing conferences

• How to hire/fire the right people

Expert Topic Areas:

• Payments

• E-Commerce

• Loyalty & Rewards