Startup Business Development 101
WRITTEN BY: HOLGER LUEDORF
VIA FRED WILSON, AVC
Holger Luedorf is an experienced business development and partnerships leader who has spent time at companies like Google, Twitter, Postmates, Foursquare, and Yahoo. In a guest post on Fred Wilson’s blog, he compiled a list of 15 basic guidelines to help startups who are building up BD teams or do not have dedicated in-house BD. We’ve included his guidelines below, but refer to his original post here for full context and explanations.
- 01 -
Create clear BD targets
“Ideally, BD targets are a subset of the overall company goals (e.g. grow the user base, expand internationally, outsource a critical technology etc.) but they could also be outside the core company goals, like exploring alternative business opportunities, seeking M&A opportunities etc.”
- 02 -
Structure your approach
“Once the goals are set, the first thing the BD team or person should do is set priorities in terms of who your ideal partners are. This includes market sizing, market and competitive analysis, and a clear timeline.”
- 03 -
Solve problems, help partners reach their goals
“In addition to helping you reach your own targets, you really have to figure out how your proposal helps the potential partner reach their goals.”
- 04 -
Be prepared, research the companies you want to partner with
“Try to figure out what is top of mind for your potential partner. Is it facing a particular competitive thread? Has it had a major product launch failure? Has the team that you are speaking to experienced a recent change of executives? etc.”
- 05 -
Understand the partner organization
“Who are the decision-makers? Which teams or managers are heavily weighing in? Who is responsible for the long-term execution of the partnership? etc.”
- 06 -
Build a hierarchy of touch points
“For high-value partnerships, I always try to build a relationship on multiple levels, e.g. between the two day-to-day partnership managers, between the two VP-level managers responsible for those partnership, and ideally also between two or more C-level execs.”
- 07 -
Always be responsive
“I think it is disrespectful not to respond to companies or people reaching out for various reasons. The only things I usually do not respond to are blatantly obvious sales pitches.”
- 08 -
Don’t rush, don’t annoy
“My mantra: Pitch, have a solid follow-up providing additional data points or whatever else were the action points, but then let it sit for a period of time, before sending a reminder.”
- 09 -
Can’t close? Regroup, analyze, and adapt if possible
“If a deal cannot get done, and there might be many good reasons, regroup and think why the partnership did not make sense for the potential partner.”
- 10 -
Own your partners, not just deals
“In a start-up with potentially no dedicated BD team or at best a very small one, you have to double-up and take responsibility for both the deal making and on-going partner management.”
- 11 -
Don’t over-commit, internally or externally
“Do not over commit as you run the risk of killing the short-term opportunity and long term relationship. The same is true for internal commitment.”
- 12 -
Build strong relationships with key partners over time
“A strong working relationship with partners will help you build trust over time.”
- 13 -
Be present as a company
“One factor that will support your BD efforts is that your company has a positive image in the market.”
- 14 -
Relay partner feedback back into your own organization
“A lot of partner meetings generate a lot of information like product critique, observation of what the competition is doing, insights into what partners would like to see in terms of product innovation etc.”
- 15 -
Make sure you have solid legal support
“Having experienced legal support that really understands the big picture and has a good balance of risk-averseness and business acumen will help getting better deals done faster.”
See Holger’s full original post here.
Originally Published: January 16, 2013, Business Development 101, Holger Luedorf via Fred Wilson- AVC