3 ms·

Earnest: Aren't there other things that corp-dev does, like arrange strategic partnerships and reseller agreements, that can be very valuable for a business? (

Earnest: Aren't there other things that corp-dev does, like arrange strategic partnerships and reseller agreements, that can be very valuable for a business? (My personal experience is that these partnerships never live up to their hype, but my feeling is that one time out of a hundred they give the company a huge boost.)

api 12y ago
I'd love to hear PG and other knowledgable folks around here talk a bit about partnerships: when, whether, why? My experience too is that most partnerships are only valuable for social proof. Often nothing much else happens, maybe one or two customer connections. At the same time with some partnerships there is a risk of brand dilution. If you are letting someone re-sell or bundle, there's a risk that they might downplay your brand in favor of theirs and sort of appropriate your brand equity. These sorts of things do sometimes make me feel out of my depth as I try to put on biz-dev shoes as someone who's primarily technical.
- pquerna 12y ago
  In my experience partnerships in a SaaS-like thing tend to be binary: 0) Press-release and a few links on a website: Basically worthless. 1) Sales-team integration: you train the partners sales force, they get quota retirement (somehow, this can be complicated), this has some great customer outcome -- you give them margin on re-selling/kickbacks/discounts/whatever to get access to their sales/marketing machines, making it worth their time/effort.
- dsugarman 12y ago
  In my opinion, it is often useful to take the meetings but most won't be fruititious. You are likely to gain industry knowledge especially from other startups. If you are talking to a big company and you get to a meeting with an hour+ powerpoint, you have to really reconsider whether it is a good use of your time. If the deal is really you selling your SaaS software, it is probably worth it, otherwise probably not. Definitely don't take a sharp turn and sit in startup no-man's land while considering some big new partnership that will likely never work within the scope of your current vision.
- ig1 12y ago
  It depends on the type of business. If you're working with content licensing (i.e Spotify, Netflix), product integration (more common in b2b SaaS), marketplace supplier relationships with major partners (say if Airbnb wanted to offer Mariott rooms on their platform), etc. than partnerships are important.
bradleybuda 12y ago
Usually corp dev = acquisitions, biz dev = partnerships, but it varies across companies, and could be the same people in some companies. I've been in about five of these "corp dev" conversations (low N, but nonzero), and every single one started with an entreaty of "you should partner with us", which very quickly dissolved as it became clear they were solely interested in an acquisition.
csmajorfive 12y ago
When companies reach a certain size, the real partnerships stuff spins out into dedicated "Business Development" or "Partnerships" teams. It's really safe to assume that anyone with a "Corporate Development" title at any reasonably sized technology company spends all day evaluating and executing acquisitions. Don't go in thinking that you're about to have a partnership conversation.

api 12y ago

I'd love to hear PG and other knowledgable folks around here talk a bit about partnerships: when, whether, why? My experience too is that most partnerships are only valuable for social proof. Often nothing much else happens, maybe one or two customer connections. At the same time with some partnerships there is a risk of brand dilution. If you are letting someone re-sell or bundle, there's a risk that they might downplay your brand in favor of theirs and sort of appropriate your brand equity. These sorts of things do sometimes make me feel out of my depth as I try to put on biz-dev shoes as someone who's primarily technical.

pquerna 12y ago
In my experience partnerships in a SaaS-like thing tend to be binary: 0) Press-release and a few links on a website: Basically worthless. 1) Sales-team integration: you train the partners sales force, they get quota retirement (somehow, this can be complicated), this has some great customer outcome -- you give them margin on re-selling/kickbacks/discounts/whatever to get access to their sales/marketing machines, making it worth their time/effort.
dsugarman 12y ago
In my opinion, it is often useful to take the meetings but most won't be fruititious. You are likely to gain industry knowledge especially from other startups. If you are talking to a big company and you get to a meeting with an hour+ powerpoint, you have to really reconsider whether it is a good use of your time. If the deal is really you selling your SaaS software, it is probably worth it, otherwise probably not. Definitely don't take a sharp turn and sit in startup no-man's land while considering some big new partnership that will likely never work within the scope of your current vision.
ig1 12y ago
It depends on the type of business. If you're working with content licensing (i.e Spotify, Netflix), product integration (more common in b2b SaaS), marketplace supplier relationships with major partners (say if Airbnb wanted to offer Mariott rooms on their platform), etc. than partnerships are important.

bradleybuda 12y ago

Usually corp dev = acquisitions, biz dev = partnerships, but it varies across companies, and could be the same people in some companies. I've been in about five of these "corp dev" conversations (low N, but nonzero), and every single one started with an entreaty of "you should partner with us", which very quickly dissolved as it became clear they were solely interested in an acquisition.

csmajorfive 12y ago

When companies reach a certain size, the real partnerships stuff spins out into dedicated "Business Development" or "Partnerships" teams. It's really safe to assume that anyone with a "Corporate Development" title at any reasonably sized technology company spends all day evaluating and executing acquisitions. Don't go in thinking that you're about to have a partnership conversation.