Business Alliances Jan Urban, May 2, 2013 Cash is king and time is money. Save your cash and buy yourself time... ...by building productive alliances
May 11, 2015
Business AlliancesJan Urban, May 2, 2013
Cash is king and time is money.Save your cash and buy yourself time...
...by building productive alliances
2
Me
• Lawyer & Mngmt consultant• Took first chance to „desert“ the corporate
world (dot.com)• Entrepreneur –> „incubator“ –> investor???
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Look for your next elevator
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Elevator?
Patent filing by Elisha Otis(courtesy Wikipedia) 160 years ago
Pulley - one of „simple physical machines“Will get you there with a fraction of resources(power, work -> time, money, effort)
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Business alliance?
You
Your (potential) customers
Business Partner
Business Partner‘s customers
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No rocket science
• Common sense• Emmotional intelligence (listening)• Patience & persistence
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What?1. Hypothesize (partner, motivations, story) / if possible, test hypothesis
with an insider or an „informed“ friend2. Prepare an intriguing teaser3. Find a „champion“ (Google, LinkedIn)4. Cold-call or, better, get introduced5. Meet f2f6. Test hypothesis(es)7. Understand motivations (even „unreasonable“), stakeholders
(company, „champion“, manager...), constraints (time, money, capacity, skills, regulations)
8. Follow-up / summarize9. Iterrate10. Thank them
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How?• Assume good will• Be open about what you want • Give / share / exchange (contacts, non-confidential data, opinions,
know-how) – people do business with „friends“...• ...but don‘t compromise yourself• Be open-minded, expect the unexpected, don‘t assume or jump to
conclusions• First grow the pie, than split it• Be non-orthodox, test the limits („what if“?)• Tell stories / „visualize“, be as concrete as possible, use plain words• Spread your network
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Why will they listen to me?
• Content (better product / service offering) or at least activity
• Increase in revenues– Revenue sharing deals– Money „later“
• Ability to complete / deliver in no-time and at no costs– Cost savings
• Ability to syndicate (sometimes better from the outside than inside)
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Will they steal my idea?
• Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration (Albert Einstein)
• Execution is what matters• Partner will not be able to execute, unless you are
exactly on their trajectory and in clear sight (probability 0,001%)
• How many times did „they“ steal my project? – 0– Usually:
• I don‘t even sign an NDA, only ask for confidentiality...• ... don‘t tell all the details
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My examples
• Palmknihy -> MNO– Content
• Expensa -> banks– Content, revenue share
• HypoAsistent + realPad– Improvement of service offering to joint clients
• Klikpojisteni –> large retailer– Client base monetization, revenue share
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