Business AlliancesJan Urban, May 2, 2013
Cash is king and time is money.Save your cash and buy yourself time...
...by building productive alliances
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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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