As a startup, it's very challenging to find success in partnering with big businesses. If you can break through, it may be the trigger point to find the hockey stick growth that all startups seek. Over the past 4 years, I successfully navigated partnering with 1000+ businesses including Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon & more and put together some key learnings for any entrepreneur or business development / sales team to learn.

1. Partnering with Big
Businesses
7 ways startups can find success

2. Great partnerships…

3. Me

4. You?

5. Why Partner?
• 1+1 = 3
• Leverage mutual strengths
• Distribution
• Channel
• Acquisition (M&A)

6. Why don’t we partner more?
• Opportunity cost
• Difficult to justify equitable value
• Large company friction
• Long legal processes

7. Finding success – My Story
+250clients 3offices +1,000 rewards 21 countries

8. Topics for Today
 Mentality
 Approach
 Meetings
 Conferences
 Champion
 Contracts
 Implementation

9. 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

10. Tip #1 - Mentality
From: Business Model Generation, Osterwald & Pigneur

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. Tip #4 - Conferences

19. 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

20. Tip #4 - Conferences
Attend 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

21. 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”

22. Tip #5 – How to make a champion
 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
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.

23. Tip #6 Contracts
• Make your legal process dead simple
• Each page adds a week to the legal process

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. In Review: 7 ways to find
success
Treat 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

28. Thank you!
suchit.dash@gmail.com
@suchit
Berlin, Germany

29. 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