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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