Landing Your First Deal

The Importance of Your First Partner

 The Importance of Your First Partner
This will set the tone for deals to come
– Not only externally, but also amongst your team
which will determine their commitment to making
BD deals successful
Your Ideal First Partner
 Your Ideal First Partner
Meaningful, but not the biggest fish in the pond
– *Unless you can magically get an exclusive with the
absolute best partner available out of the gates
 Your Ideal First Partner
Meaningful, but not the biggest fish in the pond
– *Unless you can magically get an exclusive with the
absolute best partner available out of the gates

The goals with first partners:

– To drive growth
– Obtain understanding about this growth channel
– Achieve verifiable results for a case study
– Social proof
Why Not Go Straight for the King Fish?
Why Not Go Straight for the King Fish?
First impressions are everything and you want to
enter these discussions armed with as much ammo
as possible
– Case studies, verifiable results, social proof
Why Not Go Straight for the King Fish?
First impressions are everything and you want to
enter these discussions armed with as much ammo
as possible
– Case studies, verifiable results, social proof

Use your initial deals to build these assets and then

approach the big boys
What You Should Be Looking For In
Your First Partner?
 What You Should Be Looking For In
Your First Partner?
• They fit your criteria for creating impact (size
of opportunity)
 What You Should Be Looking For In
Your First Partner?
• They fit your criteria for creating impact (size
of opportunity)
• Culture fit and willing to move quickly
 What You Should Be Looking For In
Your First Partner?
• They fit your criteria for creating impact (size
of opportunity)
• Culture fit and willing to move quickly
• Flexible enough to work with a startup
 What You Should Be Looking For In
Your First Partner?
• They fit your criteria for creating impact (size
of opportunity)
• Culture fit and willing to move quickly
• Flexible enough to work with a startup
• Agree to provide the metrics for and give you
the right to create a case study
 What You Should Be Looking For In
Your First Partner?
• They fit your criteria for creating impact (size
of opportunity)
• Culture fit and willing to move quickly
• Flexible enough to work with a startup
• Agree to provide the metrics for and give you
the right to create a case study
• Indication that this relationship will be a
priority
Black Hole Initial Partnerships
 Black Hole Initial Partnerships
1. They have the history of being a big, slow
moving organization
 Black Hole Initial Partnerships
1. They have the history of being a big, slow
moving organization
2. They work with any and everybody
a. Making the deal successful will not be a priority
 Black Hole Initial Partnerships
1. They have the history of being a big, slow
moving organization
2. They work with any and everybody
a. Making the deal successful will not be a priority
3. Lack of awareness that they’re working with a
startup
First Partner Criteria Established…
Understanding The Dynamic
 Understanding The Dynamic
You’re an unproven startup which means you’re a
risk for major players to work with

– Not only at the company level, but also for the

individual counterpart you’re dealing with
Understanding Incentives
 Understanding Incentives
Company incentives
– Make money
 Understanding Incentives
Company incentives
– Make money
– Obtain something novel that enhances their position
 Understanding Incentives
Company incentives
– Make money
– Obtain something novel that enhances their position
– Appear cutting edge (AmEx + Foursquare)
 Understanding Incentives
Company incentives
– Make money
– Obtain something novel that enhances their position
– Appear cutting edge (AmEx + Foursquare)
Individual incentives
 Understanding Incentives
Company incentives
– Make money
– Obtain something novel that enhances their position
– Appear cutting edge (AmEx + Foursquare)
Individual incentives
– Look good to their boss and colleagues
 Understanding Incentives
Company incentives
– Make money
– Obtain something novel that enhances their position
– Appear cutting edge (AmEx + Foursquare)
Individual incentives
– Look good to their boss and colleagues
– Low risk
Does A Relationship Accomplish
Any of These Things?
Does A Relationship Accomplish
Any of These Things?

If this isn’t an incredibly obvious yes, how can you

position a relationship so that it does?

*more on positioning later….

The Two Schools of Initial Partnerships
The Two Schools of Initial Partnerships
Friendly companies
– Initial buy-in required for momentum and case
studies is easier to get from friends
The Two Schools of Initial Partnerships
Friendly companies
– Initial buy-in required for momentum and case
studies is easier to get from friends

Un-friendly companies
– Unbiased feedback
My Humble Opinion Where to Start
My Humble Opinion Where to Start
Friendly companies who have a great brand and a
real business
My Humble Opinion Where to Start
Friendly companies who have a great brand and a
real business
– Get to a resolution faster
– Use this to achieve more credibility for other brands
– They’re not going to make decisions just because
they’re your friend. They have a business to run
My Humble Opinion Where to Start
Friendly companies who have a great brand and a
real business
– Get to a resolution faster
– Use this to achieve more credibility for other brands
– They’re not going to make decisions just because
they’re your friend. They have a business to run
Early Partner Evaluation Framework
Early Partner Evaluation Framework
Size of opportunity
– Look at your pre-defined key metrics your trying to
drive and measure that against the correlated partner
metric (i.e. users vs. users they drive you)
Early Partner Evaluation Framework
Size of opportunity
– Look at your pre-defined key metrics your trying to
drive and measure that against the correlated partner
metric (i.e. users vs. users they drive you)
Culture
– What do they care about (engineering, design, etc)
Early Partner Evaluation Framework
Size of opportunity
– Look at your pre-defined key metrics your trying to
drive and measure that against the correlated partner
metric (i.e. users vs. users they drive you)
Culture
– What do they care about (engineering, design, etc)

Track record
– Are they easy to work with or a giant pain?
Partner Evaluation Recon
 Partner Evaluation Recon
1. Look at their website or articles revealing
metrics
 Partner Evaluation Recon
1. Look at their website or articles revealing
metrics
2. Try to find people that have worked with them
before
– Partners or clients section on their website
 Partner Evaluation Recon
1. Look at their website or articles revealing
metrics
2. Try to find people that have worked with them
before
– Partners or clients section on their website
3. Look at past deals and try to get a sense of
whether they were successful
Model the SOP
 Putting it All Together:
Initial Partner Framework
1. Most important metric
2. Ideal customer and their intent
3. Partner fit
SinglePlatform’s Initial Partner
Don’t Worry We’ll Talk About How to
Get That Deal Later….