Business Development for Startups

							BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
    FOR STARTUPS




  Robyn Ward at Co-Loft
  8.23.12
    Me

   Majored in Entrepreneurship
   Investment Banking
   Addicted to the start:
       Advised &Consulted over 20 startups
       Worked at:
            Online Retail Partners, e-commerce incubator
            OANDA, FX tools and currency trading platform
            Verified Person, background screening enterprise & smb software
            DocStoc, small business services
            Betterworks, employee rewards/recognition platform for smb
            Glossi, digital magazine platform
BD in the Early Days


   Owner of industry & competitive landscape
   Early advocate for a business model &
    revenue model discovery
   One man/woman combo of sales, bd, and
    marketing
   Start to build the ecosystem
Ecosystem
                        Distribution
                         Channel
        Outsourcers                        Partners

     Conference
     Organizers                               Suppliers


   Trade Assocs.
                        BD                   Customers


          Investors                    Press, Analysts,
                                         Influencers

                      Competition
Building Social Capital

Be everywhere IMPORTANT – offline and online

                    Tips:
                     Don’t just attend, participate

                     Become/Friend a thought leader

                     Make connections, not contacts

                     Give before you get/ask
Business Development v. Sales




                            As per Paige Craig
Why Partner?

   Grow audience/traffic

   Grow revenue

   Geographic expansion

   Increase Inventory

   Cost efficiencies

   Enhance Product -“build, buy, partner”
Types of Partnerships

                     Marketing
                     Content
                     Referral
                     Reseller
                     Technology
                     Product
                     Joint-Venture
Targeting/Prioritizing Partnerships
Partnership Evaluation Framework


  Potential         Likelihood of
   Upside              Success


    Effort            Strategic
  Involved              Value

                          Courtesy of Docstoc’s Jason Nazar
“Let’s Make a Deal”
   Do your homework
   Get a warm intro                                   BD
   Build a relationship
   Listen – what is the need, want, desired outcome?
   Take copious notes
   SHOW benefits of the deal (projections & pictures)
   End every call w “Next Steps”
   CLOSING is just the beginning
    Deal Economics


   Barter

   Pay for action
                     Tiered per
                     performance
   Revenue share
Key Terms

   Financial
   Who owns purchasing process,
    traffic, data, support
   Term and Termination
   Confidentiality
   Marketing and Promotions
   SLAs
   Reps & Warranties, Limited Liability, Indemnification,
    Dispute resolution
                            Find agreements online: Docstoc, LegalZoom
    Potential Pitfalls

   Wrong type of deal for stage of company

   Not a “win/win”

   Reseller partnership FAIL   (“if it does not make dollars, it does not make sense”)

   Exclusivity

   Failure to get buy-in with team

   Poor cross-functional management = Poor implementation

   Poor ongoing account management
Characteristics of a Great BizDev’r

   PEOPLE PERSON

   General business athlete

   Strong salesman & negotiator

   Crafty / creative

   Investment banking or legal background (+ not a must)

   Industry contacts (+ not a must)
robyn@glossi.com
@rmward
robynmward.com