A co-founder's guide to Biz Dev | Hacker News Reader

A co-founder's guide to Biz Dev

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41 pointsrobfitz7 comments

Very sound advice by someone who's accomplished A LOT in this field.

#6 strikes me as particularly important:

> 6. Make sure you’re talking to the ultimate decision maker. > It’s often not the person you’ll be directed to. It’s frequently the PM.

I'd also add that 'it's not necessarily the person with the fancy title.' You'll lose a lot of time by focussing on the wrong person(s), even if their title suggest that they're very important. We lost a deal in which we spent several weeks conferencing flirtatiously with BD and Corp Dev (both EVPs) only to have the proposal rejected by a 'regular' PM, who ultimately owned the product and wasn't very pleased to be brought into the process at a later stage. Instead, we should have asked early on who is going to be involved in the decision process 'given we find a great strategic fit'. Getting a soft Yes, that'd be him/her/me on this also helps the general sales process.

I agree with that. I think from a titles point of view it's also worth noting that BD roles at start-ups is 99% about selling, whereas BD at big companies is often more about being a filter for things that a PM might want to 'buy', and shielding them from what they don't. That's part of the reason that the most badass start-up BD people don't come from big company biz dev teams.

Strongly agreed with lots of these. Getting to the right person is key. Also the "Bigger companies" comment applies whenever the company you want to partner with perceives themselves as big or important.

The two I would add:

1) Listen. Obvious but critical to making the right arguments and providing the right information to help the project get sold internally within the partner.

2) You don't just have to fit in with the overall strategy but local departmental strategies and politics with the partner company. Convince the person deciding that you will help them achieve what matters to them (hit targets/get bonus/get noticed...).

Most important point was actually before the points listed: do business development yourself and figure out the sales process/value proposition before hiring for sales/BD folks. You will never get a handle on what customers want, how they buy, and why they buy if you do not roll up your sleeves and sell your thing yourself.

Yeah, I totally agree with that. Just not for too long, otherwise you become too integral to the process.

Most important, from my experience doing biz dev at zillow a few years ago, is focus on the relationship (which is why BD is hard to scale - you can't just "hand" over a relationship to someone else) and figure out how to help the other party every step of the way. Promote the hell out of your closed deals.

Great advice. Especially documentation: that is your marketing at scale.

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