Most businesses look to partnerships as a way to scale-up fast and test new sales models. This is especially the case when they want to access new markets, leverage a skilled sales force or achieve synergies. However, when two strong parties start promising discussions, they often break up in spite of the obvious potential for collaboration. Worse,
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A colleague recently asked me to support him in a difficult partner negotiation. The discussion was about trade margins and he was apprehensive. He turned out to be right. For quickly after kicking off, the parties focused on that single issue. They stubbornly pushed the same arguments back and forth until no compromise was possible.
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Very few of us could have foreseen how deeply disruptive the Covid 19 pandemic would be. Both in our lives and the way we work. The most immediate and painful impact has been of course the tragic loss of life and the overwhelming sense of shock. In addition to that, all over the world, people
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13 essential questions to answer about product marketing and go to market strategy
Building a highly functioning team is an essential part of scaling up a business and winning in the marketplace. “No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team,” is the way Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn cofounder, sums it up. Creating the culture and standards
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When you speak to European start-up founders, you often hear that they are contemplating a progressive expansion plan, that takes them progressively from their home market to bigger and more competitive landscapes in Europe, such as the UK and Germany. This has been the conventional approach so far: validate your concept in Europe then go
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I came across this recent and interesting webinar by Sheel Mohnot of 500 Startups, on trends in Fintech; a must watch for those new to the topic. It describes the various sub categories of the sector, what drives them, and offers some really good insights into customer behaviour and the dynamics between innovating startups and the
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Online marketplaces have become an integral part of our how we discover and buy goods and services, in an increasingly digital economy. The most successful ones such AirBnB, eBay and OpenTable to name a few, have achieved deep liquidity and powerful network effects that make them almost impossible to copy or displace. However, for every
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I have recently been reminded of the importance and simultaneously of the difficulty of planning in a start-up. On one hand, as soon as a founding team is done with the product market fit phase, pressure increases to start charting a roadmap for growth and articulating how they will go to market and scale. On
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One of the main aspects of professionalising a growing start-up consists in establishing a robust system of goals and accountabilities. One that focuses team members on ambitious projects and aligns them with the overall strategy. This is not a trivial task given the behavioural and culture changes involved. This is where the OKR framework comes
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