Ask Sama: Any advice for startups talking to big companies?

[hooande]

I need some bizdev advice and figured I'd go straight to the source. How should a small startup approach a big company? Is there anything you've learned in your experiences that you'd like to share?

I guess the best thing to do is starting sending emails and making phone calls, but I don't know much about bizdev. Are there things to avoid or things that we can do to maximize our chances of getting a meeting?

[sama]

One of the most important things you can do is appear credible. Most big companies forget that they did their most interesting things when they were just a few people with an uncertain future. When a big company wanted to visit us in our early days, we got a bunch of our friends to come hang out in the office so we looked bigger than we were. Along the same line, an introduction is much better than a cold call. (What big co? I'll help if I can.) And find a way to convince them you'll be around for awhile (we had to have our investors call a ceo once).

Getting a meeting, by the way, is about 10% of the work. Big cos often have difficult political landscapes and multiple decision makers. You have to figure out who wants what and convince them all they will get it. Also, big cos often except a discount for 'taking a risk' by working with a startup.

[ScottWhigham]

Biz dev is one of the areas in which you can actually find top quality people who will work for little or no salary in exchange for equity. Is that a possibility here? In my limited experience, the BD folks who will work for low/no salary in exchange for equity can do so because they've been quite successful at BD so far...

Outside of that, networking through the warm market works best but sometimes you're going to need to cold call. Walking into the company, asking the receptionist for the name of someone with a specific job title and asking if you can leave them a packet of information can work as often as 20-30% of the time. Knowing the name in advance and having a custom packet would be even better.

[michael_dorfman]

Could you clarify the question? How should a small startup approach a big company for what? What's your objective?