I'm building a Mac app targeting the educational iBooks market. We're still in private beta, but several people from Apple have signed up to our launch email list already.
Today, I was contacted by a Business Development Manager at Apple's Marketing team. He requested a phone meeting with him tomorrow, to learn more about what we're building and how we envision it being used in schools.
Any advice on what I should and should not say / ask?
1. Are you targeting the iBooks market, or are you targeting the iBooks market? That is: are you competition to Apple, or a potential success story for them?
2. Apple meets interesting companies who are in interesting fields regularly. Biz Dev is a broad title. It can mean any of the following:
i. Hey let's be friends! ii. This is a market we're going to highlight in the next keynote and you might fit in well. iii. This is a market we are keen to exploit more and you're potentially competition. iv. We want to acquire you. v. We want to fuck you, hard.
If you're not sure which of those it's going to be you need to take a long look at Apple's objectives with iBooks and education and work out where you sit on their radar.
3. Don't give anything away that Apple couldn't already have reasonably worked out. Talk about the size of your team and your experience in this market, but don't talk about investment or investors. If they ask specifically then just politely say that its' confidential, and that you're sure someone from Apple can understand that.
4. Be passionate about the public side of your roadmap. Discuss the key problems and the solution you have to them. Have answers to the challenges you're likely to face (I guess traction is one).
Don't ask about Apple's plans because they won't tell you anything. However, do think about things that Apple could do that would help you get into this market and really open it up. Frame some questions around that if you can.
Sorry this is a little broad. I don't think you're naive enough to be expecting an acquisition or something, but you should also be prepared for the fact that they will probably speak to 100 companies like you every week, just so they have you on file.