Kauffman’s eVenturing has another outstanding collection of materials — this month it is related to strategic partnerships.
For entrepreneurs building growth companies, engaging strategic partners tends to be par for the course. The bottom line is the right partner can drive success for your company while the wrong partner can be stifling. This collection provides entrepreneurs insights on identifying, selecting, and negotiating with prospective partners and covers ways to manage effectively the partner relationship to maximize chances for success.
Pay particular attention to the “wrong partners can be stifling” part of this collection. Getting locked in — and by locked in I really mean locked in — with the wrong partner is more than stifling. Strategic partnerships are most often with large, established companies in your industry. They have enough resources and enough lawyers to make your life miserable if you do not do things their way. Do your homework. Get to know their culture, talk to other companies they have done strategic partnerships with in the past, and hire a really good attorney who is experienced in such matters to make sure the deal it fair.
Go in with your eyes wide open. Don’t sit down to negotiate a strategic partnership unless you are ready willing and able to walk away from the discussions if things don’t look right to you.