In a LinkedIn post shared last year, the general manager of PepsiCo Labs, Anna Farberov, shared her frustration with the strategic errors start-ups make when pitching to corporations. Having attended 3,500 such meetings, she felt she had the expertise to detail their mistakes. However, the backlash to her post was severe, with employees and founders of start-ups keen to highlight the issues they faced when approaching corporations. Both sides clearly wanted to collaborate. But they struggled to find ways to engage in successful and lasting engagements.
How Startups Can Land a Second Meeting with a Corporate Partner
Researchers attended 150 meetings between start-ups and corporations including IBM, Sony, L’Oréal, Toyota, and AstraZeneca.
January 26, 2023
Summary.
For start-ups, even securing an initial meeting with a corporation can be tough — let alone establishing a partnership. To understand what works, the authors attended 150 one-on-one meetings between start-ups and corporations such as IBM, Sony, SAAB, L’Oréal, Scania, Toyota, and AstraZeneca. Our observations helped identify five best practices to help start-ups generate corporate interest in collaborating after the meeting: 1) Have clear but flexible goals; 2) Address existing problems and needs; 3) Address ease of integration and collaboration; 4) Present use cases and new value propositions; and 5) Assemble the right team.
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HBR Learning
Business Case Development Course
Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Business Case Development. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
Make your next business case more compelling.