Jay Parkhill on GigaOM wrote a nice explanation of licensing agreement. It explains nicely all the obscure legalese that marketing people like to avoid. It’s worth a read.
Archive for the ‘business development’ Category
Good Layman’s Explanation of a Licensing Agreement
Monday, June 2nd, 2008Looks Like Fairness Counts
Sunday, May 18th, 2008Slow Leadership discusses research out of Wharton about how treating partners fairly matters. No kidding. Any good business development person can tell you this. Yet many executives don’t get it. So here’s how it works: if your partner feels like you screwed them, then they won’t put any effort into the relationship and both parties end up losing. So the lesson for today is DON’T SCREW YOUR PARTNERS!
Biz Dev Tips
Sunday, May 11th, 2008Bernard Lunn on ReadWriteWeb gave a list of 11 Biz Dev 1.0 Tips. Of particular interest are items number 3 and 4:
3. Wait until you hear the screams. If you have a fire engine, you are not needed until the house is on fire. The best sales people wait until they see a real need before applying a lot of effort…
4. Two ears, one mouth. …People don’t buy products, they buy solutions to problems. Find the problem and show a solution based on your product…
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been sent after people to get a deal when there was no reason for them to want to work with us. It never works. We had nothing to offer. I can’t sell ice to an Eskimo. Nor can I tell you how many times I’ve been contacted by people with nothing to offer us but still wanting to do a deal. They either talk about the technology or, even worse, they expect me to come up with a way to work with them. My first question to everyone that calls is always – “What did you have in mind?” If they don’t have an answer, then we’re done.
Match.com and Me
Tuesday, January 16th, 2007I’ve been a Match.com user for years. I really enjoy the service and am a big believer in it (and the whole matchmaking segment in general). I’ve gone from being an evangelist for Match.com to an employee. I’ve resigned from my business development position at Verizon SuperPages.com and accepted a position at Match.com as Director of Business Development. I’m very excited. The matchmaking business is fascinating with a lot of exciting things going on.
Where are you TiVo? Please Talk to Opera and Get with the Sofa Web
Friday, December 22nd, 2006Om Malik at GigaOM discusses the new game consoles and the contribution they might make to Internet browsing. He refers to it as the “sofa web.” It’s good reading.
He also discusses how Opera has been good at recognizing opportunities in the mobile market and is now going after the game console market.
As much as I like to see Om talk about this, it makes me sad that TiVo is not even considered in the conversation, not that they deserve to. I feel that TiVo has really dropped the ball when it comes to being the box that integrates the Internet, PCs, Audio, Video, DVR, and TV in the living room. Everything was there from the head start in the living room to the easily customizable linux-based platform on which TiVo software sits.
Perhaps TiVo and Opera need to be talking.
The Art of Distribution – Business Development from Guy Kawasaki
Friday, September 22nd, 2006Guy Kawasaki posted How to Change the World: The Art of Distribution. It’s an interesting Biz Dev lesson for startups.
The underlying and important assumption in modern day distribution is the asymmetry of the arrangement. For most entrepreneurs distribution involves piggybacking on another organization with much greater momentum.
One of the tips he gives is to “Look for adjacency.” He uses eBay/PayPal, Linkedin/Simply Hired, and FeedBurner/TypePad as examples. Note that these are formal relationships, not where one party is simply sucking off of the other party using open APIs. Most important, he reminds startups to “focus on revenue.” This is the what’s in it for them advice that I always start with. “If your partner will make money, then the deal will probably happen.” He also points out:
Look out for the other guy. The right perspective for distribution partners is: Let’s both make money. For sure, it’s not: How can I ensure that we make a ton of money and stick it to our partner? I have never seen a case where only partner makes money. Either everyone makes money or no one does.
Well put Guy. Get that formalized deal that works for both parties. Again, partnerships really haven’t changed much in the Web 2.0 world.
