Leaving the nest

One of the greatest opportunities for a young start-up is to find itself in the feathered nest of a larger firm with whom they’ve partnered. Often these start-ups are services providers for enterprise software, VARs or ISVs; or offer integral technology, new applications, or differentiating product ingredients. The leads from the partner organization are plentiful and the protection strong, and this warm partner nest is an ideal place to find the needed runway and references for a start-up.  

As young start-ups mature however, they often find themselves as overshadowed as they are emboldened by the larger firms with whom they partner.

Therefore it is critical that even while enjoying the partner’s nest, these companies begin to direct their own destinies to grow broader than their current dependencies on their larger partner companies. To accomplish this, they must leverage branding to elevate themselves into an independent and more credible visibility to their industry.

Differentiating and identifying the unique value the smaller organization offers customers of the larger company’s product is the main function of branding for a young company in this type of mutually beneficial relationship. It establishes market credibility for later product extension, product introduction, and establishes a distinct market value helpful for investment, merger and acquisition.

Simply being able to walk through a branding exercise and begin to articulate the unique value provided allows a young company to strategize their growth. As the branding is then communicated out to the marketplace through content marketing, event sponsorship, public relations, or myriad other tools, this strategy begins to identify potential customer personas, inform product and investment decisions, and  that free it from the decisions and whims of their larger partner.

Strategy180 understands that in the cacophony of demands from operations, finance, engineering, and sales, longer term strategy often takes a back seat. Yet it is important that the longer term vision and goals of the organization are tended to with as much attention, or the short term fight for ideal position within a large organization’s nest may soon prevent a young start-up from ever having the option to leave it. 

Networking is a waste of time…

Yes, networking is a waste of time…

…if you can’t answer the question, “So, what do you do?”

This is a common networking question that everyone should be able to answer. Interestingly, however, few actually answer it. Like a good politician or crisis management firm, most people answer the question they wish they had been asked, the easier one to answer. Instead of answering the question “So, what do you do?”, they’ll tend to answer a different question. “So, what do you do?” becomes “What is your title?” or “What can you do?”. Answer those two questions instead and you are just wasting your time by networking.

Instead, “So, what do you do?” is best accepted as a marketing question, as if someone rang up your office and said, ‘let me speak to a salesperson’. Treat the question this way and you’ll immediately focus on the value you provide – not a laundry list of capabilities or a corporate title earned that may or may not suggest anything about what value you or your company can offer others.

And if you aren’t certain of the value you offer others, how do you expect anyone else be expected to figure it out?