From the course: Entrepreneurship Foundations

Product partnerships

From the course: Entrepreneurship Foundations

Product partnerships

- In the dictionary, synergy is defined as the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations to produce a combined effect greater than their individual parts. I cannot think of a better recipe for startup success than finding synergistic partnerships. When I first started my company, I knew we needed to find partners who could help us grow. Because we were making magazines, I searched high and low for a like-minded printing partner. After a lot of searching, I found eDOC Communications, a family-owned and operated business out of Chicago that really believed in us and saw our potential. They partnered with us on everything from extended credit terms to rush orders so that we could find success. In return, we credited them in our magazines and brought them even more work and revenue. Each of us grew our businesses, while at the same time helping each other. Finding a like-minded vendor like eDOC was key to our early success. While our partnering was behind the scenes as our products were being made, finding consumer-facing partnerships can also be extremely helpful. The quickest way to a PR-friendly consumer-facing partnership is to include a charity component. By now, the one-to-one model has permeated startup culture. Let's use LSTN Headphones, a U.S-based company, as an example. Company founder Bridget Hilton decided to donate a portion of each sale to a foundation that distributes hearing aids to people in need. Bridget got to advertise her product and help the foundation with each sale. Truly a win-win for a growing business. In order to find the right partner, ask yourself two key questions. First, does this company have a similar audience to mine and would they find my product or service useful? For Bridget, a sound-focused charity was a perfect fit for her headphone brand. Customers were thrilled to learn that their purchase was helping the hearing-impaired and the foundation was thrilled to have a new source of donor dollars. The second question you want to ask is can this help me grow my business without giving up too much? For me, crediting someone in a magazine was a small price to pay for extended credit terms and working with us on payment plans. As you start to think about potential partnership opportunities, don't forget to look behind the scenes and externally facing. And remember, it doesn't have to be a big, flashy partnership. It could be as simple as someone creating your website for free and you allowing them to use that sample in their portfolio and giving them credit on your site. Think big, think small, think inward, think outward. There's tons of partnership potential out there for you to leverage and utilize.

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