What are the most important partnerships to identify in a business model canvas?

What’s the famous saying? “Collaboration over competition”. Partnerships are the SOUL of any business and its success. In my experience, it is through partnership that true innovation occurs. In addition, incorporating feedback loop systems to track KPI’s, encourage continuous improvement, and reinforce open collaboration, will not only ensure collaborative success, but will also mitigate risk/uncertainty as well. By sharing the load, you allow for strengths to thrive and weaknesses to be complemented.

Key Partnerships, especially in biotech, may determine whether you succeed or not. Focus on: - Collaborations with research institutions for access to cutting-edge science and talent. - Strategic alliances with pharmaceutical companies for scaling, distribution, and marketing. - Partnerships with healthcare providers to gain insights into patient needs and market demands. - Technology partners for advanced data analytics and AI, crucial for R&D and operational efficiency. - Relationships with regulatory bodies to navigate compliance and accelerate market entry. - Joint ventures with similar biotech firms to pool resources and expertise for mutual benefit.

The BMC should be used as a working tool to outline your business model iterations. The list of other external resources required to achieve critical activities is called key partners. These can range from external companies and suppliers to parties needed to deliver value (consultants, experts, technology providers…) Another way to identify key partners can be by answering one important question; “if my business cannot achieve value proposition alone, what else do I need to rely on?” Cheers!

In the Business Model Canvas, identifying critical partnerships is vital. These partnerships encompass various aspects, such as strategic collaborations for resources and market access, supplier and distribution agreements, cooperative ventures, marketing alliances, technology partnerships, joint ventures, revenue-sharing agreements, and resource and channel partnerships. These partnerships are essential for resource access, market reach, innovation, and overall business success.

Joint product development involves collaborative efforts with other entities to create, test, or launch a new or improved product or service. When exploring a new business model beyond your company's current capabilities, a strategic approach to mitigate risks is to establish external partnerships. By tapping into the capabilities of a partner, you gain access to their expertise. This collaborative approach enables to de-risk, as you will share resources. Additionally, it provides an avenue for the exchange of insights and feedback, fostering a dynamic environment for innovation. The partnership becomes a platform for leveraging new strengths, minimizing investment risks, and reaping the rewards of collective creativity and expertise.

Focus on partnerships that align to your fiscal year goals. Does the partnership have a conversion rate for leads that you can measure? Is it possible that a revenue share model or JVA is a better fit? When considering partnerships - it is crucial to discuss all the various options for a partnership or referral model. The biggest mistake I've witnessed is signing partnerships just for the sake of it. By doing this, without the proper structure you risk diluting your brand and possible reputational risk.

“Strategic partnerships” were coined a term for a reason. They must align with the overall goal and strategy of the business to be successful. What makes these partnerships so fruitful, is the ability to exchange ideas and expertise. There’s true power in marrying ideas, sharing perspectives, and exchanging intellect…this is how you achieve success. For most businesses, the ability to scale and expand is predicated on the relationships and partnerships they’ve built along the way. True success requires playing the long game and part of surviving the long game is managing how you collaborate versus compete to achieve a common end goal or solution.

There's one important aspect to ask yourself during this process: What can we do for our partners? Why should they partner with us? If you just consider your own perspective, you miss considering the investments you have to make into a flourishing partner landscape!

2+2=5. This is the only way in which a mutually beneficial partnership can work for a long period of time. Be it sales, distribution, logistics, development or any other type of partnership, they only work when all parties benefit from joining in. Benefits can stem from combined purchasing power, combined product features, combined resources, or combined risk taking. They either work because partners are super similar (think "we both need resource X to work, why don't we combine our orders?"), or can elevate or improve each others' products (think "You sell leather bags, but by combining it with our special fabric, we can make it even more sought after"). To summarize, look for incentive alignment to find win-win situations.

Mutually beneficial is the most important factor. Be diligent in how you want your partnerships to look, work, act, and feel. The partnership must make sense (cents) for everyone at the end of the day. Be open to asking and receiving uncomfortable questions when evaluating potential partners as transparency can be a strong foundation to build up from. Trust and patience can take a partnership far. The best way to ensure your partnerships align is to be prepared knowing what you are willing to provide and what you are wanting to receive. Open communication and clarity allows for cohesiveness in partnership which allows any vision to come to life.

There are many aspects to consider (soft & hard factors): - know-how & expertise - tech stack (for product or integration partnerships) - target markets - ideal customer profile - sales model (direct/indirect) - culture & mindset - liquidity (you don't want to invest in partners close to bankruptcy)

A couple of thoughts based on my experience: Look for partners that are willing to invest and that want to go into execution. If you just hear "let's do something together when we have a project", then it's time to move on. You need partners that together with you are proactive and that want to jointly address their customer needs. Passiveness ends in dead logo walls.

In my case I found critical to align on the long term goals. This means that it is not capabilities today, but also the roadmaps alignment. The scalability of a business depends on the capability of your partners and if it is not properly assessed in the identification and selection phase, it can lead to problems in the future.

The way you model a partnership is not as important as the actual partnership. So e people spend more time fussing with a visual representation of a relationship than they do actually sustaining the relationship.

Ultimately, the best partnerships form when all parties operate from a “what can I do for you?” mindset. The goal is to bring your best to the table with the intention of making each other better (more profitable, more innovative, more sustainable, etc). A great saying is “under promise, over deliver” - if partners focus on how much (more) value they can provide for another, how can the relationship fail? Not to say conflict won’t arise, but if the end goal remains the same there’s a high chance of success. Valuing one another’s contributions, respecting each other’s values, and challenging each other to grow are just a few characteristics of great partnerships. The best partners feel like family at a reunion; just don’t forget the BBQ.

Partnerships don't just happen and won't be successful without investment. You need the right people, the right tools, the right assets to support your partners best.

Risk management of partnership is fundamental. This includes for instance: - management of commercial and contractual flow downs and gaps - management of partner (supplier) continuity. What to do if they go belly up - management of partner exclusivity - ensuring resource availability and priority from the partner - financial management of the relationship over the duration of the contract including cash flow, penalties caused by the partner, failure to meet agreed milestones, SLAs. - partner exclusivity -