Strategic partnership playbook
Creating a hopes, expectations, and concerns document to propel growth
Happy Tuesday Brex community, Strategic partnerships are collaborative alliances where organizations combine resources, expertise, and market access to achieve goals that would be challenging independently. They go beyond simple transactions, fostering long-term relationships that share risks and rewards to create greater value.
Strategic partnerships can be a massive GTM unlock for startups. Strategic partnerships demand not just early alignment but a shared vision of the market's future. Kick off the collaboration by co-creating a Hopes, Expectations, and Concerns document—three bullet points each—to surface motivations and potential friction points. In the second meeting, dissect each bullet to ensure deep mutual understanding. Develop bull, base, and bear scenarios to prepare for market volatility and align strategic responses. If after the second meeting, there isn’t alignment, move on.
Once the partnership is activated, hold bimonthly progress reviews to maintain momentum and adapt as needed. Remember, even competitors can become valuable partners when mutual benefits outweigh rivalry—a concept known as "coopetition" that can unlock new opportunities. Embrace co-selling, reselling, referrals, and partner marketing as powerful catalysts in scaling from zero to one.
Growing together,?Michael Morgenstern
Goody is a new way to send personal and business gifts as easily as a text message. Our business gifting platform, Goody for Business, powers employee engagement, client appreciation, and sales prospecting gifts at more than 12,000 leading companies. Ambassadors Perspective: The holidays are getting close. Raise your hand if you’ve ever gotten a tacky, impersonal corporate gift? Everyone, right??
Goody is a gifting platform whose popularity has exploded in recent years, all thanks to their decidedly un-”corporate” approach to corporate gifts and swag. Companies used to pick out a one-size-fits-all gift, mail it to an office, and distribute it to teams or clients. With Goody, you notify the recipient digitally – so they provide their own shipping address, with 140+ countries supported. Then you let the recipient choose their own gift, or swap something you’ve chosen for an equal-priced alternative.?
Goody’s biggest draw is the gifts themselves. Unlike the generic gift baskets and mugs we’re all used to, Goody has stocked their collection with trendy swag and non-swag brands like Levain Bakery, JBL, Aesop, The North Face, and Mejuri, to name a few. You know, stuff that people actually want.
Alpaca VC invests in the people and products shaping the future, leveraging technology to navigate and simplify the complexities of modern life. As former founders and operators in the very sectors transforming the way we live, they are driven by a passion for innovation and a belief that the future can be more seamless, efficient, and accessible.
Their focus is on early-stage companies within real estate, fintech, commerce, supply chain, and vertical SaaS. They continuously deepen their expertise and support their insights through a rigorous, research-driven field study process, allowing them to partner with founders who are pioneering the next wave of impactful change.
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Don’t hesitate to reach out! ??