How Start-Ups Do Deals with Industry Titans
You're David, they're Goliath. You're a small company, they are industry giants. You're fast and innovative. They move markets. You just wish they would move those markets in your direction!
How do you close that deal? How do you even get them to notice you? The good news is that big companies get big by working with innovative companies like you. The bad news is they also get big by stepping on companies like you.
How do you hold your own against big companies? Who can you trust and how much information can you trust them with? How do you decide which big deals to do and which ones to avoid?
This panel pits together three industry giants, Google, Intuit and American Express with two scrappy startups, BatchBlue and FreshBooks. After many rounds of negotiation, deals have been struck that have been lucrative for each party and a win for their mutual customers. Hear how these start-ups have built great relationships, launched successful partnerships and stayed in the game without being gobbled or squashed.
Presenters
Alex Barnett leads the developer relations team at Intuit, responsible for Intuit Developer Network (IDN) and developer engagement and evangelism for Intuit Partner Platform (IPP). Previously, Alex was VP, Developer Community at Bungee Labs, a pioneer in the Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) space after spending five years at Microsoft Corp. in various community program management and marketing positions. Before joining Microsoft, Alex was COO at a leading digital marketing and Web development agency (Bluewave) for seven years. Alex played professional cricket for eight years (Middlesex and Lancashire).
Scott is a senior product manager at Google and is focused on helping companies grow their business with the Google Apps Marketplace. A startup guy at heart, Scott joined Google when it acquired JotSpot, where he ran developer and partner programs, and previously founded Inovie Software, maker of early Web collaboration service TeamCenter, acquired by SDRC. Scott holds bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science from UC San Diego and was a PhD student at the university's Computer Systems Lab.
I am the Chief Marketing Olarker. Chat with your customers now, win them over, and drive more sales with Olark's live chat software for business. It's FREE to try out at http://www.olark.com.
I also co-founded The Small Business Web, an organization of over 140 companies. We work to make the Open Web the best place to build, find, and buy software for small business. http://www.thesmallbusinessweb.org
Friday, March 9
