Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner
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This is our presentation from the 2015 Sandbox Summit at MIT this year. We delivered a workshop on establishing and managing business partnerships that should be applicable to most small businesses. We covered how to know if you need a partner, how to find and qualify those partners, and how to successfully manage the relationship.
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Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner
- 1. Your Relationship Playbook Finding and Managing a Business Partner Jay Powell
- 2. Who is this guy? Jay Powell ● Began career as an agent in 1998 ● Business Development and Licensing for 16 years ● Ten years as an agent ● Bootstrapped a production company for three years ● Powell Group is in it’s third year. ● 100% growth year to year with a century’s worth of experience
- 3. Partnership Overview ● Do you really need a partner? ● Finding a partner ● Qualifying the partner ● Structure an agreement ● Manage the partner relationship
- 4. Do You Really Need a Partner? Identifying your goals
- 5. Find a Partner ● Understand what you need in the end ○ Funding ○ Design ○ Development ○ Marketing ○ Distribution ○ Other? ● Identify your pain points and weaknesses ● Understand your budget and limits
- 6. Find a Partner How to start your search
- 7. Find a Partner ● Start building a list of potential partners ○ Industry specific site such as Gamasutra ○ Google search ○ Trade show attendees ○ LinkedIn ○ News
- 8. Find a Partner ● Research everyone on your list ○ Company websites ○ Powerpoint decks ○ Phone calls ○ Email exchanges
- 9. Find a Partner ● Record relevant data in a big Excel spreadsheet for easy comparison ○ Examples of relevant data: years in business, number of games worked on, specializations in game genre or platform, etc. ○ PRICE! ○ Create your own grading scale if needed ○ Prioritize this based on your own KPI’s
- 10. Find a Partner ● Narrow down your list ○ Research data ○ Track record ○ Reputation ○ Budget ○ Cultural fit ○ Strategic fit
- 11. Qualify the Partner How to (properly) check references
- 12. Qualify the Partner ● Ignore “References” ○ Research their past projects and partners ○ Use LinkedIn for clients and individuals ● Ask the right people the right questions ○ What did you REALLY do? ○ How do they approach specific problems ○ What tools do they use ○ How will they fit into the existing pipeline ○ Who specifically will be on the team
- 13. Qualify the Partner ● Do a deep dive on the team ○ Research individuals ○ Talk to people they have worked on at other companies ● Go outside the box ○ Talk to other vendors as well ○ Review scores ○ Don’t overlook the traditional press
- 14. Structure an Agreement How to create a contract that is fair to both of you
- 15. Structure an Agreement Your agreement should cover these deal points at minimum: ● Game(s) ● Platforms ● Languages ● Price (Guarantee, Back-end, Maintenance) ● Stores or Territories ● IP Ownership ● Milestones or Payment Triggers ● Net Receipts or Revenue Share Trigger
- 16. Structure an Agreement Some tips and pointers: ● Know your client ● Clarify deliverables very clearly ● Don’t hand over rights that won’t be used ● Know your margins ● Identify important and unimportant points ● Don’t be a dick ● Be responsive ● Explain why certain points are important to you
- 17. Manage the Partner Relationship How to stay positive and professional
- 18. Manage the Partner Relationship ● How involved do you (personally) need to be? ● Manage Expectations What to expect at each stage of development ○ “No, the first playable will not look like a finished game.” ● How to define various deliverables in the agreement ● Set regular meetings
- 19. Manage the Partner Relationship ● Manage the tactical as well as the strategic ● Don’t loose your cool ○ Explain why ○ Look for the “real” reason ● Communicate!
- 20. Bringing It All Together Getting it done in less than 20 hours a day
- 21. Bringing It All Together ● Use a cost / benefit analysis to determine your true needs ● Use true needs to define your target ● Use your task breakdown from your partner search to define deliverables ● Use your deliverables to define your contract terms ● Use your terms, deliverables, and milestones to define your project tasks and goals ● Check them off, get them done!
- 22. Thank You Jay Powell Powell Group Consulting 919.809.7441 Jay@PowellGroupConsulting.com @Powell_Jay