What lead is equal to a customer, potential strategic parnter is to an acquirer. Partnership thinking is very different from product thinking. These slides will come in handy for any startup (Indian) to understand the importance of this and build a habit around it

1. Activating
Potential Strategic
Partners (PSP)
Workshop
twitter.com/mtrajan

2. Agenda
● Section 1 - Startup outcomes ?
● Section 2 - Acquisition Case Studies
● Section 3 - Acquisition Process
○ How ‘Lead’ relates to a ‘Customer’, ‘PSP’ relates to ‘Acquirer’.
● Section 4 - Positioning and Preparation
● Section 5 - Narrative & Refinement
● Section 6 - Habit
Next Steps

3. How many of you want to get an exit
for yourself in the next 3 years?

4. Section 1 - Product startup outcomes

5. Financially 3 options
Profitable
IPO
Acquired

6. Profitable product company?
Then, setup an innovation labs for incubating the next product idea

7. Indian Tech/Product company IPO
Source - http://www.chittorgarh.com/
*Few companies not listed in India
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Year to IPO - 6
Year to IPO - 8
Year to IPO - 11
Year to IPO - 11 Year to IPO - 21 Year to IPO - 17
2007
Naukri
Year to IPO - 11
Year to IPO - 10
NASDAQ
Only 9 in last 10 years
Found answer to product, distribution
& monetization
NASDAQ

8. Product acquisitions (as of Q4 2016)
$4bn across 354 deals
Source - iSPIRT Signalhill 2016 State of M&A of Technology Startups India Report
Acquihire Avg is $300K

9. EXERCISE
What is the best envisioned outcome
for your startup & which year do you
expect it ?

10. Mean time to IPO or Acquisition (US Data)
From the time of first external investment, mean time of when M&A happens
in 4.5 years
Source - http://pn.ispirt.in/exits

11. Section 2 - Acquisition stories in India

12. Case 1
REMOVED in PUBLIC VERSION

13. Not raise more money than is needed,
reduces exit options

14. People know people and they talk

15. Case 2
REMOVED in PUBLIC VERSION

16. Constantly meet people, don’t know
which one will come handy

17. Before raising my round whether I am a
hyper growth

18. Case 3
REMOVED in PUBLIC VERSION

19. Payday is when you sell your shares

20. Case 4
REMOVED in PUBLIC VERSION

21. Serendepity must be engineered

22. Section 3 - When thinking acquisition
A framework/process

23. Acquisition can’t be left to chance
Acquisition an important
business process requires a plan.
It is a complex sale process that
has only one final buyer.
Akin to more like selling a ‘piece
of art’/’house’ than ‘ice cream’
that happens in product sale..
vs

24. Uniqueness of this process
● Buyer driven rather than seller driven.
○ It has to be buyers big idea.
● Value is in the eyes of beholder.
○ Different offering to different buyer, thus value different for each pairing
● Fragile - Can’t bind the buyer to a deal so must close deal quickly
● Price discovered via auction - Deal complexity means only one buyer is
significant risk, an auction is must.
● A buyer is first a potential strategic partner (PSP). One of the PSP becomes
a buyer.

25. From the eyes of a buyer
● Happen when buyer sees no other way to solve a problem
● Are directional !
● Favour the perceived category leader
● Derive from personal relationships
● Are complex and require careful handling

26. Think before you fundraise
● Median price of a tech exit today in US is $15-25m (source - MergerStat Database)
● VC want 20% IRR -> 30X return from each investment.
● Unintentional Moonshot Expectation (Thumb rules)
○ Series A - 10X
○ Series B - 4-7x
○ Series C - 2-4x
● VC’s can potentially block exits via board seats, voting rights, preferential
shares.

27. Position > Prepare > Cultivate PSP Relations > Co-create > Partner > Close
Learn
As
ThoughtLeader

28. An M&A is the story of when fear meets greed
on a treasure hunt voyage.

29. Startups are a small boat
on a voyage, chasing a
DREAM ISLAND
Startup
Dream
Island

30. They pick a TAILWIND to
help propel forward.
else paddling on own, is a
tough journey.
Tailwind

31. Potential Strategic Partner
are BIG TANKER SHIPs,
have own ISLAND to chase
irrespective of the
TAILWIND
Potential Strategic
Partner

32. When Potential Strategic
Partner gets excited with
new one, they go after this...

33. Other Startups and
Players
Once destination &
direction get aligned
startup comes under the
radar

34. Lead to possible discussion
on how the small boat’s
engine can fit in the PSP to
reach the island faster

35. Indian Startups don’t come
on a global STRATEGIC
RADAR, even if chasing the
same DREAM ISLAND

36. As Indian startup what should you do ?

37. Know your PLAYGROUND

38. Without an AIRGAME,
Any Sales will feel like Sisyphus

39. GROUNDGAME - Co-create a future together

40. Have right Story, make sure being understood ?

41. ● Know your PLAYGROUND
● Come in the radar - AIRGAME
● Habit of building relationships - GROUNDGAME
● Have a tailored NARRATIVE

42. Section 5 - Positioning & Preparing

43. 1
2
3
4
Who are top 5 companies that can help you
grow your market ?
What category would you describe yourself in
?
Who are top 5 players in that category ?
Draft a one Pager for each of them on their size of
revenue, business units they have, which business
unit would fit in, past partnership/acquisition they
have done, org structure
Know your Playground

44. 1
2
3
4
What conferences that your PSP partner
speak or attend at ?
Who are co-chair or the organizer that you will
have to speak to ?
Who are the top 5 journalist , analyst that write
about trends in your category ?
Who is the Gartner equivalent (Industry Influencer)
in your Industry ?
5 What the are the top 5 research reports or online
articles do your PSP read ?
Airgame
What is your position vis-a-vis them in the category ?6

45. 1
2
3
4
What is the name of the SVP of the business
unit in each of 5 companies that you identified
Draw org chat of those in that organization,
who does the corporate development report to
?
Who has the most dominant role in the
company - product manager, head of sales,
head of marketing
Who in your current network can help you
introduce to any of the person in that organization
5 What is your initial introduction line to reach out to
him/her ?
Groundgame

46. EXERCISE

47. Section 5 - Narrative

48. EXERCISE

49. 1
2
3
4
What is your mission ? (The dream Island that
whole world is after)
What tailwinds are helping you ? (The big
trends in your space)
What makes you real and is unique about your
engine ? (Differentiation - a large player may envy)
How are you going to grow to big a titanic on your
own ? (value is created, invokes fear)
5
What makes you best suited to reach the mission
faster than others ? (invokes greed)
Narrative must include

50. #1. Name a Big, Relevant Change in the World
#2. Show There’ll Be Winners and Losers
#3. Tease the Promised Land
#5. Present Evidence that You Can Make the Story Come True
Narrative Structure
Source - Zuora Deck https://themission.co/the-greatest-sales-deck-ive-ever-seen-4f4ef3391ba0

51. EXERCISE

52. Entrepreneur Investor Partners
Other Stakeholders
Decision Maker
Message Loss Ratio at Every Stage
Keep Message
Simple, Short
and to Top 1%
?
Does it pass the chinese whisper test

53. Section 5 - The Habit

54. Its a funnel, needs a process and a habit
Time
Seeding Tending

55. Need a support group, gym
Interested in regular syncups ? Mentor that can coach your pitch, & be a deal
Buddy
To Signup for PSP Cohort
● Get (non founder) board member consent & endorsement. Board
member to take responsibility on behalf of company to followup
● Commit to doing 6 weeks syncup meeting.
● $5K-$10K spend over the year,
○ $2K/month of PR (discounted and pooled) primarily for global PR, (min 3 months).
Directly to paid to PulpPR (PR firm of StartupBridge India)

56. Thank You