Alignment with Strategic Ambitions is Key

For any company aiming to collaborate with a larger corporation, alignment is key. How well does your product or service fit within the corporation’s strategic goals? Are they actively pursuing this area as a critical initiative, or is it merely an exploratory effort to gauge potential growth opportunities? If it’s the former, the chances of achieving a near-term outcome are much higher.

In the context of partnerships or acquisitions, it’s essential that your objectives align with the corporation’s ambitions in a particular space or for a specific product or service. For investment opportunities, there might be more flexibility, but your company should still fall within a targeted sector or theme. Otherwise, pursuing the opportunity could be an uphill battle, potentially leading to wasted time and resources. It’s wise to assess alignment early on, before investing significant resources into an opportunity with a low likelihood of success.

Large corporations often provide clues about their growth ambitions. Public companies, for instance, typically outline their target areas in 10-K annual reports or during quarterly earnings calls. News articles, interviews, and other public communications can offer additional insights.

For smaller companies, determining growth aspirations can be more challenging, as they may deliberately keep these plans under wraps to maintain a competitive edge. However, LinkedIn searches (e.g., identifying the head of a business unit in the relevant space or analyzing the number of engineers dedicated to that area), job postings, and other indirect sources can provide useful clues.

Finally, interactions during meetings often reveal the most about a potential partner’s intentions. The key is to ask the right questions: Is this an active project with executive-level support (and which executives are involved), or is it still in an exploratory phase? How far along are they in the process? What does their timeline look like? Are they considering other companies in the same space? While not every question will be fully answered, it’s important to ask.

Remember, resources are limited. I’ve seen too many startups get drawn into processes that lead nowhere, even when large corporations know the likelihood of taking action is slim. Stay vigilant.