"Having a partnership or a business relationship with a larger company gives you credibility," says entrepreneur Julie Hall. "It is an immediate tick in the box under the trust factor." Her business Women Unlimited, a resource for women in business, set up a partnership with the British Library in the early days. "Being able to put the British Library badge on my site was great, it gave us a level of trust in the marketplace that wouldn't have existed anywhere else," she explains.
For environmentally friendly minicab company Green Tomato Cars, securing the first big customer was a question of being in the right place at the right time. "When we launched in 2006, we were lucky to get some good press coverage and in the first two weeks we got a call from BskyB where James Murdoch was still in charge. One day when his chauffeur was off Murdoch wanted to try our service after reading about us, so we got the call to book a car for him," explains founder Jonny Goldstone.
"Fortunately, one of our five cars was available and the driver who picked him up knew all about our business, bought into what we were doing and could speak enthusiastically about it. They had a great conversation and the following week we were called in to present to the procurement team at BskyB, which was amazing."
It was a real breakthrough for the small company, but striking these large deals is not without risks. The challenge of delivering on their promise proved tough for Green Tomato Cars. BskyB staff were told to use the cars, but the startup struggled to meet the demand.
"We were lucky because they were hugely supportive of our vision and our need to grow the business and they went out of their way to champion us and introduce us to other clients and partners," says Goldstone. "They are not the only big clients who have really helped us but it is a great example of a big company working with a small company for mutual benefit and now we are Sky's main supplier and have grown with their requirements."
Getting through the door is often the biggest challenge. Anna Lewis, co-founder of e-publishing startup ValoBox, which launched in 2010, says navigating her way around large publishing firms in search of a partnership has been frustrating at times. "Figuring out who to talk to is a challenge. The person who is going to assess what you are doing will often be the one who goes to digital book publishing conferences and is open to new ideas, but then you will need to speak to the person who is actually implementing the idea," she says.
Her advice is to find someone who is enthusiastic about your business and focus on them rather than the company. "It is hugely valuable to have an internal champion, so I have learnt to ask them what I can do to help make the partnership happen," she explains.
Women Unlimited entrepreneur Julie Hall says targeted networking will get you the attention of the right people. She says: "Use your existing network to get connected with other people, go to industry related events and conferences and put yourself forward as an expert around a particular topic.
"This is not the kind of thing where you pick up the phone and go in and meet somebody and they will want to partner with you. It is a long-term game and you need to engage with the key players and decision makers. Meet with them, offer them some reasons to trust you and slowly that partnership will naturally develop."
Though Green Tomato founder Goldstone has reaped the rewards of working with several big businesses, he has experienced some downsides to being a small business working with the big players. One challenge is late payments. He said: "As a small services business, we're relatively low in the pecking order and we get that, but I think that big companies more than small ones have a duty, moral as well as legal, to do business ethically and if they are going to use your services they should pay for them in a timely fashion."
He says confidence is crucial: "It's vital to have somebody on board at a sufficiently senior level who you can be pretty confident will be treated right when you agree the terms, especially around payment, and you don't fear it is just going to be pushed between accounts and procurement to get paid."
Rigid structures and resistance to flexibility in the big businesses can be a source of frustration for Hall who says agreeing a pilot model would often be the best option. "Too often, it is all or nothing and it just doesn't work if you want to move quickly and try things out because you need to get agreement from so many people within the organisation," she explains.
It's important to remember that it is not just the startup that benefits from the partnership. "While big companies have to sign off among 10 people to make quite a simple decision, we can literally turn on a dime," says ValoBox co-founder Lewis. "Startups are more likely to have their ear to the ground, they are more innovative and faster and they'll probably be more creative and daring, so big businesses will gain a lot from the relationship too."
