A Day at Startup Bridge – Crafting Strategic Partnerships

For our most recent Startup Bridge Salon on May 9th, we had planned for sixty 1-1 strategic partnership meetings between 11 B2B startups and 35+ US corporates. In the weeks leading up to the event and the week post-event, we clocked 115 meetings. Read more to learn about the event & program, and how you can participate or get involved. 

 I got 10 meetings with decision makers through StartupBridge which is worth 1000 business cards at a trade show. (Raviteja, CEO @Moengage, May 2019)

I made 18 connects out of which 11 are of extremely high value. (Aditya, CEO @FirstHive, May 2019)

History of StartupBridge, M&A/PSP Connect

In 2013-14 the M&A Connect (and Business Exchange BEX) program was established as part of iSPIRT’s Market Catalyst pillar to help solve the problem of extremely low “exits” to “investment” ratio for startups in India. Strong “exits” are healthy markers of a mature startup ecosystem, closing the cycle of capital flows. The program consisted of developing a strong match between the global corporates interested in acquisitions (buy-side) and Indian startups (sell-side). 

The initial problem was a discovery issue where Indian startups were not on the radar of these potential acquirers. The M&A connect program activated the India radar, by engaging the buy-side to collect deep virtual mandates, and use it to match and make warm connects with the sell-side, at times hand-holding the connect process to several favorable outcomes. 

In this program, we found that our startups were not effective at pitching their story to a potential acquirer. This resulted in a few aborted connections. Additionally, it became clear that the path to an effective M&A lay in facilitating potential strategic partnerships (PSP), which if nurtured has the potential to blossom into investments or acquisitions. Strategic partnerships can surface in the form of technology or GTM/distribution level enfgagement between startups and larger corporates. It can open several doors instantly, making distribution easier, revenue growth faster and gives the startup multiple options.

The M&A Connect program morphed into PSP Connect (Dec 2016 onwards) and the program goals moved from pure M&A to building strategic partnerships. iSPIRT partnered with TiE leaders in Silicon Valley to create the Startup Bridge India initiative (SBI), where many buy-side companies were invited to meet and explore strategic level engagement with highly curated sell-side startups. 

The Startup Bridge Approach

Over the last 3 years, the SB team, iSPIRT volunteers and TiE partners, have helped B2B SaaS/enterprise startups refine their air-game, and engage in partnership discussions with high conversion outcomes. 

We have connected 45 startups to Fortune 1000 corporations and in the process catalyzed $200M+ of value in terms of PSP (potential strategic partnership), customers and M&A. (Manu Rekhi, Inventus Capital & Startup Bridge)

The key value proposition is to help startups scale revenue by 10x in 2 years through meaningful PSP connects with decision-makers at global Fortune 1000. In turn, these corporations leverage SB to engage with highly curated startups to get access to technology and product gaps. 

We are effectively the bridge over the chasm that most startups struggle with, and the potential disruption that many corporates are worried about.

Startup Selection

Did you know that ~50% of Unicorn enterprise startups in the Silicon Valley have an Indian founder or co-founder and had origins or back-offices in India? 

Our stringent startup selection process is essential for matching the “Who in India” with the “Who in USA”. Data from the program over the years have shown that the startups which stood to leverage the program effectively and benefited the most were in the ARR range of $500K to $5M. Hence SB’s high-level criteria for inducting B2B enterprise/SaaS startups into the program focus on a) having a global product-market fit, preferably in the US, with b) a strong footprint & revenue (~$1M ARR), and c) bringing deep technology, high revenue potential and/or a high growth momentum. 

PSP Wishlist

Karthik & Vinod discuss their key partnerships approach

On the buy-side, it is critical to engage corporates who can enable the 10x growth for these startups. Most startups see partnerships as tactical like with a reseller, system integrator (SI), channel/OEM partner… A strategic partner goes beyond tactical value. A startup can explore and collaborate with a PSP to accelerate its strategy in the emerging focus area. In return, the PSP provides a rocket boost to the startup’s customer acquisition, distribution, branding, and/or a holistic product strategy. Having such a partner can also significantly impact startup valuation.

As a startup, you need to think about a PSP early in the game at the ‘Flop’ and not at the ‘Turn’. You need time to develop a PSP and you need to start early. (Vijay Rayapati, Nutanix, Jul 2018)

If you think of the value chain of your customers, their vendors, integrators, solution & platform providers, a strategic partner may lie above you and your peers, and a level or two above your target customer. Often high growth customers can transform into strategic partners. We help the startups think through their PSP wishlist and make relevant recommendations.

Startup Air Game

Pitching to a PSP company is very different from the pitching to a customer or to an investor. A well-articulated pitch can make a difference between a yawn and a wow! A great startup pitch highlights their Mission, problem statement, their solution & approach, the product/platform overview, key metrics & traction, unit economics of growth & acquisition, testimonials, market size & drivers, and finally their ask. 

I thought I knew my pitch and had the details at my fingertips. But then I started getting really valuable, thought-out feedback…I had to focus on pitching to partners, not customers. (Pallav Nadhani, FusionCharts, Dec 2016)

Mentor feedback sessions during the boot camp

It takes 100 hours per startup to articulate their value proposition into a pitch deck of only 10 crisp slides. The initial hours creating & refining their pitch deck with assigned mentors. It is followed by a day-long boot camp before the event where they are grilled through their pitches by the SB team, startup & corporate mentors from the industry, and successful entrepreneurs.The multiple rounds of feedback not only cover their proposition, but also helps weave in the founders’ story, and develop their stage presence, and tonality. Post boot camp they work on the critical feedback with their individual mentors, sometimes even redefining their models & assumptions, and final dry runs with the SB team. The results at every SB event have been astounding 7-min founder pitches amazing every attending corporate and industry leader. 

Tapesh and his amazing 7-minute “technicolor” pitch deck

PSP Virtual Mandates & Exclusive Connects

Vamshi 1-1 connects over the roundtable.

We have found that startups require 2 points of support for effective partnership outcomes. First, crafting warm connects based on virtual mandates. Second, prime focus on shepherding the startup-partner conversations on a rolling basis. The unmet need is to have 1-1 connects with the right person on common ground.

I went from first discussion into pricing in one week with a Fortune 10 company.  Getting in front of the decision maker is all the difference. As a founder/CEO I can close the sale without the long drawn out sales process. (Sanjoe Jose,  CEO @Talview, May 2019)

Bringing PSP companies into our network, we connect with key profiles within the company on their build-buy-partner outlook. This helps in surfacing several latent areas of focus for partnerships, investments or acquisitions. Constructing the virtual mandate out of these relations is key to recommending a high-potential match between the startups and corporates. 

All startup bridge sessions and introductions are curated and by invite-only. 

Exclusivity made the quality of event and connections even more important. I attended because of an impressive amount of my peers from other Fortune 1000 companies. (Rahul Kamath, VP Oracle, May 2019)

Impact to Date

The stringent startup curation criteria ensure high potential innovation & growth partnerships for corporates. The intense boot camp and mentoring hours help startups develop highly effective positioning in the market. The latent virtual mandates enable effective match-making resulting in extremely relevant growth opportunities for the startups.

If I had to do this on my own each of these connections would have taken 8-12 weeks of effort.

Though these events get significant attention & traction, the goal of the SB program is to deliver these connections on a rolling basis. Here are some stats and anecdotes across the years:

  • 19 out of the 45 startups in the SB cohorts have grown 10x in the past 2 years.  
  • 749 connections to decision-makers have been made to-date with >$200M of value creation in terms of partnerships, customer purchases, and M&A. 
  • 121 PSP connections from the May 9th event and beyond.  
  • 3 exits and 1 more on the way.
  • Focus on quality and value creation has resulted in consistent high NPS 56-81. This focus on quality is the core principle of this community lead effort and the hallmark of success so far. 

What can you do?

Shifting from its pro-bono, volunteer-run orbit, Startup Bridge is transforming into a mature, scalable global program. By broadening the corporate network reach beyond Silicon Valley, and expanding support to startups of Indian origin regardless of domicile, the program is poised to benefit startups and corporates at scale. Upcoming SBDays are being planned for New York, Bay Area, Japan. Startup Bridge continues to be mission-driven, helping fill a critical gap in strategic partnership building for Indian origin startups. 

If you are a startup or would like to refer a startup to be part of the SB program please fill the partnership application form. Alternately you could email us at [email protected]

If you are a corporate exec and/or can help us with decision-makers (CXOs, EVP/SVP, GM), or key influencers (VP/Director of Partnerships, Corporate Development) please email us at [email protected]

[This post could not have been possible without inputs from the SB Team & iSPIRT volunteers, Dipty Desai, Jibin Jose, Manu Rekhi, Raju Reddy, Sharad Sharma, Sijo George, Rajan Thiyagarajan, Vrushali Malpekar, and volunteers from the previous Startup Bridge/PSP Connect program.  Also, personal thanks to all the volunteers, mentors, and the participating startups for making the SB Salon on May 9th successful.]

Some more photos from the salon

Whatfix pitch by Khadim
Vivek pitching iZooto
Predera’s pitch by Vamshi
Vishal on Seclore
Side 1-1 with Flex
Hitachi giving feedback on Startup Bridge
Workday commenting on Startup Bridge
Ashish with Israeli Panel
Side 1-1 with Salesforce
Peer networking
Corporate Attendees
Corporate Attendees
Nimesa at boot camp – pitch feedback
Moengage at boot camp – stage presence feedback

iSPIRT is ending the year on a high note

ispirt-is-ending-the-year-on-a-high-note

At the beginning of the year when we wrote down our thoughts in the 2016 Annual Letter about aspects such as break away from copy paste entrepreneurship, innovation bridge with Silicon Valley, progress on open market policies, etc. we thought we will score a few wins in the year. The pace of progress has surprised us. In many areas we have exceeded our best expectations.  

The last few months have been particularly hectic for iSPIRT. Some of the wonderful work of iSPIRTers is captured in the four events that took place in the last five weeks:

#PNgrowth, Nov 25th – 28th: This intense 3-day bootcamp is grooming the future category leaders of our Software Product Industry. This was our second PNgrowth bootcamp this year. Read about it in Avinash’s evocative blogpost: Behind the scenes of $2 billion Indian startup movie #PNgrowth.

Startup Bridge India, Dec 2nd: This was our first roadshow in Silicon Valley and was done with TiE SV and Stanford University. We sought out strategic partners for 28 startups that traveled from India. This was organized by our M&A Connect Program, which is now led by Rajan. Read about the matchmaking event in a descriptive blogpost by Roxna: Startup Bridge India: Breaking Down Borders, Barriers and BS.

InnoFest #IndiaInnovates, Dec 8th: We are slowly and steadily building a community of hardware product innovators to cater to the needs of 100m families in ‘India 2’ (beyond metro). Financial inclusion will soon allow them to improve their lives using Indian products. Prathibha, the anchor volunteer behind InnoFest, captures the mood in her blogpost: InnoFest 2016 – Innovation celebrated in Bangalore, and how…

FinTech Leapfrog Council, Dec 16th: India is set to leapfrog the rest of the world in financial inclusion driven by India Stack. The FTLC program combines global best practices with a home-grown, world-class architecture for financial inclusion, and helps incumbent Indian banks create a “leapfrog roadmap” for their organizations. Venky, the anchor volunteer driving this initiative, describes the thinking behind FTLC in his blogpost: A Leapfrog moment for Indian Banking.

We are ending the year on a high note!

Next year will be a busy one for us given market inflections and the heightened expectations from us. This presents iSPIRT and each of us with a unique opportunity to contribute and make a difference.

With loads of best wishes for 2017 from all of us volunteers at iSPIRT.