A VC« The New Etsy | Main | Wallstrip Roasts Cramer »
NextNY Biz Dev 2.0
Andrew and I went up to Columbia University last night to participate in a discussion of "Biz Dev 2.0" put on by NextNY.
For those of you who don't know, NextNY is a networking group started by Charlie O'Donnell and some friends who felt the need for young professionals in the NY Internet business to network and learn more about their industry.
I really like the format they used. They got a good group of "discussion leaders" who in most events would be panelists. But instead they put everyone in the audience and we just talked to each other. Much better.
The discussion leaders included Tina Sharkey, Catherine Levine, Chris Fralic, Niki Scevak, Zia Daniel Wigdar, and yours truly (I think I may be forgetting someone and if so I am sorry).
The conclusion we came to is that you have to have business development people in a startup, even with simple integration technologies like RSS, open APIs, and embeddable widgets. But the job of a business development executive is changing. You have to be more product focused, more technical, and focus on making deals where there is already user level integration happening.
NextNY is a great organization. If you are young and in the Internet business in NYC and interested in networking, you have to join.
Their blog is here. Give it a read.
Comments (5) | Posted November 16, 2006 in Venture Capital and Technology
Comments
Fred, it was fantastic seeing you last night. I agree 100% that you need business development gurus at startups but the role they play is changing. With technology now, especially open API's, it does much of the "weeding" of potential partners as you can see who performs and who doesn't. A role of the BizDev person is to then strike deals with the top performers and work on those relationships. Great stuff - looking forward to seeing you soon.
Posted by: Darren Herman | Nov 16, 2006 9:54:05 AM
It seems like this evolution of the BD role is a sign of the market maturing ever so slightly. The shotgun approach that often generates hype and results in plowing through, aka wasting, resources for unmeasurable results is history. BD folks are seeing themselves more and more in a sales capacity where they are held accountable for generating revenue or adding value which can be quantified.
Posted by: tomo | Nov 16, 2006 11:52:34 AM
As a digital media business development guy, I am relieved to learn that our kind is still valued, and I agree that more technical and product-focused involvement is evolving my role every day.
I'm guiding widgetization, brokering feed syndication and defining loosely-coupled white-labeled environments more than ever, but I was also doing all of this during my first BD position in 1998. I just think more people are expecting it and are using the same kinds of tools to execute. "You have an API?" is now a checklist question.
ONE REQUEST: I wince every time I see "business development" spelled as "Biz Dev," which is reminiscent of a HORRIBLE book on the subject called "Biz Dev 3.0." Seth Godin endorses this book on its Amazon page, but readers' comments are almost unanimous about how bad it is, see more here:
http://www.amazon.com/Biz-Dev-3-0-Changing-Business/dp/0970597010/sr=11-1/qid=1163699335/ref=sr_11_1/102-7862117-2103322
The lack of rigor and scholarship defining business development bothered me enough to initiate the first Wikipedia entry here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_development
Appreciate the validation of BD's role otherwise, and look forward to all the coming changes to it...
Posted by: Chris | Nov 16, 2006 12:53:37 PM
As usual good post,
In the past, the biz dev position used to be a revolving door. By properly defining biz dev's roles and responsibilities maybe it can become a legitimate position in startups. Startups need biz dev professionals to act as proselytizers of business model strategy and B2B strategic partnerships.
Posted by: Gerald Joseph | Nov 16, 2006 2:12:57 PM
I think we're now seeing the Web 2.0ification of the Business Dev. role. New rule sets like RSS and open APIs are allowing the Biz Dev exec to focus on what they do best, identify partnership opportunities that drive revenues or otherwise meet company objectives, without worrying about the integration side. It use to be that less than half of all deals were ever actually implemented because it required too much technical resources. The Web 2.0 world has lowered the barriers to partnership.
Posted by: Richard Krueger | Nov 17, 2006 8:15:24 AM
Main RSS Feed of All Posts
VC and Technology Posts Only
