Early Stage Design Partnership Relationship

Design partnership relationships are much more than you might expect, as we keep learning from our portfolio companies.

💪 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓? (apart from early access and impact on the product).

>𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞/𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 — share with your design partners what you learned in the process that is relevant to their company/needs.

>𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 — assist them in improving their internal processes based on your past experiences and your understanding of their needs even before a solution is available.

>𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 — updates on the latest technology in the customer ecosystem, things that can help them in their day-to-day job. >

>𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 — Through your startup, you can connect with other design partners that can share ideas and help each other.

>𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐯 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 — The best design partner is one who is trying to solve the problem you are after. If your design partner is still developing in-house solutions, you will only benefit from sharing knowledge.

>𝐄𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 — Consider ways you can empower your design partner in their organization even before you have something up and running, quick wins such as highlight reports, trends etc. It must all be done only if you feel comfortable with the knowledge and expertise needed, while prioritizing your time wisely.

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 (𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔) 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓 (beside the obvious).

>𝐄𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐜𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 — study the other products your design partner is using, what they think of them, and how they will integrate for future synergy.

>𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬** — be careful here, but you can learn about alternatives, mainly what’s missing/hard to do.

>𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫 \ 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 — Often investors will speak with design partners, in some cases these design partners will actively share their experiences with their investors or colleagues.

>𝐔𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 — not only if your product solves his problem, but where does it fall on his list of priorities?

>𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 — Discuss your design partner’s payment policy, how decisions are made, and possibly some rough product pricing (as openly as possible).

>𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 — better understand how decision making processes are made in the company and how you can help them gain more from this partnership. There is no doubt that it all comes down to relationships and how well you manage them (don’t push, be clear, be honest). I guess there are many other points here, just think about them openly.

I can’t finish a design partners post without mentioning AppsFlyer Wix.com and Yotpo, who are very open and collaborative to so many Israeli startups (appear in so many “design partners” slides)!! Hoping to see many more#startups #partners

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.