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December 23, 2005
Guy’s Truth -- Partner for Spreadsheet Reasons
by Sridhar Ramanathan
Over a decade at HP deeply instilled within me the importance of metrics. In fact it so drove the culture that people used to say “tell me how you’re measured, and I’ll tell you how you behave.” I took this to heart and built metrics into the marketing function and the P&Ls that I managed. Very likely this was a major reason for my promotions. That practice continues today with even greater emphasis from Mark Hurd, CEO.
Our consulting practice exposes us to many startups and large technology companies. Sadly, not enough companies apply metrics rigorously to business partnerships. Guy Kawasaki does a brilliant job of articulating the importance of basing alliances on fundamental metrics (ones that impact business performance) in the The Art of the Start. Here’s a snippet: “An effective partnership can produce attractive results for a startup. It can speed entry into a new geographic area or market segment, open additional channels of distribution, accelerate new product development, and reduce costs. I call these ‘spreadsheet’ reasons because they change your financial forecast.”
The operative words here are “financial forecast.” Guy goes on to share great anecdotes from his days as an Apple executive and more recently from his firm –Garage Technology Ventures. The book is a superb resource for all entrepreneurs.
I also recommend Al Morgan’s (Pacifica Group partner) practical metrics in his paper entitled Ensuring Liftoff for a New Business Partnership. We’d love to hear your own stories about how metrics have helped your business get better results from your alliances.
Posted December 23, 2005 | Permalink
Posted to Channel Management