Marc Andreessen has a super blog, and recently posted about working with BigCos (whales) and how you need to be careful how you build reliance upon them into your business model. As we continue to push on BigCos of all shapes, sizes, and forms (manufacturers and retailers), I'm reminded of a story of a captain of a ship. The story goes something like this:
A ship is sailing along in dark, foggy waters, and the Captain spots something in the distance in his path. He has his radioman send a transmission to the effect of "Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision." The captain gets this message in return: "Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision."
The Captain, believing he is definitely in the right, and has more leverage than the other guy, decides to send this response: "Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision." And, because he's got his dander up now, he adds, "This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course."
Moments later, this is the reply: "No. I say again, you divert YOUR course."
Briefly stunned, he decides that it's time to pull out the big guns and make a take-it-or-leave-it demand: "This is the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, the second largest ship in the United States’ Atlantic Fleet. We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers and numerous support vessels. I demand that you change your course 15 degrees south, I say again, that’s one five degrees south, or counter-measures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship."
Feeling quite smug and confident, the Captain sits down and takes a sip of his coffee, sure that he's won this one.
Moments later, this is the message he gets back: "This is a lighthouse, sir. Your call."
Sometimes it's soooo darn easy to think you can control and direct big companies. You think you have leverage, you think they need what you have, and so on. Inventors are guilty of this all the time -- and, sometimes, so are we. But at the end of the day, BigCos are almost immoveable objects. And you have to recognize that and plan your approach accordingly.
This week we've made awesome progress on multiple fronts with projects ranging from our Sand-Off exercise where we're now in the the #1 food store in Rehoboth to some of our other stealth projects that could revolutionize a couple consumer product categories. And we did that by being patient, never giving up, and by being creative. We made suggestions, we pointed out certain opportunities and certain issues, and ultimately, we figured out where we could bend and where we couldn't. Sometimes you do have to walk away from a deal. But sometimes by being calm, rational, and focused on the end-game, you can find a way to get an immovable object to move ever-so-slightly. And when that happens, if you're in the right place at the right time, you can win.
When you're a minnow, shouting, threatening, arguing, and getting pride confused with objectives gets you exactly nothing. You'll end up with no deal, chewed up and spat out by the whale....
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