Pitching and Closing: Everything You Need to Know About Business Development, Partnerships, and Making Deals that Matter by Taub, Alexander; DaSilva, Ellen;

Short description:

The information and tools tech entrepreneurs need to earn huge profits in today?s business-development startup boom

Long description:

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO BUILD REVENUE-GENERATING PARTNERSHIPS

Corporations have profited from strong business development strategies for years. So it's no surprise that of the half-million new businesses created each year, the most successful ones are driven by business development. Now, savvy professionals on the business side of a startuphave a reliable guide to perfecting the partnershipstrategies that will quickly add value to any company.

Pitching & Closing gives you concrete actionsteps for mastering the specific skill set today's business-development professionals need to define their roles and meet revenue expectations. Written in practical terms by playmakers at Twitter and SocialRank, this A-to-Z guide walks you through forging relationships, pitching a company's product, building a network, sourcing deals, making rejection positive, and staying cool while closinglarge deals. Firsthand accounts from business development executives across many industries, from tech to television to finance, bring to life such topics as:

• How to consistently identify and land the best strategic alliances for your business
• Why people say "yes" and why they say "no"
• Etiquette for making introductions and reaching out to people in ways that elicit responses
• Monitoring core metrics to know where to invest your time

In addition to implementable advice and techniques from the top minds in the industry, this complete resource features an entire section of best practices for every step of the partnering process. Make your moves with the confidence of having a team of experts at your back.

The road from startup to IPO starts with Pitching & Closing.

PRAISE FOR PITCHING & CLOSING

"This book is a must-read for anyone in the business of transforming professional relationships into powerful strategic partnerships." -- Adam Bain, President of Global Revenue at Twitter

"Pitching & Closing does a phenomenal job of giving you a seat in the room during some of the biggest business development deals of late. Anyone who reads this book will come away with a deep understanding of business development in the world of startups." -- Dylan Smith, CFO of Box

"Pitching & Closing is the definitive guide to partnerships for the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders." -- Adam Braun, Founder and CEO of Pencils of Promise

"An honest and insightful look at the delicate and complex handling of business development [that] guides readers on how to turn good ideas into greatpartnerships." -- Kyle Kelly, Business Development & Analysis at Zappos.com

"Alex Taub and Ellen DaSilva have written the bible for business development in startup land--a well-researched, easily accessible accounting of best practicesand tips of the trade from the people who are leaders in opening and closing deals that define some of the most exciting new companies on the landscape." -- Laurie Racine, Board Member, Creative Commons

"I never thought I'd read a book that not only explains how nuanced business development can be, but also actually gives you what you need to take teams big and small to grow their business through partnerships. Impressive and fun to read." -- Paul Murphy, CEO of Dots and Partner at Betaworks

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO BUILD REVENUE-GENERATING PARTNERSHIPS

Corporations have profited from strong business development strategies for years. So it's no surprise that of the half-million new businesses created each year, the most successful ones are driven by business development. Now, savvy professionals on the business side of a startuphave a reliable guide to perfecting the partnershipstrategies that will quickly add value to any company.

Pitching & Closing gives you concrete actionsteps for mastering the specific skill set today's business-development professionals need to define their roles and meet revenue expectations. Written in practical terms by playmakers at Twitter and SocialRank, this A-to-Z guide walks you through forging relationships, pitching a company's product, building a network, sourcing deals, making rejection positive, and staying cool while closinglarge deals. Firsthand accounts from business development executives across many industries, from tech to television to finance, bring to life such topics as:

• How to consistently identify and land the best strategic alliances for your business
• Why people say "yes" and why they say "no"
• Etiquette for making introductions and reaching out to people in ways that elicit responses
• Monitoring core metrics to know where to invest your time

In addition to implementable advice and techniques from the top minds in the industry, this complete resource features an entire section of best practices for every step of the partnering process. Make your moves with the confidence of having a team of experts at your back.

The road from startup to IPO starts with Pitching & Closing.

PRAISE FOR PITCHING & CLOSING

"This book is a must-read for anyone in the business of transforming professional relationships into powerful strategic partnerships." -- Adam Bain, President of Global Revenue at Twitter

"Pitching & Closing does a phenomenal job of giving you a seat in the room during some of the biggest business development deals of late. Anyone who reads this book will come away with a deep understanding of business development in the world of startups." -- Dylan Smith, CFO of Box

"Pitching & Closing is the definitive guide to partnerships for the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders." -- Adam Braun, Founder and CEO of Pencils of Promise

"An honest and insightful look at the delicate and complex handling of business development [that] guides readers on how to turn good ideas into greatpartnerships." -- Kyle Kelly, Business Development & Analysis at Zappos.com

"Alex Taub and Ellen DaSilva have written the bible for business development in startup land--a well-researched, easily accessible accounting of best practicesand tips of the trade from the people who are leaders in opening and closing deals that define some of the most exciting new companies on the landscape." -- Laurie Racine, Board Member, Creative Commons

"I never thought I'd read a book that not only explains how nuanced business development can be, but also actually gives you what you need to take teams big and small to grow their business through partnerships. Impressive and fun to read." -- Paul Murphy, CEO of Dots and Partner at Betaworks

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments xi
Introduction xiii
Part 1
Business Development
1 ? What Is Business Development? 2
2 ? Types of Business Development 6
3 ? BD Team Structure 13
4 ? Business Development Versus Sales 18
5 ? Networking 23
6 ? International BD 32
7 ? Finding Your BD Mentor 35
8 ? APIs and BD 38
9 ? A Career in BD 44
10 ? Digital Identity 51
Part 2
Introduction to Partnerships
11 ? Understanding Other Companies 56
12 ? Four Golden Rules of Partnerships 59
13 ? Three Types of Partnerships 66
14 ? Identifying the Right Person at the Partner Company 71
15 ? Partner Feedback 76
16 ? Doing a Deal Versus Doing the Best Deal 80
17 ? Sincere Selling 82
18 ? Vapor Sales 85
Part 3
Pitching and Closing
19 ? Pipelines and Prepitch Execution 90
20 ? Making the Pitch and Closing the Deal 98
21 ? The Legality of Deal Making: Contracts and Beyond 113
22 ? Launching Deals and Compounding Effects 123
23 ? Keeping the Deal 128
Part 4
Best Practices: Preparation and Execution
24 ? Introductions: Best Practices 134
25 ? Reaching Out and Corresponding 139
26 ? Following Up and Other Best Practices
for Correspondence 145
27 ? Persistence 152
28 ? Rejection 155
29 ? Being Helpful and Adding Value 160
30 ? Feeling the Pulse of the Market 162
31 ? The ?Shiny Things? Disease 164
32 ? Internal Communication 166
33 ? Working with Big Companies 170
34 ? Working with the Press 173
35 ? ?Launch Partner? Strategy 177
36 ? Turning a Nice to Have into a Need to Have 181
Part 5
War Stories
37 ? Introduction to War Stories 184
38 ? Large-Company BD: Kristal Bergfield 186
39 ? Entrepreneurship and BD: Scott Britton 191
40 ? The Ultimate Connector: Charlie O?Donnell 197
41 ? BD and the Legal World: Richard Bloom 201
42 ? Trendsetter Partnerships: Gary Vaynerchuk 206
43 ? From BD to Founder: Tristan Walker 209
44 ? Day 1 Entrepreneur: Shaival Shah 213
45 ? Dorm Room Deal Maker: Andrew N. Ferenci 219
46 ? Sports, Private Jets, and Philanthropy: Jesse Itzler 223
47 ? Music BD and International Relations: Zeeshan Zaidi 228
48 ? Banking to BD: Nicole Cook 234
49 ? BD and Sales: Eric Friedman 238
50 ? Intern to VP: Erin Pettigrew 241
Sources 245
Index 253