How can a new venture survive if its founders have limited ability to bring in customers? Avinash Ja
How can a new venture survive if its founders have limited ability to bring in customers? Avinash Jayaraman, the director of the Singapore software company I ove Technologies, drew on a well-timed sales partnership.
"We were both fresh graduates with a technology background," he says of himself and his co-founder. "We had little knowledge of the sales proce and few industry contacts. We felt that attempting sales would not be the most effective use of our time to start with, and wanted to engage a partner who could bring in customers quickly."
I ove found its sales partner in a co ultant whom Mr Jayaraman had met in a local entrepreneurship event. The co ultant had the right level of sales expertise, focused on suitable target customers and segments, and employed a similar selling style. The partner also provided the company with infrastructure and office ace in its first year.
The sales partner brought to I ove ready acce to customers at a very early stage in the new venture's life, in return for technology expertise and attractive billing rates. But after a few months and a few customers, Mr Jayaraman realised that I ove's and the sales partner's priorities did not match very well: the partner wanted quick deals while I ove preferred to build long-term client relatio hi .
The co traints: At that stage of development, this difference was not a significant concern for I ove. But within a year, it was suffering from the co traints imposed by a middleman: longer cycle time in projects and lo of control over managing clients' expectatio and decoding their requirements. "If we were serving the same client directly," he o erves, "we would have delivered different things at different prices."
By recognising the limitatio of the partnership and learning from the partner, I ove's sales skills and industry knowledge have improved greatly over the past two years. I ove now has other revenue sources, and its reliance on its sales partner has been drastically reduced.
Having gained a firm foothold in the market, Mr Jayaraman can now end this relatio hip if the partner's retur continue to dwindle.
Though I ove's critical external relatio hip was not as smooth as he hoped initially, Mr Jayaraman co iders a sales partnership a worthwhile strategy for a new venture. "It is a great way to kick-start a busine ," he says.
In his opinion, it is better for new ventures to find a sales partner than an investor; investors just bring in money, but sales partners provide direct acce to the market and knowledge of what clients want. This i ight is invaluable in developing better products that are more likely to sell well.
But Mr Jayaraman war that new ventures should not depend on sales partnershi alone for their bread and butter. Entrepreneurs, he believes, must learn along the way and develop their sales, as well as product or service expertise, to e ure that the end of their external relatio hip does not ell the end of the venture.
"We were both fresh graduates with a technology background," he says of himself and his co-founder. "We had little knowledge of the sales proce and few industry contacts. We felt that attempting sales would not be the most effective use of our time to start with, and wanted to engage a partner who could bring in customers quickly."
I ove found its sales partner in a co ultant whom Mr Jayaraman had met in a local entrepreneurship event. The co ultant had the right level of sales expertise, focused on suitable target customers and segments, and employed a similar selling style. The partner also provided the company with infrastructure and office ace in its first year.
The sales partner brought to I ove ready acce to customers at a very early stage in the new venture's life, in return for technology expertise and attractive billing rates. But after a few months and a few customers, Mr Jayaraman realised that I ove's and the sales partner's priorities did not match very well: the partner wanted quick deals while I ove preferred to build long-term client relatio hi .
The co traints: At that stage of development, this difference was not a significant concern for I ove. But within a year, it was suffering from the co traints imposed by a middleman: longer cycle time in projects and lo of control over managing clients' expectatio and decoding their requirements. "If we were serving the same client directly," he o erves, "we would have delivered different things at different prices."
By recognising the limitatio of the partnership and learning from the partner, I ove's sales skills and industry knowledge have improved greatly over the past two years. I ove now has other revenue sources, and its reliance on its sales partner has been drastically reduced.
Having gained a firm foothold in the market, Mr Jayaraman can now end this relatio hip if the partner's retur continue to dwindle.
Though I ove's critical external relatio hip was not as smooth as he hoped initially, Mr Jayaraman co iders a sales partnership a worthwhile strategy for a new venture. "It is a great way to kick-start a busine ," he says.
In his opinion, it is better for new ventures to find a sales partner than an investor; investors just bring in money, but sales partners provide direct acce to the market and knowledge of what clients want. This i ight is invaluable in developing better products that are more likely to sell well.
But Mr Jayaraman war that new ventures should not depend on sales partnershi alone for their bread and butter. Entrepreneurs, he believes, must learn along the way and develop their sales, as well as product or service expertise, to e ure that the end of their external relatio hip does not ell the end of the venture.
