These Are Real Life Stories,
Not Thoughts, Predictions Or Baseless Claims.
I know, These Are Mine - Todd Hussey
Panic to IPO With Partners
Situation:
Start up. 60 days after I joined, we made a major pivot – major product and market change. Lay off - went from 40 to 20 staff. Running out of cash.
I was told to,
• Create the international business from scratch. 100% partners.
What did I do,
• Selected 5 tier 1 countries based on their level of maturity in our segment
• Selected Ideal Partner Profiles based on what we “believed” matched our business model and Ideal Customer Profile (the Ideal Customer Profile was still very much in question)
• Banged on the phone and email to get appointments
• After I got at least 20 appointments for a week’s trip I was in the air including 2-3 weeklong trips at a time
• Met with and vetted potential partners
• Rinse and repeat all on the above until I had 1-3 partners on board in each country
• In-country lived with them enabling, training and going on joint end customer appointments and building relationships
• After revenue justified – hired in country staff
• I then moved on to tier 2, 3 etc countries and did the same
We went public 3 years later.
Lessons learned,
• It’s “f-ing hard work”
• Product/market fit ie your value prop and Ideal Customer Profile is job #1
• Ideal Partner Profile is as important as Ideal Customer Profile
• Vet partners!!!!!
• Work with your partners hands on – joint end customer visits are mandatory
• Treat partners as part of your business
• Do not be afraid to say NO to partners
• It’s gotta be win-win with partners – no win-win = lose-lose
Todd Hussey
Off To Japan With No Partner Plan
Situation:
Startup up doing <$1m and around 50 employees. My 2nd job out of school and started as a Sales Engineer (after selling telephone systems). Started working closely with our Strategic Partner and investor, a huge conglomerate in Japan. We become close friends although 8,000 miles away. Btw, we invented room video conferencing, so remote F2F video meetings were the norm.
I was told to do,
• Go to Tokyo and make them successful. What? - I was 27 years old and had just got engaged to my beautiful wife Karen.
What did I do,
• Got on an airplane with no plan and my eyes wide open
• Lived with them in their offices doing whatever I could to support them
• Push them to bring me to at least 10 end customer F2F appts per week in and around Tokyo
• Spent almost every day after work having happy hour with them drinking beer, whiskey and eating yakitori, tempura, noodles and anything else that ended up on my plate – and having the time of my life and making lifelong friends (to this day!!)
• After happy hour I would go back to my hotel and provide update to my corporate execs in Boston
• During the weekends I would either spend time with one of my Japanese friends or work on a business plan to grow the Japan business
• Go back to Boston a few times a year
We ended up opening and office, establishing a KK and building a $15m business by the time I went back to Boston.
We went public 3 years later.
Lessons learned,
• Go for it – WTF!!!
• In APAC relationships are everything – more than any of the 40 countries I’ve done this
• You gotta push for joint end customers appts – no excuses
• You are the #1 (and only?) advocate for your partner especially when you are 8,000 miles way
• Be a chameleon – When in Japan (or any country) do as they do etc
• Respect the heck out of their culture and ways of doing business
• BUT it’s still BUSINESS and REVENUE – they respect you for that
• Oh, and drink and eat whatever is served to you (except for Taiwan- sorry)
Todd Hussey
Hiring A Partner Leader Rock Star
Situation:
I built out our partner business in Europe to the point I could start hiring “In-Europe” Regional Managers. My next hire was – Regional Manager – Southern Europe.
What I did, - this is the boring part,
• Create a very detailed job description with items such a, but not limited to,
1. Tech startup up experience – software, NOT hardware
2. Experience recruiting, enabling and managing to success partners
3. Experience working with partners on a daily basis doing joint end customer appointments
4. Trainable and coachable
5. Proven success in small team environments
• Selected a recruiting firm in France, and trained them on the business and the job description and really what I was looking for
• Screened candidates over the phone
• Went to Paris to have 1:1 interviews
The person I hired, - after many not so exciting interviews, - the good part.
• He was NOT a flashy dresser (to say the least), he shook my hand like I was meeting “The Rock” and he oozed confidence (not arrogance)
After a few minutes of typical interview questions, he went off script,
He opened up a photo album and showed me a small house outside of Paris he built made of large stones as well as pictures of him doing the work by himself with a handful of experts where he was not an expert.
We got into a very engaging conversation talking about building a stone house is like building a partner business,
• Begin with the end in mind – the picture in his head of what he wanted the house to look like
• Do first things first – the land, the first rocks etc
• It’s a grind – hard work every day
• Partner with experts where you have no expertise – in a win-win model
• Learn something new every day
At the end of him showing me the photo album he said “Todd, If I can build this rock house, I can build your Southern Europe Partner Business"
I hired him and he was “rock star” – no pun intended.
Lessons learned,
• Be open to new ideas and ways of thinking – get “out of the box”
• It’s very often the intangibles that make all the difference
Todd Hussey
Turning Partners Into Friends And Friends Into Partners
Situation,
• First job out of school
• Selling business telephone systems (called PBXs back then) in Boston
• Had absolutely no idea what I was doing
• Businesses replace their telephone systems every 10 years or if the company moves, blows up from a lightning strike or flood or some other catastrophic event
I was told to,
• Cold call, bang on doors and sell
What did I do,
• Cold call, bang on doors until I got sick of it, what are the chances of me getting to a company the really needs a new telephone system that day? Do the math – it’s ugly
• Decided to “make friends” ie partner with the HVAC person, copier rep, real state rep, telecom circuit rep, office complex staff etc
• Now I had my own partner ecosystem
• To keep them engaged I would buy them beers once and a while
• I would also push them for appts – you gotta earn your free beers
Lessons learned,
• Work hard and SMART
• Just about anyone can be a partner
• Have real relationships with your partners, not just superficial BS
• Partnerships must be win-win
• It’s all about the $$$$$$ (not free lunches and golf and that BS)
Have we in the partner world come full circle? We all need many and different types of partners that all add their own special value. Maybe a partner ecosystem?
Todd Hussey