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The world as a whole might be making progress towards equality, but there is still a long way to go. The simple truth is that women entrepreneurs have it harder than their male counterparts. While unfair, it’s the reality we have to deal with, so it’s essential for women to find effective solutions that will help them overcome adversity. Partnering up with other startups is one of these possible solutions.
Benefits of Partnering with Startups
The majority of information you’ll find about the benefits of partnering with startups relates to the benefits it brings to corporations. For an established corporate business, startups bring an infusion of creativity and innovation, access to new markets, and most importantly, new solutions pioneered by those startups.
Of course, entrepreneurs and other startup owners get all these benefits when partnering up as well. However, the main advantage for them is the so-called “strength in numbers.” This kind of partnership not only provides both parties with some valuable resources, it also allows them to pool their own limited resources and funds to obtain some new and better opportunities.
This is the main advantage of working together coupled with getting access to a new lead pool. Those people might not be as interested in buying from your business, but if you choose your partners right, they will have some interest. As any entrepreneur should know, “some interest” is enough to get a foothold that might result in a conversion.
How to Make the Most out of Your Partnership with a Startup
The key to boosting your own business through a partnership with a startup is to partner up with a business that complements yours. To do this, you’ll need to start by researching recently funded startups. Those are the most likely to seek out partnerships as they’re only beginning their journeys into the business world.
When you look into possible partners, you need to look for the following:
1. Products or Services that Complement but Don’t Compete with Yours
You shouldn’t do a deal with a competitor business, but joining forces with a company completely unrelated to your own products is a waste of time. Remember that reaching a new interested audience is one of the main benefits of partnering with another company or entrepreneur. Therefore, you need to find a business whose targeted audience is similar to yours.
For example, if you specialize in manufacturing sports foods and supplements, consider partnering with gyms and businesses that manufacture sportswear and equipment.
2. Businesses that Share Your Values
Values matter greatly for modern businesses because today’s consumers are willing to pay more to buy from a brand that shares their own personal values. It’s essential to use yours as a part of your marketing strategy.
If you partner with another business, you need to be sure that they share the same values. Otherwise, your customers might leave thinking you don’t really care about those values and only use them to attract attention.
3. Common Goals
Please note that it’s not necessary for you and your prospective startup business partner to have the same goals. However, it is necessary to make sure that what each of you aims to achieve from this partnership doesn’t interfere with the other’s goals.
For example, you might want to partner up with your local gym and have them offer your supplements at the counter. This way, you’ll reach a highly interested audience. But what will your partner get from this? If they aren’t getting a cut from the sales, they need to get some other tangible benefit that will make offering your products worthwhile to them. A deal where both parties benefit equally is the recipe for the best partnership.
