On this episode of the Unlearn Podcast, hosts Kelly and Asher are joined by Bob Rosin, a seasoned professional with a diverse career spanning the B2B industry, startups, and leadership roles at companies like Sony, LinkedIn, and Stripe. Rosin shares insights into strategic partnerships, emphasizing the importance of understanding partners' goals and creating mutual value. He highlights LinkedIn's mission-driven approach and discusses the evolving Chief Business Officer role in driving holistic business development. The conversation covers various partnership types for startups and career paths in partnerships, offering key takeaways on strategic pursuit, interdepartmental collaboration, and the evolving role of partnership leaders in driving growth.

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Chapters:

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00:00 - Partnerships and business development in various industries.

07:46 - Business development and partnerships.

11:43 - Partnerships for product development and distribution

18:57 - Partnership strategies for startups, including marketing, distribution, and enablement.

24:33 - Importance of business development and partner management in organizations. 

29:00 - Partnerships, product understanding, and user experience at LinkedIn.

33:41 - LinkedIn's API program and data protection. 

38:36 - Data collection, scraping, and partnerships in the tech industry.

41:59 - Career paths in partnerships and business development. 

47:30 - Business development roles and reporting structures in tech companies.

52:54 - Chief Business Officer roles and responsibilities.

57:16 - Partnerships and business growth strategies for Chief Business Officers and partnership leaders.

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Highlights:

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• Partnerships for product development and distribution.

Bob distinguishes between business development and sales, emphasizing the former as pre-proto sales and creating an environment for sales. He identifies three types of partnerships: product enablement, distribution, and marketing partnerships, each with distinct functions and value. Bob describes the development of a pocket-sized computer with advanced microprocessor technology, partnering with companies like Intel. He explains how the company convinced Intel and mobile operators to partner with them by demonstrating their potential value and building relationships, highlighting the importance of marketing and distribution, including securing endorsements from influential industry figures like Bill Gates.

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• Partnership strategies for startups, including marketing, distribution, and enablement.

Asher outlines three partnership types: enablement, marketing, and distribution. Bob concurs and provides an economic framework for partnerships. Bob elaborates on building a successful startup by collaborating with skilled technical individuals, investors, and advisors. Asher stresses the significance of networking and making connections to expand their startup's reach.

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• Partnerships, product understanding, and user experience at LinkedIn.‍

Bob underscores the importance of comprehending product and engineering for success in partnership endeavors. Enhanced collaboration with these areas results in superior technical solutions and more compelling partnerships. Asher emphasizes LinkedIn's mission-driven approach to aiding members in achieving economic opportunity.

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• Business development roles and reporting structures in tech companies.

The discussion delves into the role of Business Development in technology companies, underlining its influence on product development and go-to-market strategies. Insights from a study of the top 50 Asian appliance companies emphasize BD's significance in driving revenue and partnerships. It's noted that partnership impact relies on close alignment with the product team, while reporting to the product team can facilitate collaboration on plans.

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• Chief Business Officer roles and responsibilities.

The Chief Business Officer role centers on business development, not solely on distribution. Emphasizing the significance of a Chief Business Officer in building a business, not solely in partnership management. The CBO role entails engaging in or leading discussions on growing the business profitably.

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• Partnerships and business growth strategies for Chief Business Officers and partnership leaders.

Companies encounter two distinct challenges in the market: deciding between buying, building, or partnering. The Chief Audit Officer should prioritize partnerships as a member of the C-suite. Partnership leaders ought to concentrate on business growth, not solely on forging partnerships. Elevating partnership leaders necessitates comprehending business issues and delivering enhanced experiences for customers.

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Key Takeaways

1. Partnerships should be pursued strategically based on what is best for the business, not just for the sake of doing deals.
2. Understanding the technical and business goals of potential partners is key to developing mutually beneficial relationships.
3. Close collaboration between partnerships/business development and product/engineering teams leads to innovative solutions that create value for customers.
4. Networking and relationships are critical for startups to connect with larger organizations and make opportunities happen.
5. As partnerships evolve, leaders need to focus on growing the business holistically through multiple levers like buy/build/partner, not just distribution.

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Key Quotes

"Your goal, whether your partnerships, or your chief business officer is to develop the business." - Bob Rosin

"Partnerships are a means to an end of building the business. It's not about doing partnerships, right. Partnerships is a means to an end. And, but the goal is to how do you create new businesses? Have you built a business? How do you have impact on your end users, that makes it a better product, right, that delivers better experiences for your customers." - Bob Rosin

"The closer that you can be to product and to the technology and to the actual user experience, then the better results you're going to have because ultimately the kind of the, the ground truth, like where it happens is the end user, whether it's a business user or a consumer and the experience that they're having." - Bob Rosin