What I've Learned in Business So Far... - Page 16

I became partner recently at work so as a reward they have loaded me up with work so my apologies for neglecting this thread for a while. Collaboration is given a lot of lip service but I have discovered over and over that it is essential to good work product. Recently we had a very complex deal that involved creating scenarios of optimization for a big company. We had never done such a variation of optimization. What we did was create a solution based on client needs but then we worked with our "delivery" organization to help allocate resources by level of consultant and then generate a pricing workbook that allocated hours by week and then applied client charges and profit margin for each stream. I also negotiated some pricing from an optimization partner which we built into the mix for the final proposal. Given the size of the deal we went through a formal "deal review" process which looks at sales strategy, pricing, profit margin, and resource allocation. We also had a super short turnaround for the project as well within a work week. It meant a lot of late nights but by collaborating across the our account management team, the sales executive, delivery, and the optimization team we got it done. So the lesson is to work to craft the internal networks you have at your company so the collaboration is more natural. Yet another use of LinkedIn here as well.

Thanks everyone!

Thanks!

Selling ideas...this is what I have learned. 1. Create a visual map of the business model for the product or service. Show the key components and business or consumer delivered. 2. Create a visual of who gets what benefits. Many ideas create value for multiple segments. 3. Create a financial forecast of what it takes to get to the next milestone. Make sure your milestones make sense. Have a plan B. 4. Tell a short and compelling story. How did you develop it? Where is the value in it? Who is on the team that created it? How much money do you need to commercialize? 5. Avoid venture money as long as possible because it is VERY expensive in terms of equity. When you do want it, find the best VCs you can and by best I mean both connections and expertise.

Following some disrespect by LA Guy and j, I have decided to stop posting to this thread. I hope that members here enjoyed my commentary and found it of value. Best of luck to each of you in your careers and jobs.