Corporate entities have become critical stakeholders in the cleantech startup ecosystem—they’re starting funds, acquiring startups, and providing pathways to market for innovations in need of customers. We sat down with our Advisory Board to discuss their advice for startups looking to take advantage of the resources and opportunities corporate partnership might offer their company. Many thanks to our meeting facilitator and Greentown Labs expert Trond Undheim for his help in this conversation. For more information about Trond and his work, check out his new book on startup corporate partnerships here.
[…] Big takeaways include … IT’S DIFFERENT THAN A VC PITCH Strategic Fit is King […] investment is one of many potential outcomes a corporate can work towards with a startup and perhaps not the most valuable to either party […] It’s a Conversation […] Startups pitching should be prepared to turn the tables and discuss how the corporate envisions collaboration before assuming one pathway only. […] corporate stakeholders generally care more about what a team can do in the future than what their product can do right now. […] Startups should keep trying and not take the first, second or third ‘no’ as a final answer.
Blog post, Katherine MacDonald, Greentown Labs, 7 August, 2019
Read more on the Greentown Labs website.