Stakeholder commitments

An entrepreneur gets in touch with a lot of other people to obtain advice and other inputs in order to precede the plan with some of the things others know or could do. Essentially, he or she forms partnerships to fill up potential gaps of resources; he could look for knowledge, investment, suppliers, customers, and so on. While forming these partnerships, new means become available and with new means might come new opportunities and goals (see principle one). It is important to make sure that each stakeholder brings new means to the equation, and strives to invest only what he or she can afford. Eventually,  the committed partnerships that are set up between the stakeholders help to crystallize the idea into a real business.

Key take away:  commitments from stakeholders are a way to reduce uncertainty and expanding the means available. It is important, however, to select your partners based on their actual commitment, instead of based on some "predefined" goals (we expect to sell 1m units, so Wal-Mart should be or partner...sounds right?). The goals may change as his or her means become available. It is important that all partners find something that's in there for them.

More information?

• Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, talks about how real partnerships are a win-win deal. When making a deal, it is important to let your partner win, too, and to form an actual partnership rather than strictly relying on financial gain. He explains it very insightfully in this (2002!) video.
• Tom Byers is a professor at Stanford University where he focuses on technology and high-growth entrepreneurship education. Byers believes that the impact of marketing is often underestimated by companies. He talks about how partnering is one of the keys to crossing the chasm between the early market and the mainstream market in this video.
• Read this business life story on how to make most of your partnerships.A Short story on stakeholder commitments in practice
• Peter Diamandis on the power of asking. A great and insightful video.

A short story on stakeholder commitments in practice

• In this story, a a physicist and sailor manages to figure out the right partnerships in order to succeed with his plan to capture energy from ocean waves. This the pdf.