In my last post I outlined three important reasons big companies should partner with startups. I’ll now delve deeper into the common objections I typically hear from large companies regarding these partnership. In addition to listing these objections I will respond to each.
The objections I hear most often from the front lines of large companies:
1. Not a priority; they have too much else going on
2. No internal owner to manage the projects and/or startups
3. Needs are too proprietary to have external discussions
4. We’re happy with our current suppliers/vendors
5. We do our own outreach (this answer is incredibly popular in Silicon Valley)
My response to these objections:
1. Not a priority – it will be, you may want to at least know who’s going to eat your lunch next year
2. No owner – it depends on the company, but usually every organization has a few entrepreneurial/
3. Too proprietary – even Apple lists job openings for automotive industry experts. There is no need to be specific, let the startups come to you with solutions
4. Happy with suppliers – hmm…I was happy with over-the-air tv until I saw cable. I was happy with standard definition until I saw high definition and so on…
5. Own outreach – in the HR world, do big companies only list their jobs on their own sites? Sure if they want 4 resumes, but if they want 400, they go to where the job seekers are like indeed, Linkedin, Monster. Go to where the startups are…
