Loftus: Consumer corporate development focuses on broader market strategy beyond execution
James Loftus · a16z Podcast | Dealing with Corporate Dealmakers -- When to Talk to Corp Dev · Jan 2, 2019 · at 4:11
James Loftus, corporate development partner at Andreessen Horowitz, explains how consumer technology companies use corporate development to track industry trends and startup activity.
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“Yeah, I think, I mean, on the consumer side, there are plenty of opportunities to be M&A execution focused, but I think within consumer companies, You also see the general corporation looking to the corporate development team to understand the overall strategic landscape, because obviously in the consumer space, you're more focused on building products that a lot of times you're giving away for free in the tech space and you're making money other ways. And so what you're really focused on is like, what are the trends out of the marketplace? What are startups doing? What's moving around? And the company's relying on the corporate development team to understand what's going on outside the company and figure out ways to That what's going on out there can be additive to their products, whether it's through M&A or through other means.”
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