Corp Dev
topic on 3 shows · 8 statements across 8 episodes
My First Million 
the Neon Show 
20VC
8 statements about Corp Dev, every show
Startup acquisitions require line-of-business buy-in, not just corporate development relationships
“The one thing I would say is that it's not enough if corp dev knows you, unless there's a burning fire, the line of business has to know you.”
Rampell: Corporate development teams execute transactions, they don't buy companies
“You don't want to spend time with the corp dev people because most people are like, oh, corp dev buys companies. No, they don't. They execute transactions.”
Lemkin: Founders need one real and one fake offer in M&A
“And if you've been, for folks, if you've gone through M&A, you really want to have two, two real offers. Back up, you want to have one real and one fake offer, like one, at least one fake offer. You can tell CorpDev you have another offer.”
Lemkin: Acquirers in nine-figure deals aggressively circumvent VC preferences
“My limited visibility recently in M&A is that every acquirer is looking for ways to get around all the VC preference. It's aggressive. Like it was always true, but now it's like super aggressive. It's like, we just don't Even give a rat's ass in corp dev how t…”
Puri: Companies do not buy startups, individual executive champions do
“One of the most important things you got to figure out is who's actually buying this company. It's not a company that buys a company. There is a person in a company who needs something for their job. And you have to figure out who is that person and what is th…”
Choi: Corp dev value comes from gathering ecosystem insights through relationships
“The whole thing about corp dev is you're an external facing person. Who can get invaluable insights if you have amazing relationships with the whole ecosystem.”
Loftus: CorpDev teams aim to advocate for startups internally
“CorpDev wants to be your advocate within the company, not just for an M&A deal. Like, we spend our days talking to VCs and talking to startups, and we've self-selected for this job because we love entrepreneurs”
Choi: Startups should build ongoing corp dev relationships, not transactional contacts
“I'm a big fan of Mark Souster's line about, it's about lines, not dots. In other words, it's about long-term relationship and a series of dots, not just one transactional conversation. So don't just come to us when there's a transaction going on. Knowing the c…”