strategic-alliances

# Strategic alliances Distinct from marketing partnerships. Those borrow an audience; these change what the business can do or where it can sell. ## Partner, build, or buy Partner when the capability is genuinely outside your core, the partner is materially better at it, and the arrangement can be unwound. Build when it is core, or when depending on someone else creates unacceptable exposure. Buy when you need control and speed and the thesis holds. The question that decides it: **what happens if this partner becomes a competitor, is acquired by one, or simply loses interest?** If the answer is existential, do not partner — that is a build or buy decision wearing a cheaper price tag. ## Structure by what each side actually wants Partnerships fail on asymmetry of motivation more than on terms. Before structuring, establish what the partner gets, whether it is material to them, and who inside their organization is accountable for it. A partnership that is strategically important to you and a rounding error to them will not be executed, whatever was signed. Being the small partner is workable — being the small *and uninteresting* partner is not. ## Terms that determine whether it works - **Exclusivity** — expensive, occasionally worth it, and always time-boxed. Perpetual exclusivity given away early is a recurring regret. - **Economics** — who books revenue, on what split, and what happens to it if volume grows tenfold. - **Roadmap commitments** — what each side will ...