David and Goliath - A Quick Date or a Long-Term Relationship?

Much as these days many corporate Goliaths are actively looking for entrepreneurial partner Davids, it’s often the case that entrepreneurs have to make the first move in developing a strategic relationship. The right kind of relationship with a Goliath and its customer base can be transformational for a David, providing the rapid growth at predictable margin that other early-stage companies can...

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You Can Fool Some of the People Some of the Time...

During my childhood Monopoly was omnipresent, I was fascinated by the board game.  Rainy Northern days, of which there were plenty, would see me indoors gleefully piling plastic property onto the blue strips of Mayfair and Park Lane.  Usually mortgaged up to the hilt, the idea was nevertheless to speedily deliver a fatal financial coup de grace to whoever was unlucky enough to be playing...

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Are You Sitting Comfortably? Now You’re Talking.

Ever been in a situation where you have met someone for the first time in a business meeting and you just can’t warm to them? But they’ve said, or done, nothing unpleasant yet you are left feeling uncomfortable and fighting with yourself to play nice? I suspect we all have. And the reason is we were tuning into the wrong things.  It’s not what the person said, or even how they looked,...

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