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Your Relationship Playbook Finding and Managing a Business Partner Jay Powell

Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

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Page 1: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Your Relationship PlaybookFinding and Managing a Business Partner

Jay Powell

Page 2: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Who is this guy?

Jay Powell

● Began career as an agent in 1998

● Business Development and Licensing for 16 years

● Ten years as an agent

● Bootstrapped a production company for three years

● Powell Group is in it’s third year.

● 100% growth year to year with a century’s worth of

experience

Page 3: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Partnership Overview

● Do you really need a partner?

● Finding a partner

● Qualifying the partner

● Structure an agreement

● Manage the partner relationship

Page 4: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Do You Really Need a Partner?Identifying your goals

Page 5: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Find a Partner

● Understand what you need in the end○ Funding

○ Design

○ Development

○ Marketing

○ Distribution

○ Other?

● Identify your pain points and weaknesses

● Understand your budget and limits

Page 6: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Find a PartnerHow to start your search

Page 7: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Find a Partner

● Start building a list of potential partners○ Industry specific site such as Gamasutra

○ Google search

○ Trade show attendees

○ LinkedIn

○ News

Page 8: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Find a Partner

● Research everyone on your list○ Company websites

○ Powerpoint decks

○ Phone calls

○ Email exchanges

Page 9: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Find a Partner

● Record relevant data in a big Excel spreadsheet for easy comparison○ Examples of relevant data: years in business, number of games

worked on, specializations in game genre or platform, etc.

○ PRICE!

○ Create your own grading scale if needed

○ Prioritize this based on your own KPI’s

Page 10: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Find a Partner

● Narrow down your list○ Research data

○ Track record

○ Reputation

○ Budget

○ Cultural fit

○ Strategic fit

Page 11: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Qualify the PartnerHow to (properly) check references

Page 12: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Qualify the Partner

● Ignore “References” ○ Research their past projects and partners

○ Use LinkedIn for clients and individuals

● Ask the right people the right questions○ What did you REALLY do?

○ How do they approach specific problems

○ What tools do they use

○ How will they fit into the existing pipeline

○ Who specifically will be on the team

Page 13: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Qualify the Partner

● Do a deep dive on the team

○ Research individuals

○ Talk to people they have worked on at other companies

● Go outside the box

○ Talk to other vendors as well

○ Review scores

○ Don’t overlook the traditional press

Page 14: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Structure an AgreementHow to create a contract that is fair to both of you

Page 15: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Structure an Agreement

Your agreement should cover these deal points at minimum:● Game(s)

● Platforms

● Languages

● Price (Guarantee, Back-end, Maintenance)

● Stores or Territories

● IP Ownership

● Milestones or Payment Triggers

● Net Receipts or Revenue Share Trigger

Page 16: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Structure an Agreement

Some tips and pointers:● Know your client

● Clarify deliverables very clearly

● Don’t hand over rights that won’t be used

● Know your margins

● Identify important and unimportant points

● Don’t be a dick

● Be responsive

● Explain why certain points are important to you

Page 17: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Manage the Partner RelationshipHow to stay positive and professional

Page 18: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Manage the Partner Relationship

● How involved do you (personally) need to be?

● Manage Expectations What to expect at each stage of

development

○ “No, the first playable will not look like a finished game.”

● How to define various deliverables in the agreement

● Set regular meetings

Page 19: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Manage the Partner Relationship

● Manage the tactical as well as the strategic

● Don’t loose your cool

○ Explain why

○ Look for the “real” reason

● Communicate!

Page 20: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Bringing It All TogetherGetting it done in less than 20 hours a day

Page 21: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Bringing It All Together

● Use a cost / benefit analysis to determine your true needs

● Use true needs to define your target

● Use your task breakdown from your partner search to define deliverables

● Use your deliverables to define your contract terms

● Use your terms, deliverables, and milestones to define your project tasks and goals

● Check them off, get them done!

Page 22: Your Relationship Playbook: Finding and Managing a Business Partner

Thank You

Jay Powell

Powell Group Consulting

919.809.7441

[email protected]

@Powell_Jay