One of the biggest challenges a startup founder can face is getting the business development going. Business development has so many different factors to it. Different founders are good at different aspects. If you don’t get the leads then the whole process breaks down and you won’t get traction.

1. Business Development
for Entrepreneurs
By Neil Patel
@neilp666
www.neilpatel.co

2. One of the biggest challenges a startup founder can
face is getting the business development going.
Business development has so many different
factors to it.
Different founders are good at different aspects. If
you don’t get the leads then the whole process
breaks down and you won’t get traction.

3. Do you know Kim kardashian?
Your Network

4. When it comes to business development for startup
founders , you are only as strong as your network.
For example, if your startup has developed an IPhone game for Kim
Kardashian and her 27+ million users , will you be able to call Kim to
discuss this, or do you know someone who can make a warm
introduction?

5. e.g.
Julie knows you.
Julie knows Steve who knows Kim
You want to meet Kim
and Julie is willing to introduce you to Steve
If you don’t know Kim or anyone connected to Kim,
then you are pretty much going to fail! The reality is
you need someone who is one degree removed
from that person you need to get in front of.

6. What is it?
Business development

7. Business development covers everything you can do to develop your business
for your startup. This will include selling, marketing and developing strategies
for your startup, and executing on them.
The bottom line is if you can prove one of the following points, then you will be
able to get traction for your startup.
● You can make them money
● You save them money
● You grow their business
● You can improve their existing product.
Business Development

8. Networking

9. Networking is also an important facet of business development. Your job is to
build relationships with existing partners and create new ones. It is also
important to network with individuals within your industry and maintain those
connections.
There are 2 main ways of networking; going to meetups or hosting your own
meetup. You need to find out who the main decision makers are or champions
within the organisation so then when you do launch your product you can reach
out to them.
Networking

10. Building a basic pipeline tool

11. I have created a business development tracker for Startup founders
so you can track networking and sales opportunities. It was done in
Google Docs because it is easier to share.
biz dev pipeline tool 2015
Please feel free to download and edit it so it reflects your needs. To
make changes, simply download it to your desktop and change the
filename.

12. I have created 6 columns and added 6
headings
1. Company: - The company they work for
2. Size of company: – Big / Medium / Small
3. Probability: How likely are you to work with them – High / Low / Medium –
use your intuition on this
4. Contact: - Name of main contact
5. Contact details: Main contact, e.g email, tel number, skype, etc.
6. Status – Status of the deal. A percentage to reflect on where you are on
the deal
Sales Pipeline

13. Status of the deal examples
0% – No contact made or not identified anyone
10% – You have identified the correct decision maker within the company or found someone who will
champion your cause.
40% – You have an initial meeting with them to discuss your idea or you have identified the main
decision maker and sent them sales details via email
60% – They said yes! They have requested a contract and you have sent it
100% – Contract is signed and terms have been agreed – deal is done!
You can use colours to determine what stage the deal is in:
Green – Live
Orange – Pending
Red – No

14. Who should use it
Everyone in your team! Why?
If you are a startup founder, chances you
have a small team.
So it is important to be constantly selling
the value of your business.

15. FINAL THOUGHTS

16. As a founder of a startup, you need to develop your network which
hopefully will lead to revenue down the line. Anyone who has sales
gets traction and in turn, this could lead to some serious investment
($$). But to do this you need to find the decision makers when you
ready to launch your product!
There are so many tools out there, but it’s probably best if you use
Google Docs because its very easy and straightforward to maintain. It
helps you and your team focus on the right contacts and it’s easy to
share the important details. Don’t have crap leads for your team
members!

17. lets connect @neilp666 / www.neilpatel.co
Thanks for watching!