The Startup Gold Mine: How to Tap the Hidden Innovation Agendas of Large Companies to Fund and Grow Your Business

by Neil Soni

An invaluable playbook for startup founders looking to partner with big business. Corporations are desperate to overhaul their culture and the perception that they are giant, bureaucratic dinosaurs too slow to react in a rapidly changing business landscape. Many are trying to be more innovative and agile, like a startup. One easy way to achieve this goal is through partnering with or acquiring a startup. Corporate venture capital (CVC) now makes up 25 percent ($18 billion) of all venture capital dollars in North America. The Startup Gold Mine reveals how the world’s largest and most prestigious brands make innovation decisions, including new product launches, vendor-startup partnerships, and even billion-dollar acquisitions. The book also details the ways startups can leverage corporate strengths and weaknesses for mutual benefit. You will Author Neil Soni draws on his experience as an entrepreneur and as an external innovator with premier brands like Estée Lauder, MAC, and Smashbox to reveal large companies’ inner workings, as well as how startup founders and employees can use this knowledge to close the biggest deals of their lives.

Genres: Business, Entrepreneurship, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

Published October 16, 2018

Reviews

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so excited to be granted the priveledge of reviewing this book. I am a part of the Dallas Startup community. I hope to use this book in training with Brazen and Launch DFW. It really fits with the purpose of these groups. I will be doing Live2Lead John Maxwell Leadership in the Dallas area and will be suggesting this to read. I have been provided this book by the publisher for my honest opinion.

[Jarek Bogulak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you scared or intimidated about making a deal with a corporation? It may sound like a challenge that seems impossible. You may perceive corporations as a giant, bureaucratic dinosaurs from another planet that you can't even imagine reaching.

This book reveals how the world's largest and most prestigious brands operate and the ways a startup can get access and make big deals possible. After reading the book, what seemed impossible turned out to be a manageable project, with predictable results.

This book is an excellent guide and resource for founders and startups. The author presents a thorough yet practical analysis of big companies, all of the specifics that you can leverage in your interest. You also can learn about the mistakes easy to make when dealing with corporations. The invaluable part of the book is a collection of inspiring interviews with successful founders who were able to make big deals with prestigious brands. What I also found particularly helpful are the real examples like email templates and scorecard examples used by corporate innovators to evaluate potential startups to work with.

It is a great book! Not only the content itself, which is so useful, supportive, and often open-minded but also the style and voice. I felt like having a conversation with the author. This book left me energized, optimistic, and ready to face the world of big brands.

[Denny Troncoso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good short book to understand doing business with corporations as a startup. Tips on how to sell or accept private and corporate vc money.

Startup goldmine
Careful to verify if person is decisonmaker
Dealflow for corporate is 12 months
Have a portfolio you are working with
Stay humble don’t lecture they are really smart
Careful to use corporate jargon
Careful to sign right of first refusal
Careful with exclusive market
Careful with industry broadness
Inside outside innovation conference
Hackathons for recruiting
Pay consultants by project not hourly

[Ugn Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty intuitive book - the key factor is in driving empathy across start-up and corporate stakeholders.

I did like the sections around advantages and pitfalls around working with corporates.

As a corporate person myself, it was useful to get a peak at how start-ups/founders work, and to think through ways to make lives easier for smaller enterprises.

A fairly quick read.

[Alexander Korobov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, especially if you’re interested in the topic of startups catering to large corporations.