I started a digital agency in the early days of digital marketing in South Africa and pitched the agency’s offering to Ferrari and was told I was a skinny chef because our agency was not using any of the tools I was selling.

We get a lot of people pitching to us and wanting to partner with us. The first question that I invariably ask the individuals who approach me with a partnership proposal is, “How are you serving entrepreneurs?”

Ultimately, in the early stages of businesses and startups, having a partnership strategy is absolutely vital. But I would also encourage even more mature businesses to look at partnerships to ease the road, to help the scaling process and to potentially unlock even greater revenues and greater market share in regions that potentially have been untapped.

A successful partnership is one where there is a seamless alignment of values, a very clearly defined offering to our community members that is valuable to each and every one of them, and the ability for those community members to take advantage of that offer in an easy and efficient way.

The way to do that is to be genuinely curious and caring about the other person. Otherwise you'll never know how to tailor your offering or your product to the other person in a way that is truly valuable.

If you're a starting-out entrepreneur wanting to establish partnerships, it becomes a lot easier when you are able to very clearly distinguish and articulate your value proposition in a very tangible way - with a clear website, with a clear brand, with a clear brand message and the list of attributes and benefits that you can provide.

Follow a cascading approach where you lead with your core belief.
Then elaborate with your purpose, your mission and your operational model.

My perspective is to start by assessing the situation fully. Have a conversation that is non-threatening, honest, friendly and from the heart. Follow through with any boundaries or consequences discussed in that conversation.

I believe passion is a consequence of following your calling. Calling is an interesting thing. Often we default to the word “work” but the great psychoanalyst Carl Jung spoke about the true meaning of life coming from vocation, not work. 

If we've done our job right and the potential partner says no, then that means that our product is not right for them. This approach has, for me personally, taken away a lot of the fear because it means that if it's not right, then it's not right and then that's okay. We walk away, we're still friends and we've gotten to connect and that's valuable in its own right.