Our Techweek Panel “The Executive Decision: Why Large Companies Should Work with Start-ups”

Techweek is now in full swing as tech companies and thought-leaders from across the country have gathered to explore opportunities and recent developments in a spectrum of areas including consumer technology, mobile media, financial technology and IT infrastructure.  At Apparel Media we were excited to contribute to the conversation. We organized the conference’s opening Friday panel  “The Executive Decision: Why Large Companies Should Work with Start-ups”.

With the help of 5 accomplished executives we explored the topic of big companies and start-ups working together. Jared Golden, Apparel Media Co-founder and Co-CEO moderated the discussion, and pulled insights from the panelists about an array of issues. The issues ranged from how start-ups can get their foot in the door with large companies, the manner in which start-ups should approach large companies to work together, the balance of offering a turnkey solution versus a highly customizable solution, and how to effectively manage expectations.

At Apparel Media, we team up with big companies all the time. We wanted to share our experiences while gaining insight from experienced industry though-leaders. Our panelists shared an amazing amount of advice and experience with us, but there were a valuable few morsels of advice that really stood out:

Wendy Colby, Senior Vice President, Innovation & New Ventures at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Show traction in relative areas and demonstrate flexibility and creativity working together.

Ben Foster, VP & Digital Strategist at Ketchum
Don’t be a cure chasing a disease, in other words, really know problem you are fixing.

Steve Moffat, Gatorade Global Director of Marketing
Be honest about what you can do, and what problems you’re able to solve, but never apologize for what you can’t do.

Jonathan Ruff, Senior Director of Technology Solutions Management, Applied Research Center, Motorola Mobility
Be straightforward, honest, and realistic otherwise you will jeopardize your credibility and be challenged or even dismissed.

Andrew Salzman, Partner at the Chasm Group
Listen and ask questions, you must build a relationship with trust. With start-us especially, humility goes a long way.

We would like to extend a big thank you to our panelists for making the time to participate on this panel, and for making it such an interesting and valuable discussion for all. Everyone at MidVentures and all of the Techweek volunteers and sponsors deserve a round of applause for making this conference an overwhelming success and a pleasure to be a part of. If you didn’t go this year, make sure to get to it next year.

Jared Golden with panelists- Wendy Colby, Jonathan Ruff, Ben Foster, Andrew Salzman, and Steven Moffat