A friend asked me how to avoid partnering with incumbents when they have exclusive control of the supply side of your industry (in response to my previous post about incumbents).

Some of my ideas…

1. Don’t rely on them to promote you. Aquire users directly

2. Don’t build and sell software to help them run their operations - only build enough to facilitate a transaction. Give it to them for free and take a clip of the transaction. They are not a customer they’re a supplier.

3. Find other ways to grow your utility and super engaged user base that does not rely on their supply - so that you become a large enough center of gravity and source of qualified leads that they can’t ignore you. This will allow you to dictate some of the engagement model.

4. Engage with smaller players that are more desperate - related to point 3

5. Build products/processes that are so damned good that users and partners can’t ignore you.

Start from the ideal user experience and work backward.

Start with smaller or more innovative partners who are willing to innovate.

And/or give them equity or big $$ to play nice - i.e win them over with competence, equity and/or money.