Partnerships are M&A step one
The market is souring, companies are cutting expenses, and VCs are telling founders selling might be their most strategic play.
What’s interesting is that potential acquirers aren’t jumping straight into M&A. Instead, many want to try out strategic partnerships first.
If the startup's product cross-sells to the larger company's customers, then there will be greater acquisition interest.
Now partnerships aren’t just table-stakes for building a great company. They're also becoming important for selling a company.

There's an opportunity here
Cassidy Shield, Chief Growth Officer at Refine Labs laid out the problems with traditional sales and marketing.
The dominant B2B GTM strategy we see day-in-day-out with prospects and customers is the following:
=> Heavy Outbound Sales Led - Sales drive ~65-80% of demand.
=> Marketing skewed to paid search supplemented by paid social driving e-books/gated content.
No matter the size of the company, or the number of MQLs, the data turns out to almost be the same.
Amidst this, he sees opportunity.

Resource of the Day
Check out this list of resources, and see if you haven't missed anything.

Mediocrity isn't enough
In this moment, mediocrity isn't enough. Send the PhD to someone who needs to be #partnerpilled.