Fisherman & Startups

We had a most busy few weeks over at outbrain.  The market got wind that we closed our B round and we went public on the plans to generate revenue both for our company and network of publishers that range from small bloggers to major media companies.  Both of these events have been the result of great teamwork on behalf of everybody in the company, and with under 20 people everyone played a big role.  For my small piece in business development and in the near term where I will be looking to expand the business development team, there is an interesting observation that I wish to share, and that is the role of the fisherman in early stage startups.  I am not referring to the commonly known act of fishing for fish, but rather to the type of business development talents that are beneficial to startups.  Typically when you evaluate a sales/biz dev person's talents, the first task is to identify if they are a Hunter or Farmer.  In simple terms the Hunter is the consumate closer who is great at closing and hunting business but lacks in skills to grow and nurture accounts.  In contrast the Farmer type is not comfortable predominantly closing business and is better at nurturing exsiting accounts.  Great companies need both of these skill sets but for startups with limited resources neither the Hunter or the Farmer are ideal.  Why?  Because startups often need a closer and a nurturer in one.  Startups, especially those trying to get larger, more established companies to use their services need to close deals but also nurture those deals into strong accounts and references.  This requires a differnet skill set than the classic Hunter or Farmer, and is ideally found in the Fisherman.  The Fisherman is a mix between the Hunter and Farmer.  The Fisherman can hunt or "fish" for new business, but is also mindful to nurture the waters or accounts for future fish/business.  I first learned of this from Robert Kelly who pens a great description of the Fisherman;

"The Fisherman is a model of both patience and well-timed aggressiveness that we need to land new clients.  The fisherman also has the wisdom and respect to cultivate the fishing beds so as to always have a source of food (aka revenues)."   

Well said. The ability to aggressively close business when needed and to grow early wins into great accounts is key for startups.

Fish Where The Fish Are = Sell Where The Deals Can Be Had

Another key skill of the Fisherman is knowing where to fish to be successful.  This is critical in startups because the single biggest force working against business development efforts is chasing deals that do not bear fruit - or fishing where there are no fish.  Getting a prospect to a quick yes or NO, is the best way to ensure time spent is fishing where the fish are.

Releasing The Catch

Sometimes in fishing you have to know when to throw a fish back because it's either dangerous, too small or the wrong kind of fish.  This is the same in business development for startups as the wrong deals can eat into a startups's valulable and limited resources.  In technology, wrong deals that continue to be pursued/brought aboard and not released in time, can eat into a company's development cycles and hinder future growth.  The smart Fisherman knows when to keep a deal on board and when to throw it back.

There are more nuances here in this analogy but seeing that I am a Fisherman in real life both on and off the water, I'll keep the details to anyone who wants to ping me or challenge the thoughts.  In the meantime here's to fishing where the deals are and to tight lines and a fish box full of signed contracts!

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