Recently, a colleague of mine introduced me to the walk, jog, run approach to partnerships. The general idea is that many partnerships between companies don’t result in the desired level of success. Generally, this is due to a lack of properly set expectations as well as jumping in too deep, too fast — something I see much too often.
The concept is pretty simple:
- Walk – something simple that allows both sides work together in the easiest fashion possible, to prove the value
- Jog – a more tighter integration and cross-selling relationship with more skin in the game from the companies
- Run – very tight integration with significant product development
I recommend this approach whenever possible.
David Cummings on Startups 