Startups Should Keep Frenemies Close

Startups in a competitive market should develop frenemies. Frenemies are companies that you compete with but respect and share market intelligence. Now, you can’t collude on price, as that’s against the law, but you can compete against each other on Monday and share information about a different competitor on Tuesday.

If you haven’t done it before it might seem strange. Once you start doing it it becomes invaluable. Startups are always looking for an edge, something to be more effective in the market. Frenemies provide a mechanism to do just that against joint enemies.

The next time you pick up a great piece of competitive intelligence, and suspect your frenemy has value to add, consider sharing information in a way that doesn’t reveal your whole hand, but does help your organization become more effective.

What else? What other thoughts do you have about frenemies?