Why You Need Strategic Partnerships and the Role of Social Capital in Building Them
Partnerships will be key to success…As the pace of change accelerates, no one company, entrepreneur, or organization can keep up with everything.
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Discover How to Leverage Social Capital for Startup Success
To truly leverage social capital for your startup’s success, you must know how to use it effectively. It takes a diverse, industry-embedded, and interconnected social network to launch and grow your new venture over time. If you invest time in building relationships, your social capital will develop and grow over time, but connecting with other professionals is only the first step.
Here’s How to Build Your Startup’s Social Capital
Social capital does not emerge from a bulging Rolodex or countless connections on LinkedIn. People want to be around others who see them, appreciate them, and value their contributions. You need to make an effort to build genuine relations and enter relationships with no expectations or needs. People don’t want to be used. You can avoid making others feel used by approaching your social capital efforts with a long-term and strategic lens.
Social Capital vs. Human Capital
People are the brain of the startup. They are the lungs. And they are the legs. Without people, it is impossible for a startup to generate the vision, design the product, and build a loyal customer base. But people differ in their capacity to contribute to a startup’s mission.
Six Questions to Ask When Evaluating Startup Teams
How do you know if a startup leadership team will perform and execute its vision? How do you know if they will do it well enough for you to get a return on your investment?
Building an Advisory Board
We often work with startups and learn that when founders choose advisors, their decisions are often based on which brand logos they can add to their pitch deck. However, there is a more strategic and fruitful approach to developing an advisory board.
Building Legitimacy through Social Capital
A startup’s success depends on its ability to gain and build legitimacy. However, legitimacy is not discussed as much as other factors, such as product-market fit, timing, funding, the team, or the vision. When a startup first begins, they are almost always illegitimate in the eyes of investors or customers, creating a liability for the founders.
The Secret to Generating More Leads
For startups to succeed, they need to sell, but you know that. Generating sales leads is one of the biggest challenges startup leaders face.
Financial Capital Is Worthless without Human and Social Capital
Startups financed by venture capital are more likely to survive than those that do not. Those scientific findings are unsurprising. As the tired adage goes, “it takes money to make money.” There’s a catch, though: financial capital without human or social capital is worthless.
Why You Need to Measure Social Capital During Due Diligence
Startups very rarely (if ever) possess all the resources they need. So if a startup has strong social capital it is more likely to survive because social capital facilitates resourcefulness.