How can you maintain your existing business systems while also injecting new energy into your company? The answer very well may be start-ups.

1. Want to Operate
Like a Lean Start-up?
Become a Smart
Partner First
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2. Sound familiar?
Your CEO introduces
a new start-up she met
with during her last trip
to Silicon Valley.
“Disrupt yourself
before others do,”
you’re told.
Want to Operate Like a Lean Start-up? Become a Smart Partner First Read full article

3. Want to Operate Like a Lean Start-up? Become a Smart Partner First Read full article
After a series of
meetings, potentially
powerful start-up
principles have been
simplified into sticky
notes that quickly
gather dust on the
boardroom wall.

4. Want to Operate Like a Lean Start-up? Become a Smart Partner First Read full article
Fail often, fail fast, and
innovate, you’re told. And
there’s nothing wrong
with that. However, that
often overlooks your
company’s baggage—
its legacy portfolio,
paying customer base,
high margins, and
organizational
complexity.

5. Want to Operate Like a Lean Start-up? Become a Smart Partner First Read full article
To truly harness the
power of start-ups,
start by recognizing
how they can truly
help: using a diligent
process, rather than
clever deal-making
or organizational
disruption.

6. Want to Operate Like a Lean Start-up? Become a Smart Partner First Read full article
So how do you
avoid being
the dummy
in the room?

7. Want to Operate Like a Lean Start-up? Become a Smart Partner First Read full article
Know what
you need.
Begin with a detailed
understanding of the
requirements and
use cases and a map
of the start-up
landscape.
1

8. Want to Operate Like a Lean Start-up? Become a Smart Partner First Read full article
Avoid “we don’t
have any
competition”
thinking.
Trust us, there’s
always competition.
2

9. Want to Operate Like a Lean Start-up? Become a Smart Partner First Read full article
Go to boot camp.
A boot camp and proof
of concept are critical
for pressure-testing
a start-up’s capabilities
in the context of
your organization.
3

10. Want to Operate Like a Lean Start-up? Become a Smart Partner First Read full article
Consider the best
way to partner.
Is it a JV? An alliance?
A vendor relationship?
Continuously align who
does what when by being
transparent about
potential operating
models or ways
of working.
4

11. Want to Operate Like a Lean Start-up? Become a Smart Partner First Read full article
Make it real.
A set of clear
accomplishments
should be established
for 30, 60, 90, and more
than 90 days after the
partnership is formalized.
5

12. Want to Operate Like a Lean Start-up? Become a Smart Partner First Read full article
The results are as simple
as they are compelling.
A strong process will separate
the pretentious start-ups from
the serious ones that you’ll be
able to work with.
It’s much easier to infuse
a start-up’s capabilities into your
organization than transform the
legacy organization into a lean
start-up of its own.

13. A.T. Kearney is a leading global management consulting firm with offices in 40 countries.
Since 1926, we have been trusted advisors to the world’s foremost organizations. A.T. Kearney
is a partner-owned firm, committed to helping clients achieve immediate impact and growing
advantage on their most mission-critical issues. For more information, visit www.atkearney.com.
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Want to Operate Like a Lean Start-up? Become a Smart Partner First
Martin Fabel
Partner, Berlin
Ben Smith
Partner, San Francisco
Stuart Klein
Manager, San Francisco
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