Building and Consortium

Story posted on 52 16, 2007

I have met several companies in the last few months that are building technology consortium. It has been an interesting process for all of them. Each company has been in completely different market spaces. Bringing companies together for a common good can have successes and failures. Here are a few keys takeaways:

Marketing Fluff - Before bringing companies together have a clear understanding if this is a marketing campaign or the introduction of a new product or standard and what you hope to achieve; awareness, sales, or media attention.

Define the problem - Clearly understand the problem you are solving, how you plan to solve it and the language you use to define both of these.

Stick to Your Guns - Is it more important to have the right message, the right product or the right companies in the consortium? Don't let one company determine the outcome. Make sure that you stay glued to the problem and the path to solving it. If a company doesn't fit, you made need to let them go.

Identify the Impact - Understand how this will affect the industry and for how long. Quantify the problem and the value of the solution

Get Third Party Endorsement - Whether its analysts, case studies or a survey, make sure that there is an outside opinion on the value of the group.

Make it Worth Everyone's While - If everyone in the group is not on the same page and its not of value to their everyday business bottom line, the group will fall apart quicker than you can spell PR. Make sure the right people are involved and that they have a vested interest in the result.