being awesome at Corp Dev

someone asked me “what it takes to be good at your job in Corp Dev?”

3-simple ingredients IMO

1) intellectual honesty (about your own business)
2) imagination (for what’s possible, in your industry & adjacent ones)
3) integrity (especially in markets like India)

👇

— Miten Sampat (@miten) August 8, 2018

Intellectual honesty is about being (a) aware of your market (b) self-critical of your shortcomings (tech, sales, scale, competitive holes, team)

hardest to admit, and even tougher to act. classic innovators dilemma constantly at play.

— Miten Sampat (@miten) August 8, 2018

Imagination is about seeing the future (consumer trends, market share trends, platform shifts) and anticipating where the puck will be. ask yourself “what will my market look like 3-4-5 years from today”

and then find ways to participate in the future (invest, enable)

— Miten Sampat (@miten) August 8, 2018

Integrity is fundamental and has to be absolute. as the “bridge” on deals, you have to keep both sides honest and not end up in a one-sided outcome. a mentor told me “a good deal is where both sides are equally unhappy”

— Miten Sampat (@miten) August 8, 2018