I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
I am still up in Massachusetts visiting with family and just read an interesting article in the Boston Business Journal that VC firms see a return to a variation of the keiretsu business model. As a reminder, this was the model that Kleiner Perkins used to network and help build their portfolio companies.
The variation that the article points to is that some VC firms are filtering calls from service providers that want to work with all/some of the VC's portfolio companies. If the VC sees that one of their companies has a good experience with the service provider, that service provider will get actively referred out to other companies within the portfolio.
This is dead on.
I go out of my way to refer service providers that outperform for one of our portfolio to our other companies that need similar help. In fact, I really don't think of them as service providers anymore. I truly think of them as business partners. They come in all shapes and sizes - and can be (but not limited to) recruiting firms, web developers, accounting firms, law firms or even insurance brokers! As simple as may sound, I have referred in the same insurance broker that offers employee benefits to many of our companies. Not only does that firm end up saving our companies money every time - while getting them a better plan, but their service level is incredibly impressive.
Of course the final decision rests with the company, but these referrals and the careful screening process often help the venture backed companies save a lot of time. In addition, the company knows they are adding a proven, high impact business partner right away.
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