Elon Musk ·OpenAI ·28 JUN 2017
How to Turn a Partner's Asset Into Your Competitive Weapon
The fastest way to build a moat is to make someone else's resources do the work — before your rivals think to ask.
Real correspondence from the people running real companies — and what it reveals about leadership.
Topic
Deals, alliances, and the leverage underneath them.
17 letters · most recent first
Elon Musk ·OpenAI ·28 JUN 2017
The fastest way to build a moat is to make someone else's resources do the work — before your rivals think to ask.
Kate Plikus ·Microsoft ·2 OCT 2018
In ad markets, scale isn't just an advantage — it's the price of admission to compete at all.
Jeff Shardell ·Google ·4 JUN 2007
When a partner asks for the same price on a worse deal, the right answer starts with naming what you're actually buying.
Michael Murphy ·Google ·17 MAR 2020
Sometimes the smartest negotiation move is paying your partners less — if you can redirect that money to win the customers who matter most.
Denelle Dixon-Thayer ·Mozilla ·4 NOV 2014
Sometimes the best deal isn't the biggest check — it's the one that buys you back your independence.
Joan Braddi & Sundar Pichai & Sergey Brin & Jonathan Rosenberg ·Google ·7 JUN 2007
If your partner brings no real users to the deal, they aren't a partner — they're a toll booth.
Anna Kartasheva ·Google ·4 JUN 2020
When you can't win the device, win every doorway on it.
Nate Morgan ·Google ·19 OCT 2019
The moment you have data that proves your recommendation was correct, stop being polite — escalate immediately and make the case with numbers.
Eileen Naughton ·Google ·19 MAY 2008
The most valuable approval you can get isn't a blank check — it's a conditional yes that tells you exactly where the limits are.
Neal Mohan ·Google LLC ·31 JAN 2009
Open your platform to allies, but never to companies that compete with the product you most want to win.
Neal Mohan & Jonathan Bellack & Brad Bender & Ari Paparo ·Google LLC ·25 JUN 2009
Once you open a platform to everyone, you lose the right to choose who gets to compete with you on it — so pick your moment carefully.
Jag Duggal ·Google ·6 APR 2010
If you control the plumbing on both the buyer and seller side, you don't just win transactions — you define the rules of the game.
Kento Sugiura ·Google ·23 AUG 2010
When you sit in the middle of a market, your biggest danger isn't one competitor — it's being squeezed from every direction at once.
Zachary Goldberg ·Google ·18 FEB 2011
If rivals are already selling what you fear to build, the only thing worse than disrupting your own business is letting them do it for you.
Marc Theermann ·Google ·10 SEP 2012
When you have a product everyone wants, the real question isn't how to sell it — it's what else you can pull through the door with it.
Eisar Lipkovitz & Jonathan Bellack ·Google LLC ·4 JAN 2017
Whoever owns the decision-maker in a stack owns the economics — everything else is just inventory.
Jonathan Bellack ·Google ·20 JAN 2017
When a customer pulls the plug, you have one shot — show them what they're losing, not just what you'll discount.