Because we deliver “Partner Delight” to Startup Founders looking to Raise Funds…
Founders know that generating “Customer Delight” is essential to establishing a new business in a market. A delighted customer not only readily pays a good price but becomes a proactive advocate of the party who delighted them. Being the subject of genuinely positive references has a dramatically favourable impact on the ability to engage with additional prospective customers.
Our claim? The Déjà Partners team is special. Building on the Customer Delight concept, we deliver Partner Delight. Our model can only work if we treat all we engage with as prospective partners. The success of our recipe lies in commitment, collaboration, execution and patience.
At Déjà Partners we:
- Are open to dialog with (just about) anyone … we don’t presume to know where the most exciting new businesses are going to come from, but we have seen enough to spot a diamond in the rough.
- Always listen and seek to understand … this is made possible by a good dose of humility and is the foundation for quality input from our side.
- Give what is needed (not always what is wanted) … here, years of experience in diverse roles and across sectors, helps us be impactful almost immediately.
- Give when giving is not expected, i.e. without asking for compensation; we look to participate in long term value accretion once we have demonstrated our value add.
- Give company founders space, take the time essential to build trust, which can take months.
- Receive only when value has been delivered or generated … our business model is focused on generating value in parallel to value realised by a company’s founders.
- Oh… and have fun
Déjà Partners has come together because the team knows it can deliver Partner Delight and gets a kick out of delivering it. It is a team made up of folks with backgrounds in business building, venture investment, private equity, as well as deep technology expertise. It is a team with strong internal ties, a shared vision and common values.
Our approach is a form of enlightened self-interest. It is the most effective way for founders to assess us. It allows us to determine how best to contribute and form a view on the qualities of the founding team. It is the only way to build trust.
For those founding teams we engage with on an informal basis, we define Partner Delight as their conviction that we have taken the time to understand them and have delivered at least one new and valuable insight, no strings attached.
And then there are those teams where it “clicks”, in which case we ask to earn equity in line with longer term collaboration. For these, the founders and leaders see Déjà Partners as a core team member, one that brings added value and is committed to the company’s success as a first priority.
You can definitely be in the first category. We will jointly decide, in time, if you should be in the second. Give us a try.