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What is a business executive?

What are the key attributes of a great business development executive?

  • I'm writing a note for Harvard Business School students on business development - any tips for attributes and aspects of this critical job?

  • Answer:

    BD is a pretty generic term that means different functions at different company stages.  I make the assumption that BD works to indentify revenue opportunities 12+ months out or in non-traditional channels. The best BD folks transcend a job spec and fill the holes between product management and sales to ensure positive economic results - sometimes serving as market strategist, product evangelist, M&A guy, sales lead, etc. Key attrubutes include (not an exhaustive list): High business acumen coupled with product knowledge - "hunting" in non-traditional channels requires creativity in understanding how the macro business trends and targets can deliver value to the company.  A good BD lead knows how to view a landscape and program in high-value opportunities.  The Best BD leads can quantify the impact into sales generated, market share gained, capabilities added, etc. Dexterity in business modeling - some of the best work from BD folks is looking a new and/or iterative business models based on partners and market dynamics.  Without good logic you can't have a good model so my previous point on business acumen is very relevant here.  At the start-up stage, VP of BD usually works closely with the CEO and generates the business model and inks the first few deals until product/market fit is achieved. Negotiation skills - ultimately many of the opportunities brought into funnel turn into negotiations.  Understanding how to structure terms & conditions, rev shares, right of refusals, MFNs, etc. is critical.  If you are at a start-up, source code escrows, poison pill provisions, warrants, etc. are also important. Alligning incentives - commercial deals have become far more expansive / complex in the last 10 years requiring many layers of components and solutions.  An effective BD leader can support sales and the bidding process by sourcing, evaluating, and aligning incentives in a partnership.  In some cases, BD folks will identify M&A opportunities and work with Corp Dev and Senior Mgmt to consummate a deal. Rolodex - helpful to be well connected on LinkedIn, Twitter, Quora, etc. to find the right contacts at targets or get information on a non-traditional opptys.  I can't count how many times I had to call a classmate or colleague as a start-up COO (running Sales & BD) to get some insight or data.  Be helpful to your peer group and industry contacts ahead of asking for favors is good BD hygiene.

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One of the most important attributes of a great business development executive is a strong interest in helping clients succeed. This practice will lead to win/win, durable, and profitable relationships for both the business development executive, or consultant, and the clients. See Mahan's book for more: http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Get-Real-Play-Dysfunctional/dp/1883219507

Arie Goldshlager

It does really depend on the stage of the company. For pre-revenue companies a great BD exec should be able to identify the market dimension of product-market fit (ie the actual named people who will buy, not the broad market analysis), and get the first few commercial (ie economic value changes hands) deals done in advance of having a scalable business model. For companies that do have product-market fit, a great BD exec will find the partners & do the deals that turn a product (a shovel) into a solution (a hole in the ground). The other major element to really dig into is that BD is an easy role to fall into for deal oriented folks who think sales is too hard. BD performance metrics are hard to quantify (compared to sales), it's easy to be very busy/active working on "deals" and it is hard for a CEO to know if the deals are great deals. I've worked with many many BD execs, and very few of them are ultimately revenue generating for the company. Press releases announcing strategic partnerships are not the deliverable of BD, though that often seems to be the entire result of much activity.

Matt Miesnieks

Characteristic Attributes: Patience: These partnerships and deals are going to take some time. Clarity: By definition, you're talking about complex relationships and ideas. Being able to distill them into clear benefits, actions, roles and responsibilities is crucial. Curiosity: The more questions you ask, and the more you learn, the more you're likely to uncover a fresh angle or idea. Focus: Because you're in uncharted territory, there will always be distractions and exciting asides. Staying vigilant about how an idea ties back to the principal goal is critical. Discretion: The more unique the partnership or deal, the more important to keep it under wraps and away from the competition. Tactical Attributes: Lots of contacts in varied sectors and roles Willing to travel a lot Ability to read and absorb lots of information

Anand Chopra-McGowan

I am making the assumption that BD is about looking for indirect sources of revenue, i.e. from not your own sales force. So the top 3 things I have personally seen in good BD executives: 1. Ability to construct new ways to leverage your product (service) into a larger / adjacent market. This would require an attribute that understands the product well, but more importantly understands how its core value proposition could be useful for other use cases. 2. Ability to negotiate and structure deals that are non-standard. Each deal would require a new approach towards how the partner benefits, the end customer benefits and the company benefits. 3. Willingness to work with the direct (field, inside) sales organization to assure them that the direct deals they are working on will not be impacted either on price or value. A good BD person is usually blamed for "Channel Conflict", but the best attribute I have seen is in articulating how the BD deal actually increases the footprint, size and velocity of direct sales deals.

Mukund Mohan

There are some great answers in this topic already, so I want to just add to what wrote and key in on the analytical piece.  A BD executive has to be data-driven.  If they are searching for indirect sources of revenue, they have to understand what programs are driving revenue, and which are faltering.  Monitoring these trends closely and cutting programs that are not working is key to maximizing their time and ROI for the organization.

Jeffrey Vocell

Real-time intuition for deal economics and structures.  High EQ.  Analytical but interpersonal.  Sales and communication critical, as well as openness to amassing frequent flier miles! Please let me know if you'd like an intro to my boss at LivingSocial, Jake Mass (HBS 05), who's a pro at this as SVP Biz Dev. Maybe he could share a quote or interview?

Brett Gibson

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