【正文】 ve assumption that things will remain fine forever. There often is a “Once upon a Time”. When a start up is able to fe a meaningful relationship with an MNC it quite often turns out that one or more of the top management team has already had a close association with that MNC or one like it. This prior association provides valuable insight into the structure and scale of the MNC, what makes its different constituents tick, which the key decisionmakers are likely to be, and what the anization?s rhythms are. When there is a deep understanding of these factors the startup is more likely to be able to target the appropriate individuals in the relevant business units of the MNC, pitch the proposition of collaboration persuasively and time the approach to maximize the odds of receiving a positive response. All this is, of course, easier said than done, and because of the sheer plexity and dynamism of the business environment, the inside of an MNC can be something of a moving picture. Nevertheless, the main point here is that startup leaders who know the lay of the land in the MNC are better placed than those who are not so aware then it es to establishing a relationship. For example, the software startup Mitoken made confident strides in establishing a link with Motorola because of the founding team?s prior experience in another large MNC. This experience helped them understand just how they, as a startup, could add value to a seemingly selfsufficient MNC by introducing their own novel technology with a fleetfootedness that the MNC could simply never mach. Consider also the case of SpadeWorx Software Services, a startup in Pune, India, which was able to rapidly develop a strong relationship with Microsoft. Compared to most of its peers, this pany seemed unusually adept in knowing whom to approach and how to generate traction for its proposal. Upon further investigation, it emerged that one of the cofounders, Mnadar Bhagwat, had previously worked for Hewlett Packard, on a team that worked exclusively with Microsoft in Redmond, WA. In the process, Bhagwat had bee intimately aware of the way in which Microsoft worked internally and with alliance partners. This knowledge, and the contacts that Bhagwat had from him earlier job, proved invaluable when the startup sought to engage with Microsoft Where the founding team itself lacks such firsthand experience it may do well to hire managers who have it. There may be “a twist in the tale”. A fascinating example of a startup that partnered with an MNC is that of Bangalorebased Mango Technologies. It partnered with the American firm, Qualm. However, Qualm wasn?t the very first MNC it reached out to. In fact, it was more of a case of “third time lucky”. The first MNC that the startup approached evinced interest in working with it. However, it became clear to Mango?s founders that the joint activity that the MNC favored pursing, although 8 feasible and attractive in the shortterm for revenue generation, did not really tap into the startup?s core expertise. Thereafter, Mango dropped that association and pursued a second MNC relationship. The joint activity embarked upon this time was suitably oriented towards Mango?s technical expertise but, after about three months, the startup realized that going down that route would detract it from reaching its ultimate goals. Once again, it dropped its MNC relationship and this time, raised a few eyebrow because the opportunity had been a good one. However, determined to stick to their plans, the startup?s founders continued exploring other possibilities, which resulted in a partnership with Qualm that proved to be mutually beneficial (see Box). Mango technologies: building an embedded MNC relationship For an example of how a startup can effectively engage with an MNC, consider the relationship that Bangalorebased Mango Technologies fed with Qualm. Mango was formed in 2021 as a startup with a focus on building a software product with a niche focus on mobile telephony for baseofthepyramid market segments. Within a year, partly to raise its visibility and credibility, Mango sought to enter the incubator of a prestigious local business school, IIM Bangalore. Following a rigorous selection process, the startup was successful in its efforts. From inception, Mango?s CEO Sunil Maheshwari viewed partnering with an MNC as the way forward for the pany to scale up and take its technology to market. Having explored multiple options to do so (in parallel), Mango succeeded in showcasing its technology to a visiting Qualm manager at a partnerworking event. The technology got the manager?s immediate attention because it became rapidly evident to him that Mango?s technology was directly relevant to his own agenda at Qualm. This encounter set of a string of incremental steps that reached a lucrative culmination in a sale of intellectual property (IP) by Mango to Qualm, which was hailed by the Indian business media as a unique “multimillion dollar deal”2. The remarkable journey from a rather casual encounter to a highprofile IP sale can be a described as a progressive process of relationship “embedding”. That is, over time, the relationship came to be characterized by deep trust, finegrained information exchange, and joint problem solving, which in turn facilitated considerable learning outes for the startup. The incremental steps included the following: A process was initiated to enable Mango to demonstrate its technology more elaborately on Qualm?s own technology platform. When this was satisfactorily achieved, following due diligence, the next step was to prepare an Ramp。 alertness – need to avoid reaching out blindly without a deep understanding of the best. Focus。并且 在全球的野心下對(duì)創(chuàng)新創(chuàng)業(yè)企業(yè)而言這真的可能沒(méi)有什么選擇只能學(xué)會(huì)與大猩猩共舞。實(shí)際上，一些小公司，特別是是那些營(yíng)業(yè)范圍集中在相對(duì)較少密集和選擇低洼水果，從事跨國(guó)公司可能沒(méi)有