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Ask HN: Our Startup is meeting with Amazon Corporate, what should we expect?

22 points by amazonquestion ↗ HN
We are a small (10 person) midwest based startup that has been working on applying deep learning to audio processing for the past two years. About a year ago we released our first product and have had great traction with a handful of large companies across the US.

A mutual connection introduced us to some Principals and "Category Leaders" and as a result we built an internal beta test that they have been evaluating for a few months. We just received an invite to come to Seattle and meet with 8 of their team members at the beginning of April.

We haven't worked with a company this size before, but we have gotten approached by Corp Dev from some other category leaders in our vertical and always passed on those deals. We haven't signed any documents or NDA's at this point with Amazon and they don't have anything in their hands that they could reverse engineer.

We are a little worried that they are going to just drill us with technical questions and if we answer them they will just build it on their own. At the same time if we don't answer their questions, we figure they will pass/tell us to go away.

We are worried that if that happens it will kill our momentum in the market and also our opportunity to raise money in the future. People will just say "oh well Amazon passed, forget a deal" etc... Seems lose/lose, but if they want to do a licensing deal or investment/acquisition that would totally blow everything open for us.

So what should we expect?

8 comments

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ClickQuestion
I don't know what business experience you have on your team, but make sure someone with enough of a business mind is the one driving the process on your side.

The technical details are just that - implementation details. Talk about features & benefits. How you do it is not relevant to a corporate development discussion.

There's no reason to allow that kind of detailed conversation to happen, especially not before figuring out what your stuff is worth to THEM.

They are clearly interested, play your cards carefully. There's very little to gain from oversharing, despite how hard they made try to persuade you otherwise.

Share strategicially. If you've already got credibility and traction and prototypes, demonstrating your competence can be "it works".

felisml
If you tell me what your thing does, I can probably get a working prototype together within six months, even absent any more technical detail than "applying deep learning to audio processing." That's the nature of the thing. Once you show people that something can be done, they can probably figure out a way to do it themselves. If they really wanted to, they could probably even toss a bunch of patents in your direction and work out the specific details later.

So while I would avoid spelling everything out & focus on practical / business details...you're mostly worrying about the wrong stuff.

PG's essay about corpdev might be worth your time. http://paulgraham.com/corpdev.html

zhte415
Go to Harvard's Program on Negotiation website and practice a few of the role plays, particularly those focused on 2-party dialogues.

www.pon.harvard.edu

This will help you all get a bit more familiar with how to discuss options, not get anchored around a single point, and the power of information (which you seem to be worried about).

The role simulations, together with debriefing notes, can be downloaded here: http://www.pon.harvard.edu/shop/category/role-simulations/

codeonfire
It doesn't sound like you know very much about Amazon. First, Jeff Bezos is a libertarian and so is Amazon. What that means is if they can take your shit they will and they'll feel good about it and totally justified because after all it was you that was weak and allowed it. Just read this to get a taste:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/10/10/amazon_bo...

noir_lord
I've stopped using amazon, their business, work and tax arrangements leave a lot to be desired and I'd sooner not re-enforce the monopoly.
banku_brougham
The internal post meet discussion will have stakeholders who say, "this technology is no big deal, we could build it in-house in six months." And yet it won't happen because there's no resources available to allocate and the idea would probably not get prioritized above existing plans during the OP1/2 process.

So: A: if someone tries to pressure you with the idea that your business is not innovative and 'we could build this ourselves' just say 'OK go ahead and hire those 10 engineers that pass the hiring bar, you have two months to get the OP1 document together, and btw who's going to own this and push this ahead of their current priorities, you?'

B: I don't see the benefit to sharing, please see the Silicon Valley episode where the Pied Piper engineers start white boarding during a meeting with investors.

C: BATNA. Know what this would be for your negotiating adversary. And know your own.

D: Be confident, be strong, don't show weakness (they would love that). It's likely the acquisition is the only way this becomes part of Amazon's business because they won't be building it unless they suddenly can hire enough people for all the other projects that are already approved.

Also, Amazon passing shouldn't be a usable sign to other investors, they pass on most things.

Good luck!

edoceo
Hit me up when you are in town (Seattle) we can grab a pint and talk startup!

I also host an Open Coffee at Surf Incubator on Tuesday AM, come meet other founders and angels.

Prepare with a mutual NDA and be sure of what you want before starting conversation.

They might grill you but, its more than tech. Team and Traction are very important as well.

If party A passes on your deal it doesn't necessarily make everyone else sour. YC passes on many who still get funded later, loads more examples of this in the market.

andersthue
You might get a lot talking and stalling that makes you spend a lot of energy on something going nowhere.

Or you might get an offer.

Do it on your terms, not theirs.