Mom2B, No Mas – The Partnership Take-Away

The Mom2Be trade show first came to my attention when my friend Jennifer Hofhelder sold her company, Bella Mama (oh she made such delicious pregnancy and new mother skincare products) to Amy DeCamillis several years ago. Jennifer introduced me to Amy who had big and excitingplans for her acquisition and for the expectant and new parent category in general. In phone calls and later in the Forty Weeks showroom, Amy and her associates shared the details of the launch of a new trade show she called Mom2Be. It was going to be all things for pregnancy and baby (it started off as a trade show, moved to a hydrid). I took a meeting with one of her team in my showroom in New York and listened with a bit of confusion. Why would you start a new show – shop, brand and sell in both vendors  and attendees when you could buy into an existing show, own the category and take advantage of existing traffic and brand equity?  They rolled their eyes and let me know how much much I was missing. We agreed to disagree. I went to the show one year. I was not sold.

Mom2Be announced they were shutting down today. At the same time – the show I suggested they join forces with  -ABC has grown in leaps and bounds. The show now is the comprehensive source and show-place for the category. I build launches,time  product announcements and certainly introduce new innovations on behalf of my clients at that show. It is not perfect – but really they did (on their own) what I had advised Mom2Be to do for themselves – build the category within an existing, branded and well attended show  and maximize within that space. Nothing radical – everything practical….

It is unfortunate that so many emerging brands (trade shows included) are fooled into into thinking that collaboration is a mistake. The notion that you need to come in and “take over the category” is ill-advised and adversarial in stance. It misses so many obvious opportunities and frankly, short-cuts.  Finding  well-chosen and vetted  partnerships that advance all partners not only eliminates the myriad of  challenges that can overwhelm start-ups (so much to figure out) – they increase the bottom line – leading to profits in less time. The idea that “owning it all” will create more income only works if the business model has the resources (money, time, brains) to push it all the way through. I think that there is a lot to be learned here. Some key considerations:

*Who else does any version of what I plan to do?

*Go back to marketing 101  – do a S W O T (strength, opportunity weakness and threat analysis) – in reverse!

*How can build my model around both my strengths and their weaknesses?

*What new technology, relationships, intellectual property do I have access to that advances me to the next level?

*How can I build that in a capsule and connect with a partner as a growth model?

These are just a few questions. You should be asking a lot more, and often.  Really the idea is the thought process.As your business plan evolves don’t be fooled into thinking that your commitment and focus to your idea will be the secret sauce.   Begin to look outside of your big idea — start to look for the big partner!