Start of the Deal

    Start of the Deal

    Scott Pollack on Business Development & Partnerships

    Lawyers and BD

    There is an endless sea of lawyer jokes on the internet, but here is my favorite: "How many lawyer jokes are there, anyway? Only three. The rest are true stories."  Lawyers may be an easy target for corny jokes, but they are also an unheralded ally to Business Developers. I've…

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    You Own Your Relationships. Your Company Rents Them.

    A professional carpenter brings his own tools to the job.  They are an investment and carefully maintaining them is what assures they last beyond just the job and for as long as a career. The tools of Business Development are relationships - professionals in BD know how to build and…

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    Hurry Up and Wait

    When I was a young cub in my first job at Dow Chemical, the sales leadership had a phrase they were fond of saying: hurry up and wait.  While it may have originated as a joke, we meant it literally: we were expected to show up to a customer’s office…

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    Getting to Text

    I was texting with my friend Mike McNerney recently about something mundane - he had extended an invite to an event that I was organizing to one of his professional contacts, and I was checking to see if she had confirmed her status. She had not, he informed me - but he said he’d sent her a text to confirm.  And then he jokingly coined…

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    Legacy to Leverage: How Michael McNerney Stumbled Into a BD Career

    This guest post was edited by Mark Uzunian based on an interview with Michael McNerney, Senior…

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    Making the Leap: How Molly Siems Went from In-House Lawyer To Business Development Professional

    This guest post was edited by Mark Uzunian based on an interview with Molly Siems,…

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    Why, hello there.

    I'm Scott Pollack.

    I’m an entrepreneur, a bestselling author, and a teacher. I focus on the intersection of Startups + Big Companies.

    I am currently the Founder & CEO of Firneo. Previously, I was VP of Business Development for WeWork, Head of Business Development for SumAll, and before that I spent a long time in a variety of BD, partnerships, and product roles at American Express. Earlier in my career I also managed distribution partnerships for Dow Chemical, ran an interactive social cooking events company called Hot Pot Culinary Events. I started out as a Java developer in the late ’90s dot-com era.

    Learn more about Scott

    My Company

    A complete introduction to business development and how deals get done.

    My Company

    My Company

    Biz Dev 101: A Workshop on How Deals Get Done

    Firneo

    Firneo is a learning commnity for the next generation of Partnerships, BD, and Ecosystem leaders

    Learn more about Firneo

    My Course

    A complete introduction to business development and how deals get done.

    My Course 

    Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged.
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    My Book

    What, Exactly, Is Business Development: A Primer on How Deals Get Done

    Business Development is not just a sexy job title – it’s a growth tool for companies. The only problem is, everyone expects you to learn “how to do BD” on the job. You can spend years figuring out what makes for successful partnerships, or you can learn a proven framework for thinking about and pursuing business development opportunities from a renowned expert. “What, Exactly, Is Business Development” provides exactly that.

    Over a 15+ year career, spanning companies ranging from American Express to WeWork, Scott Pollack has made all the mistakes, learned all the lessons, and has figured out the right way to do Business Development. He’s taught hundreds of students in live workshops across the world, and now he’s bringing those lessons to you in this book.

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    About my company

    Guidance, support, & resources
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    Firneo

    Excel in your BD & Partnerships career

    YOU’RE NOT ALONE

    Guidance, support, & resources

    You didn’t study BD in school. No one handed you a playbook when you took this job. With Firneo, you can get the guidance and support you need from peers and mentors who understand the work you do.

    FIRNEO is a professional community for Business Development & Partnerships professionals

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