Posts Tagged ‘RelayRides’

Look out, Zipcar, and why we need partnerships between big guys and small fries.

GM’s getting into the car-sharing business with its new partnership with San-Francisco-based RelayRides.

(By the way, what is it with company’s names these days — if you’re not smushing two words together, each with the first letter capped, you are apparently not cool. We should probably become PomeranceAssociates. Kidding.)

Anyway, this move underscores a key strategy that can bring great success to both the mainstream heavyweights and the new ventures. It’s called partnership, and it works beautifully. The startups get much needed backing and credibility, while the big corporations get an injection of cutting-edge cool. You’re seeing this happening on a very big scale in the media industry as mainstream publications try to co-opt the viral fandom of independent and hypercool agents.

The importance of such partnerships was eloquently argued in a recent Forbes piece by Rachel Sheinbein, a partner at the San Francisco-based venture capital firm, CMEA Capital, and also a friend of mine from college. Her article is below as is the Automotive News story on the deal between GM and RelayRides.

So hooray for GM on undergirding a small player in the business. And please don’t change your name to GeneralMotors.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2011/09/26/why-big-companies-need-to-partner-with-cleantech-startups/

http://tinyurl.com/5w8puvk