Career-Stage Relationship Strategy
Build with the motivated operator, not only the senior title
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 95%
Founders often target the most senior executive, even though that person is far removed from execution and has little personal need for the proposed project to succeed. Siminoff recommends finding the earlier-career operator who can do the work and whose success would advance their own career. Start with a concrete collaboration, be useful, and maintain the relationship as both sides grow. His Amazon relationship began with a comparatively junior corporate-development contact, expanded through device and commerce teams, and matured over three years before acquisition discussions. The mechanism combines incentive alignment, operating proximity, and time. Being respectful to everyone is not merely transactional networking; it creates a better working environment while preserving relationships whose future significance cannot yet be known.
Origin
In 2014, Siminoff previewed Ring to Amazon's Nick Komoros, then earlier in his corporate-development career. Komoros connected Ring with working-level peers, leading to product collaboration and, three years later, acquisition discussions.
Core principles
- 01The person who needs a win is often the best internal champion
- 02Operating influence can matter more than seniority
- 03Relationships compound as both parties grow
- 04Generosity and respect are useful before status is visible
- 05Real partnerships usually take longer than a single meeting
How to run it
- 1
Map execution, not hierarchy
Identify who can test, integrate, sell, or sponsor the work inside the target organisation.
Pro tip Look one or two layers below the person whose title first attracts attention.
Watch out Do not assume senior access equals operating progress.
- 2
Find mutual career upside
Choose a contact for whom making the project work creates a visible and meaningful win.
Pro tip Frame the opportunity around their users and mandate, not your need for access.
Watch out Avoid exploiting junior staff as disposable routes to executives.
- 3
Start with useful work
Propose a bounded collaboration that demonstrates value before discussing a large transaction.
Pro tip A product integration can create more trust than a speculative acquisition pitch.
- 4
Compound the relationship
Keep delivering, stay in contact, and allow both parties' responsibilities and influence to grow.
Pro tip Record shared wins so new stakeholders can understand the history.
Watch out Do not force a short-term outcome from a relationship whose value is compounding.
- 5
Escalate when evidence exists
Bring in senior decision-makers after the working relationship has produced strategic proof.
Watch out Escalation without an internal champion can strand the proposal at the top.
In the wild
Ring first worked with an earlier-career corporate-development contact and operational peers on device integrations. Repeated collaboration showed strategic fit. Three years after the initial preview, the relationship supported acquisition discussions rather than beginning with a cold request to Jeff Bezos.
→ A working-level relationship compounded into a major strategic transaction.
A startup seeking placement at a national retailer finds the category manager responsible for a new initiative rather than pursuing the CEO. A small regional test helps the manager deliver a visible win, and the relationship expands as the evidence and the manager's remit grow.
→ Execution evidence creates a credible path to wider distribution.
Common mistakes
Chasing only the top title
Senior leaders may lack both the time and personal incentive to make a small partner successful.
Treating people as stepping stones
Transactional behaviour destroys trust and misses the point of growing together.
Forcing immediate payoff
Large outcomes often emerge after years of useful collaboration rather than one decisive meeting.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders pursuing enterprise distribution, integrations, partnerships, or other outcomes that require an internal champion.
Not ideal for
Decisions that legally or structurally require immediate approval from a specific senior executive.
From the transcript
“find the person who needs to make it like I”
“there's a person at ring who's newer in their career who if they could figure out how to make something really work will make their…”
“find those people and then like grow with them and take a long approach at this.”
From the episode
Episode 555: Jamie Siminoff: Why "Acting Like a CEO" Killed More Startups Than Failure Ever Did
Jamie Siminoff