Why Startups Don't Like Working With Agencies

David Berkowitz If someone was going to write a book about what startups think of agencies, it would be called, "They're Just Not That Into You." Agencies tend to think of themselves as startups' white knights, offering their access to clients, their years of experience understanding marketers' needs, and their shared disinterest in wearing anything more formal than J. Crew's summer collection. Startups fire back with, "Show me the money," even though many founders hadn't started grade school when "Jerry Maguire" was released. Consider this humbling example from personal experience. A venture capital firm hosts a roundtable discussion where its local portfolio companies present. There's a lone agency executive kindly invited to take part. Each founder gets up in turn to discuss what he's working on and how he's been growing the business (yes, each was a "he"). The first couple of founders mention they work with marketers directly. Then the next ones are even more candid, saying they don't like dealing with agencies. The agency executive slinks back in his chair, playing Zombie Highway on his iPad while waiting for the misery to end. Hearing the rationale from startups, the critique tends to be that agencies overpromise and underdeliver. Agencies say, "Look at this slide showing all of our amazing clients! We'll introduce you to them and then you'll be famous and your VCs will be so happy that they'll buy all of you new Razor scooters or whatever you kids are into these days." Then comes reality. Of the 100 brand names on that slide, only 10 could potentially work with that startup. At that point, the exec follows up, then he shares information about that startup with the agency's account, strategy, media, creative, or project leads for those 10 brands. Five ignore the message outright, too buried with the day to day deadlines; they're overworked and not incentivized to explore new technologies that create added drains on their time. Four check it out but want to wait for a better time to present new ideas to the brand manager. One out of a hundred shares this with the client. The agency may not have described the opportunity well, and the client may not have the interest, context, time, or budget to act on it. So much for the white knight. Startups can sometimes fare better. When a startup does break through and the agency partners with it to create a successful program for a brand, it often spreads quickly internally so that other brands line up to do something similar. Agencies can deliver economies of scale and cross-pollinated insights spanning accounts and verticals. Here are six ways agencies can be more helpful to promising startups: Startup executives can do plenty to improve how they collaborate with agencies, and mutual alignment is critical. Still, many agencies can make rapid improvements by simply treating startups and other potential partners like they (hopefully) treat their clients: set expectations, be honest, and respect everyone's time. That will make it possible to do great work together.

Why Startups Don't Like Working With Agencies

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