Happy New Year! This is the first issue of the newsletter in 2005, and the 78th issue since December 2002. I hope you’ll continue to find this material helpful.

Two issues ago, I wrote about partnerships between companies, which are so important in technology and software, and how to make them successful. In the last issue I talked about the challenges facing a small startup which partners with a big company. This issue covers tips for large companies facing the opposite situation, where they have partnered with a startup.

Many staid, established companies look with envy at the sizzle, creativity and sheer sexiness of startups, and wonder about how much of a dent they could make in the market if they combined the startup’s cool product with their own marketing, sales, and operational riches. But two companies of such a widely divergent size and strength have just as widely divergent cultures, and happily marrying the two is not a given.

Read on below for tips on how a large company can work well with a startup to make their partnership a shining success.