Corporation-Startup Alliance Portfolios in Entrepreneurial Settings

Startups partnering with corporations compete with one another for the latter’s attention. Based on an inductive study of concurrent partnerships between startups and one established firm as part of a programmatic initiative of the latter, we explore how startups differ in terms of (i) attention received from the corporation, (ii) actions on their part to attract and sustain such attention, and (iii) the impact of such attention dynamics on how the partnership unfolds. We find that too much attention too soon can ultimately jeopardize relational outcomes by provoking more self-oriented partnering actions. Conversely, difficulty in attracting attention initially elicits self-reflective and more oblique, other-oriented partnering actions ultimately leading to more valued relational outcomes. We highlight the dark side of both attention and direct relational action.