TRANSFORMING VENDORS INTO COLLABORATORS

Robert Brunner, Apple’s former director of industrial design and founder of San Francisco– based design firm Ammunition, has paired up with everyone from Dr. Dre to Silicon Valley upstarts like smartappliance company June. Brunner shares his advice for elevating your company’s role from vendor to collaborative partner.

DON’T BE AFRAID TO GO ALL IN

“For a long time, I worked in a pure fee-forservice model, and I still have people who just want to hire a designer. That’s fine, and we do have those clients. But I know that when we have skin in the game— equity in the company or a royalty share on the back end—we do better work. It makes us look deeply at the company’s business, and we can push people to make decisions and drive products out the door. Collaborating does a lot to change the dynamics, so both sides have to want to work this way.”

SIZE UP THE PEOPLE, NOT JUST THE PROJECT

“People think a great collaboration is all about a compelling idea. Yes, that’s part of it, but there are a lot of compelling ideas that come in the door. Ask yourself: Are these great people? Do they seem committed? Is there mutual sharing happening? It’s super important, beyond the tangible stuff, that there be a human connection.”

CREATE A FLEXIBLE FINANCIAL MODEL

“When we collaborate with a company, sometimes it’s an investment and sometimes it’s a convertible note that gets turned into equity at a later round. We’ve noticed that our involvement has value with the VC community as a de-risking factor, so early-stage companies can use our name to raise money. When we want to collaborate with a company, we’ll see if it’s interested, and then talk about how to structure the financial arrangement.”