I’ve always thought that all businesses, regardless of their size or market position, could benefit from some form of collaboration. People in business, especially small business, stand to gain by learning from and partnering with others.And that’s why I’m in love with ideaAnglers.com

(Full disclosure: I’ve been involved with ideaAnglers for a few weeks as a guide, but I’m not directly compensated by them, nor will I be in the future)

A brief case for collaboration

There’s value in the direct collaboration that an agency and a printer have. There’s value in the pricing model that’s structured so that when a client’s program is more successful, a vendor earns more (I make a more detailed argument here).

I’m not suggesting that direct competitors should be forced to hold hands. But competitors can almost always benefit from a little co-opetition. Co-opetition recognizes that

…business is both co-operation and competition.

Adam Brandenburger (of the Harvard Business School) and Barry Nalebuff (of the Yale School of Management) wrote a book about co-opetition in 1997, but it’s still relevant—for example, in 2009 “many products [still] don’t take off because complementary products or services are either too expensive or don’t exist at all.” And a PSA in 2009 about “living green” will benefit all green companies.

The point of co-opetition:A rising tide lifts all boats.

Why I love ideaAnglers

ideaAnglers (iA) is a project started by two brilliant entrepreneurs, Neal Rohrbach (@nrohrbach) and Bradford Shimp (@bradfordshimp). Their vision is to

bring together a network of experts who will provide resources and work in a collaborative fashion on new ideas and projects.

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