Build vs Buy - How to Be a Good Partner to Your Vendor With Ian Lotinsky

How can we be a good partner when we buy from a vendor? How do we, as the customer, get good at providing feedback? As we partner with the right SaaS companies, how do we get the most out of those partnerships right out of the gate? On today's episode of Scaling Tech, I am by Ian Lotinsky, a product and team builder who is the CTO at Great Minds, an online ed-tech business. Ian is answering Debbie's questions with his own, such as 'How do we understand the people on the other end of the Zoom call?' and 'How can we learn as much as possible about the people using our products?'Creating a partnership mindset requires alignment around the question, 'How do we ask questions?' As we embark on a partnership journey, it pays to ask the right questions upfront – at the risk of getting off on the wrong foot. Debbie and Ian delicately unpack this partnership paradox in this intriguing episode. Please join us. "One thing I've seen and believe and have read is that you tend to hire culture. And so I've certainly recruited folks and built a team that I could entrust partnerships to." ~ Ian LotinskyIn This Episode:- How do you create a partnership mindset?- How do you get to a positive outcome when you first meet a new vendor? - Alignment around the question 'How do you ask questions?'- ‘Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing’- Understanding the Theory of Constraints - Building trust relationships through empathy- Upvoting a problem from within the system - Building a team based on your values - What happens when it comes time to exit the partnership? And more!Resources:Lead Without Blame - amzn.to/42bMoVs Connect with Ian Lotinsky:- Website - https://greatminds.org/- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianlotinskyConnect with Debbie Madden:- Website - https://www.stride.build/- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/debbiemadden1/- LinkedIn Page - https://www.linkedin.com/company/stride-build/