A promising opportunity does not always begin as a qualified lead.
- Sometimes it begins with a conversation.
- A change in the market.
- A customer need that has not yet been clearly defined.
- A partner with complementary capabilities.
- Or two organisations that could create something valuable together — but have not yet found the reason to talk.
This is where I see business development beginning.
Over the years, working across international markets, technology companies and partner ecosystems, I have learned that some of the most valuable opportunities need to be shaped before they can be sold.
That means asking different questions.
- Where is the real opportunity?
- Who has a reason to care?
- Which capabilities need to come together?
- Who needs to be part of the conversation?
- And what would need to happen for an interesting idea to become a credible business opportunity?
Business development and sales naturally meet — but they do not always start in the same place.
Sales often works with an opportunity that can already be identified, qualified and progressed.
Business development may begin earlier: creating connections, exploring possibilities and giving enough structure to an opportunity for meaningful action to start.
The same applies to partnerships.
A partner can create access, credibility, expertise or scale. But the objective is not simply to create another relationship. It is to understand whether the relationship can unlock something valuable for the customer and for the businesses involved.
This is why business development often happens between established organisational lines.
- Between markets and sales.
- Between customers and partners.
- Between technology and business need.
- Between an idea and the people who can make it happen.
The work is not finished when the right people have been introduced.
The next step is to create clarity around the opportunity, the value, the roles and the path forward.
- Structure the opportunity.
- Connect the right decision-makers.
- Create clarity.
- Accelerate action.
Because before an opportunity can move through a pipeline, someone often has to make it possible to see.