Navigating Corporate Partnerships: Lessons From an Impact Entrepreneur

On May 16, during the second day of AI Connect, Social Tides brought together the two Grow AI accelerator cohorts for a day of learning, connection, and shared reflection. Among the activities, participants joined a Peer World Café — a facilitated series of small-group discussions designed to deepen connections between founders and uncover the collective knowledge held within the community.

One of the discussion groups was hosted by Grow AI entrepreneur Ellie Mackay, founder of Ellipsis Earth. This impact venture uses advanced mapping technology to identify and reduce environmental pollution. 

Check out the video below to learn more about their project and their journey in the Grow AI accelerator! 

With years of experience navigating contracts with brands, councils, NGOs, and corporate clients, Ellie agreed to lead a table focused on a critical and often complex theme: how social enterprises can partner with corporations to grow their impact.

This conversation is perfectly timed as the private sector assumes an increasingly important role in creating market mechanisms for impact solutions, and more social enterprises rely on these partnerships to scale their work. These collaborations can be powerful, but they’re also full of nuance. That’s why it’s so valuable to learn from the experiences of other founders who’ve been through it. Below, we’ve distilled some of the key insights and strategies shared during the session by Grow AI founders to offer practical guidance on approaching corporate partnerships from a position of clarity and strength.

Navigating the Tradeoffs

Ellie opened the session by acknowledging the double-edged nature of corporate partnerships. On the one hand, large companies can bring funding stability, reputational weight, and access to networks. They often have established ESG mandates and budgets that can help social enterprises grow beyond early-stage grants or donations.

On the other hand, long procurement processes, unclear decision-making, delayed payments, and demands for control over data or direction can pose significant challenges. For small teams operating with limited runway, these friction points can stretch internal capacity and lead to risks of mission drift. In the case of impact-driven organisations, the pressure to secure revenue or meet corporate partner demands can result in compromising core values, shifting focus away from the intended beneficiaries, or adapting the product in ways that prioritise commercial goals over social outcomes.

Rather than dwell on the difficulties, however, the session focused on sharing strategies that work.

Five Ways to Work Smarter with Corporates

Here are some of the key recommendations drawn directly from the lived experience of founders from the Grow AI accelerator who work at the intersection of tech, impact, and business:

1. Start with a paid pilot and make it count.

Pilot projects are often the easiest way to get a foot in the door. But they shouldn’t be free or offered at cost unless they’re delivering strategic value to the social enterprise offering them. Structure pilots in a way that makes them useful beyond the initial partner — can the data, learnings, or results be repackaged for other sectors or prospects? Remember that a paid pilot doesn’t just validate your solution,  it validates your business model too! 

2. Use training workshops strategically.

For many social enterprises, especially those working in areas like sustainability, inclusion, or systems change, part of the value they bring lies in helping corporate partners understand the broader context around their solution, whether it’s the principles of environmental responsibility, accessibility, or social equity. That’s why offering training workshops or awareness sessions can be an effective way to introduce your product or service. These sessions help create buy-in, align internal teams, and build trust across departments.

These workshops should be paid engagements, not just a foot in the door. And make sure the right people are in the room — particularly those with influence over budgets or operations — so you can pitch them your full range of products and services afterwards. 

3. Offer complete, end-to-end solutions.

If your offering requires combining components from multiple vendors, and the responsibility for coordinating them falls to the client, the project may quickly lose momentum or be dropped altogether. That’s why it’s important to come in with a clearly defined, ready-to-deploy solution, something they can understand, get internal buy-in for, and sign off on quickly. Ideally, your organisation can provide the full package. But if not, consider curating the right delivery partners yourself and presenting a joined-up offer. Taking the work off their plate increases your chances of getting a yes and speeds up the entire process.

4. Consider white labelling — but price for the tradeoffs.

Licensing your product or platform under a corporate client’s brand name can be a compelling revenue stream. It’s often lower effort for the provider, especially when the client takes charge of delivery, communication, or distribution.

However, white labelling comes with significant opportunity costs, particularly around visibility, credibility, and long-term positioning. If your work is delivered entirely under another brand, you may lose out on public recognition, thought leadership opportunities, or valuable proof points that help attract future clients. 

If you decide to white label, price accordingly. Ensure the revenue reflects not only the work involved, but also the strategic value of what you’re giving up and be mindful of the long-term implications for your brand and reputation.

5. Incentivise faster decisions.Slow procurement cycles are one of the biggest pain points in corporate partnerships. Long internal processes and delayed approvals can eat up valuable time and stretch your team’s resources. One effective tactic is to offer a small discount for fast signing — for example, a time-bound offer that expires if the agreement isn’t confirmed within a certain window.

While you might give up a small portion of revenue, the tradeoff can be worth it: reduced admin, earlier cash flow, and momentum when it matters. For startups with limited runway, time saved is often more valuable than the discount given.

A Call for Mutuality

In the end, corporate partnerships demand balance. For social enterprises, the process often demands a significant upfront investment of time, energy, and resources, long before any deal is signed. Founders may have to stretch limited cash flow and capacity in the hope of building a long-term, strategic relationship. The insights that surfaced during this session focused largely on how to negotiate more effectively, set boundaries, and protect your interests throughout that journey. But they also served as a reminder that corporations have a role to play, too. By making their processes more transparent, timely, and inclusive, they can ensure these partnerships are not only impactful but truly mutual.

If we want purpose-driven innovation to thrive, then the processes and mindsets around procurement need to evolve, too. Faster timelines, fairer terms, and greater transparency can make a profound difference to small organizations trying to do big things.

At Social Tides, we believe these conversations matter. When founders come together to share not only what’s working, but also what’s hard, we learn from each other and get stronger as a community — and closer to the systems-level change we’re all working toward.