Turning Competitors Into Partners with Natasha Miller

In March 2020, Natasha Miller watched her profitable multimillion dollar business go to zero. She laid off half her team, kept the entertainment side running, and produced over 200 virtual events that year. When requests for full production started coming back, she no longer had the people to deliver them, so she picked up the phone and called a competitor.

In this episode of the DealQuest Podcast, I'm glad to share my conversation with Natasha Miller, CEO of Entire Productions, the San Francisco experience design, event, and entertainment production company that has been on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America three years in a row. Natasha is also a classically trained violinist, a jazz vocalist, a graduate of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, and a fellow EO member. Whether you're rebuilding after a downturn, trying to win contracts bigger than your current size, or deciding when to hire and when to partner, her approach to doing deals with competitors offers options many business owners overlook.

From the Violin Stage to Event Production

Natasha grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, and the only thing she ever pictured herself doing was performing as a classically trained violinist and jazz vocalist. Her first deal came when her string quartet got paid to play the governor's inauguration instead of playing for free. "And let me tell you that lit me up," she told me.

Her company grew out of the same hustle. She was getting booked so many times in one night that she started bringing in other groups and managing them, with ensembles playing events all over the Bay Area at the same time. That became an entertainment production company, and it grew into a full event production company partly because, as she put it, saying no to people "just didn't feel right."

When a Multimillion Dollar Business Goes to Zero

When the pandemic hit in March 2020, Natasha had to lay off half her team. She chose to let go of the event production, planning, and design side and kept entertainment production, which went on to deliver over 200 virtual events in 2020 and as many again in 2021.

Then inquiries for full production started arriving, meaning planning from A to Z rather than booking talent for an event someone else was running. She could stretch her smaller team past its limits, or she could find another way to deliver. That decision is where the deals came in.

Why Collaborating With Competitors Works

Natasha had been talking with a Bay Area competitor, a company Entire Productions would sometimes bid against. She describes her local market as collaborative rather than cutthroat, where companies "play very well in the playpen together." That relationship, and others like it, turned into several kinds of deals, including white label work, strategic partnerships, and straight referrals.

I've raised this on the show many times. Owners assume competitors are people to fear or beat, and they miss the business they could do together. Damon Gersh, who has been on the podcast, created an industry association with a group of regional competitors so they could go after national contracts that were hard for a regional firm to win alone.

A $12,000 Check for Passing on the Right Project

Natasha's team was asked to produce a team outing in Mexico with a budget of $650,000. A new variant was spreading at the time, and her team didn't want to take it on. Instead of partnering or white labeling, they passed the opportunity to the other company, which won the bid, and Entire Productions received a check for $12,000.

She described the effort as "maybe 45 minutes in total or 20 years of growing a business." Both are true, and the second matters most. "We would never have gotten the call in the first place if it hadn't been for our reputation," she said. The end client, the partner, and her own company all came out happy.

How White Labeling Keeps It Simple for the Client

When Natasha first presented her company and a competitor together as partners, clients found it "too convoluted." The fix was making it simple. In a white label arrangement, her partner has to "tuck their ego in their belts," take an email address from her team, and work as an extension of Entire Productions. She has a similar arrangement with a company in Long Beach.

She's careful about honesty. These are partners she has vetted and worked alongside for years, and if a client asks whether someone also works with another company, the answer is yes. As I told her, the client gets one engagement for the full scope under your brand, and you stay responsible and accountable for the quality of your partner's work. That accountability is why white labeling only works with people you know and trust.

The Joint Pitch That Lost the Bid

Natasha also tried a structure where everything would funnel through her company while the client worked with both teams. It confused the client, and they lost the bid. Looking back, she could see the client's side. "Why can't entire productions just do this? Why do they need this other team?" On top of that, the client assumed it would cost double.

Separate engagements can work in other industries. In the investment advisory space, my firm sometimes works alongside a compliance consulting firm, and the client signs two separate engagements with two separate scopes, because we don't want to take on compliance liability. Neither model is right everywhere, so look at what your market actually accepts. My solocast on the truth about business partnerships goes deeper into choosing the right structure before you commit.

Staffing Up for Strategy Instead of Reaction

Natasha said laying off half her team is something she never wants to feel again. Rather than hiring every time a big event comes in, she wants to "staff up for strategic reasons rather than reaction reasons," because each hire affects overhead, benefits, bonuses, the fabric of the team, and someone's reliance on that paycheck.

Her approach combines white label partners, strategic alliances, referrals, and freelancers or 1099 contractors, while she decides when a full time hire makes sense. She works with a handful of partner companies so she isn't reliant on any one of them. Having those relationships in place takes the desperation out of hiring, which leads to better decisions.

Partnering to Win Bigger Contracts

Natasha raised a point I hadn't asked about. Entire Productions is a certified women owned business, and she learned that over 700 companies have pledged to direct business to diverse suppliers. Some of those buyers still won't consider a multimillion dollar company that doesn't have the track record of a $15 million or $20 million company. Teaming with a strategic partner lets her show that the two companies together can handle a $5 million annual project.

She was candid that certification doesn't always pay off. A diversity portal leader at one company told her many companies haven't built the infrastructure to measure and track those commitments, and Natasha described getting certified as "like an FBI probe on steroids." I've seen companies do very well with it, and I've seen others wonder why they went through the trouble. Organizations like what used to be called the Minority Supplier Diversity Council in the New York and New Jersey area exist to help majority owned and minority owned companies partner on large contracts, and there are real deal opportunities there for owners who learn how it works.

Designing Bold Experiences for Clients Who Have Seen Everything

Entire Productions works mostly with companies in its region, including Salesforce, Google, Apple, LinkedIn, and Adobe. Natasha focuses on larger clients because smaller ones "take about four times more time" and need more help defining what they want. The goal is to create "irrational evangelism" for the client's brand.

For audiences who have seen everything, every sense matters. The venue has to be beautiful or wild and quirky, the food and drink have to be genuinely good, and the entertainment, which is the company's specialty, has to be bold. That can mean body painted models, aerialists, or an outdoor station where guests dip their arms in a vat of tie dye color. One client's themes kept pushing the envelope until that client was acquired by Salesforce, which ended the over the top requests.

Relentless and the Power of a Human Story

Natasha's book, Relentless, tells the story of her journey from homeless teen to achieving the entrepreneur dream. She went to a youth homeless shelter on Christmas Day when she was 16, while she was studying violin with a college professor, and she has lived on her own ever since. She has seven CDs out, her music has appeared in major motion pictures, and people have approached her about turning her story into a limited series or feature film.

She's been surprised by how many men are reading it. An EO member in Arizona posted that it was "the book I wish I had the courage to write." To me it's a human story about the ability to rise and overcome, which inspires me no matter whose story it is. When I asked about freedom, Natasha said, "I get to do my creative best all day," along with not having to worry about money, a roof over her head, or relying on someone else for her safety and comfort.

Building Capacity Through Relationships

Tune in to this episode to hear Natasha Miller explain how she rebuilt Entire Productions by doing deals with the companies she used to bid against. From white label arrangements and paid referrals to teaming up for contracts neither company could win alone, this conversation shows business leaders how to add capacity without adding overhead. If partnerships are on your mind, pair it with my conversation with Leah and Becca Wiser on building a business partnership that lasts, and my solocast on the truth about business partnerships.

FOR MORE ON NATASHA MILLER

Natasha Miller's LinkedIn
Natasha Miller's Instagram
Natasha Miller's Website
Entire Productions
Relentless, available on Amazon and Audible

FOR MORE ON COREY KUPFER

Corey Kupfer's LinkedIn
Corey Kupfer's Website

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator, and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author, and professional speaker. He is deeply passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

Get deal-ready with the DealQuest Podcast with Corey Kupfer, where like-minded entrepreneurs and business leaders converge, share insights and challenges, and success stories. Equip yourself with the tools, resources, and support necessary to navigate the complex yet rewarding world of dealmaking. Dive into the world of deal-driven growth today!