But big law firms, like most other professional-service businesses, have been learning to cope with -- and to grow in -- a changed economy. Recognizing the westward shift of economic activity, for example, White & Case recently opened offices in Singapore and Tokyo as well as in Los Angeles. Branching out geographically meant searching out clients that didn't already have lawyers. "In Los Angeles we came to a market that was [already] well served by other firms," explains Harold Reichwald, the partner who originally suggested taking on Thrislington. "We had to begin to build a practice -- and part of that process is to identify clients who will be significant players down the road."
* E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Co., which manufactures a marblelike material called Corian, would once have been only a supplier to a company such as Thrislington; today it is a potential marketing partner, so eager that Braendel didn't even have to ask. Don Duffey, West Coast regional accounts manager for Corian, called Braendel as soon as he heard about Thrislington. Listen, said Duffey, why don't you use Corian in your partitions? And by the way -- why doesn't Thrislington buy national advertising in architectural magazines under Du Pont's umbrella, thereby getting the big company's volume discounts? Since Braendel had planned an extensive ad campaign, the offer would save him upward of $30,000 a year.
That the offer would be made at all reflects a dramatic change in the chemical giant's approach to the marketplace. "Ten years ago we weren't doing any ventures at all with small companies," explains Peter Walmsley, Du Pont's manager of acquisitions and divestitures, "because the ones we had done before hadn't worked out that well. But in 1984 we decided to give it another shot." Now, says Walmsley, Du Pont holds equity in at least 15 smaller companies and has "many, many" contractual arrangements with others. This change in the corporate culture, in turn, has given regional reps like Duffey a freer hand in setting up ad hoc deals. "I don't know that we'd routinely do this," he says of the arrangement with Thrislington. "But we thought they had some potential in a part of the marketplace we weren't doing much with. So we're trying to help."
* Formica Corp., which makes the plastic laminates often used in Thrislington's partitions, has mapped out even more extensive joint-marketing arrangements. Kevin Nicusanti, who until recently was West Coast regional marketing representative for the company, met with Braendel early on and developed a cooperative literature-distribution program. Then he introduced Braendel to Formica's head of marketing and other top executives. In the planning stage: a cooperative advertising program and joint-marketing to Formica's major national accounts. "We have 16 or 18 professional spec people around the country," says Nicusanti, "and if we can put Thrislington material into their hands that's pretty powerful."
And why was Formica so interested? Until 1985 the company was a sleepy division of American Cyanamid Inc.; since it contributed only a small fraction of the big company's profits it didn't get much attention and didn't make many waves. Then its managers purchased Formica through an LBO, taking it public two years later. Today, Nicusanti says, it is a different company. "We went public, raised money, reduced our debt. We got whole new marketing teams, bringing in our best guys from Europe and Asia."
Nicusanti himself has a new job: product manager for new ventures. "I've been around the country talking to lots of guys just like Braendel -- younger, smaller companies with decent potential that can use our packaging, marketing, name, our spec effort, maybe some engineering help." In effect, the search for early-stage relationships with customers has become one more point of competition in the marketplace. "I know Du Pont has done some nice things for Braendel," acknowledges Nicusanti, "and Du Pont is a head-on competitor with us."
The willingness to work with start-ups can extend well beyond the ranks of big companies. Braendel bought his aluminum extrusions, for example, from a Los Angeles supplier called MetalCenter Inc. Ordinarily, a custom buy such as his would require a sizable minimum order, cash up front. But Braendel's description of his company and its cubicles impressed credit manager Peggy Braunz and product manager Bob McCoy -- so much so that, as McCoy put it, "we sat down with our management team and made a decision to roll the dice with them." Thrislington's unusual deal: a make-and-hold program, whereby MetalCenter stocks the extrusions, shipping and billing for them only as they're needed.
Big vendors such as Peat Marwick and White & Case almost certainly don't make money on clients like Thrislington. There's no explicit discount on jobs such as the business plan or the trademark-and-logo work; it's just that the hours don't get billed, the invoices don't get sent. Van der Linde, for example, told me that he himself hadn't billed a single hour to Thrislington -- and that his associate would undoubtedly put in much more time on the business plan than would ever be billed. Still, neither the accountants nor the lawyers are extending themselves to Braendel out of charity. Both firms will have plenty of services to sell him once he's past the start-up stage. And both are establishing the personal relationships that will determine who gets Braendel's business later on.
From Braendel's perspective, the help he's received does have some costs. Even with the unbilled hours the business plan came to $14,000; he'll have to spend more if and when he utilizes Peat Marwick's expertise in computer systems, say, or executive search. And for a while, at least, he's tied in to relationships with big firms that may cost him more than similar relationships with smaller vendors. On the plus side, however, Braendel's alliances have effectively changed the complexion of his company. To my mind, what could have been just another tiny, far-fetched start-up has come, over the past several months, to look like a potentially viable business.
