Every Conversation Matters

Seven years of running partnerships at Branch taught me that every conversation eventually ties back to another.

Seven years ago, I started running partnerships at Branch, an attribution and deep linking company. It began with agency partners across India and Southeast Asia. A few years in, it had grown into a role spanning APAC and EMEA, across the full partner ecosystem: ISVs, ad-tech partners, implementation partners, marketplaces, and reseller and referral channels.

It was my first real stretch in business development. Before that, I'd only understood the term from the outside, through stints as an analyst, a performance marketing lead, and a run of other post-sales roles.

My plan going in was simple: lean on the media agency and mar-tech relationships I'd built across Malaysia, Singapore, India, and the rest of Southeast Asia. What I didn't expect was how far a single conversation could travel. Every connection I made would resurface eventually, sometimes years later, in a context I never saw coming. And every year added more names to that web, more people who'd circle back when I least expected it.

Four things stuck with me more than the rest:

Story 1: Instagram over LinkedIn

Sending a LinkedIn connection request is good practice. It shows mutual connections and builds rapport outside the project itself. But you know you have a real connection with a counterpart when you connect with them on Instagram. That's the moment you know they see the value you bring to the partnership, trust you, and will stick around as a partner for the long haul.

To be clear: don't go around sending everyone an Instagram request. It takes time, and you'll know it's right when the Zuckerberg (algorithm) suggests it to you first. The most important thing here is that this can't be a sales tactic. It has to come naturally. If you don't message friends on Instagram in your own life, this approach isn't for you.

I've sourced three deals through Instagram DMs this way, each worth over $100K in TCV to Branch. All three were long-standing connections who'd moved to new companies and happened to need what Branch offered and reached out to me there.

Let relationships move to personal channels organically. The best partner deals often start as old friends checking in.

Story 2: Treat every executive conversation like a Nolan/Marvel script

I learned this after a string of conversations with executives. If you've watched Christopher Nolan or Marvel films, you know every line of dialogue exists for a reason, and it pays off in a later scene, sometimes in the same movie, sometimes in the sequel.

Executive conversations work the same way, whether internal or external. You have to treat every single one with real intent, because they rarely happen on a set cadence. It might be a two-minute exchange at a networking dinner, or it might be your weekly/monthly 1:1.

Here's the framework I use:

1. 1.Set the vision for the partnership, project, or your own commitment
2. 2.Always come in with three important things to discuss
3. 3.Listen to what they say, and if you disagree, disagree openly, but stay aligned with leadership
4. 4.Follow up on the last conversation and do your homework before the next one

You never know which conversation will elevate your role, save it, or elevate someone on your team. But every one of them matters, and you'll only see the value once you start treating them like a Nolan script.

You never know which conversation will change your trajectory. Prepare for each one like it is the most important scene.

Story 3: Every colleague is a future friend

This one goes back to an earlier role, at a company that wasn't doing well. The CEO announced we'd be winding down in 30 days. That same moment, I opened WhatsApp and texted three or four of my closest former colleagues and friends, letting them know I needed to find a new role. While it took most of the company a while to process the news, I already had a few leads coming my way.

That same night, a friend sent me a LinkedIn post. I applied with my resume on the spot. I woke up at 5 the next morning, anxious from the news earlier, and saw a message from the hiring manager asking to speak at 10am. Four or five conversations later, the role worked out.

I've since had the chance to return that same favor to former colleagues of my own.

Invest in people when you do not need anything. That is the only time the investment is genuine.

Story 4: Mentorship is the only management style that works today

As a manager, you're a mentor and a friend first, and a co-worker second. That's the foundation for long-term relationships and long-term success. The command-and-control management style of the past doesn't hold up anymore. No one is really anyone's “boss” in the way that word used to mean something.

As I grew into more senior roles at Branch, I managed a team of technology managers and partner success managers. We doubled the team at its peak, relocated people internationally, grew their compensation by 2 to 2.5x, and helped them advance their careers, both within partnerships and beyond it.

Several of the people I once managed are now highly successful in their own right, and peers to me today. That's the outcome I'm proudest of. And I feel the same way about my own mentors: the respect I have for them is immeasurable.

With this in mind, remember that each of your conversations you have with your team or with a peer is going to stay in their mind, it may help them, inspire them or maybe just comfort them.

Every conversation you have with a teammate or peer will stay with them. Make it help, inspire, or comfort.

The thread that connects all four

None of these moments happened because I planned for them on a roadmap. They happened because I paid attention to the small conversations along the way: a DM to an old friend, three points prepared for a two-minute hallway chat, a text sent the night a company fell apart, an honest 1:1 with someone on my team. Seven years in, that's the real lesson partnerships taught me. The deal, the next role, the promotion for someone I mentored, they all trace back to a conversation that didn't look important at the time. You won't always know which one it is. Have more of them anyway, and mean every one.