Cliche of The Week
Less and less is secret in the world we live in today. Certainly in the technology business it is hard to keep something under wraps for long. There is just too much liquidity of information flow that goes on.
But most companies still believe that their core assets, their business strategy, their technology architecture, their key people, their customer list, etc is valuable and should not be made public. And so it isn't.
But every once in a while, an opportunity comes along that requires that the company provide someone (an investor, a potential hire, a potential merger partner, a potential acquirer, etc) a look inside the company. The cliche I like to use to describe that process is opening the kimono.
I honestly don't know where I got this phrase and when I started using it, but I've used it for a long time now. Clearly there's a sexual/sexist origin to this phrase and one would think it originated in Japan.
The Microsoft Lexicon says the following about it:
Open The Kimono: A marvelous phrase of non-Microsoft origin, probably stemming from the rash of Japanese acquisitions of American enterprises in the ‘80s, that has been adopted into the Microspeak marketing lexicon. Basically a somewhat sexist synonym for "open the books," it means to reveal the inner workings of a project or company to a prospective new partner.
It's so funny to read that coming from one of the all-time most famous kimono openers.
I was in Chicago last week and stopped by to see our friends at Feedburner and happened to use this phrase in that meeting. Dick Costolo told me that I owed him $1 because that phrase had been so overused by a former colleague that payment of $1 was now required by anyone who uttered it.
I didn't pay him the $1 but we all agreed that it is a really good and descriptive cliche.
Entrepreneurs open the kimono when they talk to VCs and must be careful about that. VCs are, by nature, opportunistic investors who like the see the entire market when they invest. So they will want to meet with everyone working in a particular market space before they make an investment. We do that at Union Square Ventures to the degree that we can, and we make our approach very clear to everyone who walks in the door. We also have a reputation to protect so we are careful what we do with that information. We use it to inform our investment decisions, but we don't share it outside of our firm. It doesn't take too many situations of information leak to sully a firm's reputation.
There are times in business when you must open the kimono. But just be sure you know what you are getting into when you do that. There are companies out there, such as Microsoft and Google, who love to get you to open your kimono but also have reputations for one night stands.
December 7, 2005 06:58 AM, By Fred Wilson
Tags: dilgence disclosure secrets
Comments (6)
Thanks for the post - good ground to cover. I'll remember to wear my belt with my kimono next time I'm talking to a VC ;-)
I get the part about being careful of VC's doing due diligence and about big industry players and their propensity to read whiteboards (and the potential intellectual property risks that result). But a mutual NDA with an injunctive relief clause seems to be an effective instrument. Yes/no?
My real question is this: when recruiting prospective employees and suppliers, how do you balance the need to protect your idea(s) with the need to disclose and promote your idea(s)? It seems like NDA's are not the right vehicle for this. Any comments?
Posted by Chet Geschickter , December 7, 2005 10:26 AM
The phrase was also popular at IBM ...this is from the 1990 IBM Jargon Dictionary by Mike Cowlishaw:
to go open kimono 1. v. To reveal everything to
someone. Once you have gone open kimono, you
have nothing more to hide. (This is the more
common sense.) 2. v. To give someone a tantalising
glimpse of a project (i.e., enough to get him interested
but not enough to give any secrets away).
[This is an interesting example of the same jargon
having two rather different meanings. This may,
and does, cause amusing misunderstandings at
times.]
http://www.comlay.net/ibmjarg.pdf
Posted by Ed Costello , December 7, 2005 12:30 PM
You know...... I have to admit that thinking about it for a while it is a bit offensive.
I'm trying to think what an American male would find equally offensive but I lack imagination on the subject.
Posted by Kevin Burton , December 16, 2005 11:37 PM
I have been saying that all along, becareful what you show someone they may just go Frankenstien on you, and the next thing you know your technology is available everywhere for free!!
Posted by Stanley E. Roberts , January 11, 2006 12:06 AM
I live at 82317 Commonwealth in Seattle. Been up here before?
Posted by Mike Flacklestein , August 8, 2006 12:07 PM
A funny coincidence that in my reader your post is followed by this:
http://www.blogherald.com/2005/12/07/pajamas-accused-of-being-front-for-bush-administration/
So: Open the kimono... Drop the Pajamas:-)
What a way to start a day!
Posted by Zoli Erdos , December 7, 2005 07:52 AM