We plan to bring eChai across 100 cities in India. It starts with eChai Startup Demo Day on 26 September, all in person. 11 cities confirmed, 152 founders registered. Any city that reaches 20 interested founders is on too. See your city
Scale, fund & exit

How do I find a brand to partner with that isn't a direct competitor?

Look at your own customer's purchase basket and Instagram following - the brands they already buy from or follow that solve an adjacent problem are your natural partners, not brands in your exact category. Indian D2C brands increasingly favour collaboration over price wars precisely because it's cheaper growth than discounting, so approach with a specific, scoped idea (a bundle, a joint drop, a swap of email placements) rather than a vague 'let's partner' DM - founders get dozens of those and only respond to concrete asks.

Go deeper

3 resources, 1 India-specific, 3 link-checked.

📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Makes the business case for why partnerships deserve a line item in your growth plan rather than being an occasional favour to a founder friend - useful to justify the time investment to a co-founder or investor.

Brand Partnerships: Why They Matter for D2C Brands

From adroll.com by AdRoll

  • Partnerships boost brand perception and strength when core audiences and values align.
  • Cross-promotion between similarly-sized brands is often more cost-effective than paid ads.
  • Choosing partners with matched sales goals prevents lopsided effort.
Open adroll.com →
📄 Article
✓ Link checked India Free Intermediate

Argues, from an Indian retail-trade perspective, why collaboration is displacing discounting as the preferred growth lever for Indian D2C brands - directly relevant as ad costs and price wars squeeze margins here.

Why D2C Brands Prefer Collaboration over Competitive Prices

From indianretailer.com by Indian Retailer

  • Collaboration is increasingly favoured over price-cutting as a customer acquisition strategy in India.
  • Price wars erode margin permanently; collaborations build brand equity that compounds.
  • Frames partnership as a defensive move against a race-to-the-bottom on discounting.
Open indianretailer.com →
📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

A marketer's practitioner breakdown of concrete partnership activities you can actually run this quarter, not just abstract theory - good for turning 'we should partner with someone' into an actual first campaign.

Brand Partnership Strategy: Types and Activities

From rachelandreago.com by Rachel Andreago

  • Breaks partnership strategy into concrete, executable activities rather than just definitions.
  • Covers how to identify partner-fit based on audience and values alignment.
  • Useful as a working checklist for planning your first collaboration.
Open rachelandreago.com →

People also ask

What's the actual playbook for a D2C brand-to-brand collaboration? 4 → Co-marketing vs co-branding vs sponsorship - what's the difference and which should I do? 3 → What do good D2C co-branding campaigns actually look like? 3 → Are Indian D2C brands actually doing meaningful collabs, or is it mostly a Western D2C thing? 3 → What's the risk in a brand partnership, and how do I protect my brand if it goes wrong? 3 →

Also in Starting Up

The same ground, over in Raise money, our Starting Up track.

Should I raise venture capital or bootstrap my startup? 3 → How does seed fundraising actually work, step by step? 3 →

Also in GTM

The same ground, over in Sell through other people, our GTM track.

What does a partnerships person actually do all day? 4 → What is a channel partner, and why would a software company hand over 30% of the price? 5 →

Related in Starting Up

Every founder hits these, so they sit in the wider founder hub.

Co-founder dynamics, equity splits and conflict
Finding a co-founder → Co-founder agreements & equity →
eChai Partner Brands