Art of the Deal with Ben Sever

Ben Sever is making a strong comeback in the Tampa Bay business world.

State of play: After beating a lawsuit where a former best friend and business partner accused him of abusing funds, Sever raised $1.5 million in three months to fund new healthtech company eRemede.

• In his spare time, Sever leads entrepreneurial workshops for veterans at MacDill and runs a clothing brand, Champa Bay Sports, that sends proceeds to Tampa Bay nonprofits.

We asked Sever if he'd share his best advice for finessing a major deal. When the stakes are high, how do you bring two sides together?

• "I call it due diligence delivery. A lot of large enterprises have a lot of public availability of decision makers. We do something called talent mapping. Whether it be a department head, directors or C-suite, we (at eRemede) like to come to the table and see what type of endorsements they require. ... And we like to align with their missions.
• "We're really big with corporate responsibility. So we have found that if we align with whatever industry they respect, we're hitting what they care about emotionally as well as being pre-qualified by a larger enterprise.
• "It builds credibility to show depth in an organization. ... Generally, that opens it up for a smoother conversation."

Editor's note: A quote from Severs has been corrected in this story to note that he said talent mapping, not telemapping.