Another week, another major business development win for Foursquare.  According to the New York Times, Foursquare has signed a joint distribution deal with restaurant guide Zagat, not unlike the Bravo deal they closed last week.

Specifically, this deal entails custom Zagat badges for Foursquare users checking in at Zagat-rated restaurants, and Zagat recommendations included in the “tips” section on the Foursquare service:

In addition to offering a special badge for Foursquare users, Zagat will begin piping tips and recommendations into the Foursquare system, which already doubles as a user-generated city guide. Foursquare users can submit their own suggestions for activities and dishes to order at a particular restaurant, which will pop up when their friends “check in” on Foursquare from that venue.

On the distribution side for Foursquare, Foursquare mayors of Zagat-rated restaurants will be interviewed on the Zagat website, presumably helping Foursquare acquire new users.

So Foursquare gets help in two areas where they need it: they get more content to drop into its venue pages (a clear need in the face of competition from content rich Yelp), and they get distribution from a high traffic brand.

Business Development is a discipline that has taken more than a little heat during the Web 2.0 era.  In social media utopia, web services don’t need Business Development – they just expose an API and big distribution partners happily line up to build on top of the service.

Foursquare is taking a markedly less passive approach.  With a tiny team, they are signing up partner after partner: Bravo, Harvard, BART, Zagat, Metro News, etc.  They seem to be effectively cashing in their media buzz for cold, hard distribution.

BizDev isn’t easy, as it’s tough to get big companies to get even the simplest things done.

Foursquare’s apparent focus and expertise in Business Development is a surprising development.

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