How to Build a Strong Partnership Strategy

A common partnership snafu is that companies want partnership success, but don’t provide the resources to get there. I heard of a case where a whole marketing team quit, the partnerships team was given no marketing support, and they didn't yet have an integration with product -- and yet, the CEO expected the partnership strategy to deliver instant revenue. Wild. But not uncommon. Partnerships can't thrive in a vacuum. They need cross-functional support—marketing, product integration, sales enablement—all aligned to succeed. Before you set revenue targets for your partnerships, ask yourself: Do we have the resources to support them? If the answer is no, you have to help your leadership teams to reconsider their expectations. To help create the cross-functional support needed for partnerships to thrive, here are four strategies: 1. Involve Cross-Functional Leaders from the Very Beginning Bring key leaders from marketing, sales, and product into the partnership planning phase. Early involvement gives them a sense of ownership and ensures they understand how partnerships align with their own goals. Strategy: Schedule a kick-off meeting with stakeholders from each relevant department. Create a shared roadmap that outlines how partnerships will impact each team and their specific contributions. 2. Tie Partnership Success to Department KPIs To gain buy-in, tie partnership goals directly to the KPIs of each department. Aligning partnership outcomes with what each team is measured on ensures they have skin in the game. Strategy: During planning sessions, ask each department head how partnerships can contribute to their targets. Build specific KPIs for each function into the overall partnership strategy. 3. Create a Resource Exchange Agreement Formalize the support needed from each department with a resource exchange agreement. This sets clear expectations on what each function will contribute—whether it's a dedicated product team member for integrations or marketing resources for co-branded campaigns. It turns vague promises into commitments. Strategy: Draft a simple document that outlines the roles, responsibilities, and deliverables each team will provide, then get sign-off from department heads and the executive team. 4. Demonstrate Early Wins for Buy-In Quick wins go a long way toward securing ongoing resources. Identify a small pilot project with an internal team that shows immediate impact. Whether it's a small co-marketing campaign or a limited integration, these early successes build momentum and demonstrate the value of supporting partnerships. Strategy: Select one or two partners to run a pilot with, focused on delivering measurable outcomes like leads generated or product adoption. Use this success story to demonstrate value to other departments and secure further commitment. Partnership success requires cross-functional alignment. Because partnerships don’t happen in a silo.

Before Klaviyo was a unicorn, before their $9.2B IPO, and before partnerships were driving over 30% of their revenue… their partner program was in terrible shape. Here’s how they turned it from struggling function to secret weapon: BACKSTORY: In 2017, I was the Head of Partnerships at Hawke Media. Hawke was Klaviyo’s #1 partner by revenue. But, Klaviyo was far from Hawke’s top partner. For over a year I challenged them to do better. Every check-in call was a reminder of how lopsided our partnership was. Then, in 2018, Mike Eng took over their partnership program. I shared my feedback with him about their gaps and areas for improvement. Instead of brushing it off, Mike relished the feedback and asked for more. He knew that at my previous company (Bronto) we had built partnerships into 65% of revenue and he wanted to do the same at Klaviyo. Over a series of calls, and trips out to LA, he grilled me. Here are the best pieces of advice I gave him (according to Mike): 1. Customer First Build a program that delivers value throughout the customer journey and everyone wins. 2. Drive Growth for Partners The success you drive FOR your partners is as important as the leads/referrals you get FROM them. Make supporting the growth of your partners a core KPI. 3. Treat Partner like Customers of your Partner Program Map out your partner journey and what a healthy partnership looks like. Break this lifecycle into stages and track funnel metrics throughout. Then create a strong feedback loop with partners to optimize it. 4. Simplify, Simplify, Simplify A program with a bunch of “benefit” checkboxes that can’t be fulfilled are broken promises that you’ll need to repair down the road. Build a clear program that makes it easy for partners to understand, onboard, engage, and realize value. 5. Alignment is Critical Make sure you have alignment with key stakeholders internally. From the Board, to C-suite, and Cross-functional leaders across Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, and Product. You’ll need all of them to build a truly powerful program. 6. Use Data to Scale Having the right metrics, and the infrastructure to track them, will allow you to create predictability and scale. You (and your partners) will always know where you stand, what’s working, and what’s not so you can make informed decisions. 7. Tier Your Program (when at critical mass) Identify all of the benefits you can reliably offer to partners, organize them by value, and align with a tiering system that incentivizes partners to increase engagement with you. TAKEAWAY: These are the basics that so many partner programs are missing. Klaviyo came into a crowded category, with entrenched incumbents, and out-paced them all through partnerships. If you're struggling with partnerships, take a page out of their playbook. Keep the focus on scalability and mutual value. That's the foundation of a $1B partnership program.

We generated $1BN+ revenue across the three partnership businesses I led. These are my simple observations for building a strategic partner organization: 1. Understand from the CEO what the most important metric/thing for the business to achieve is and focus on impacting that. 2. Set simple quarterly goals which clearly align to 1, if the top priority for the company is growing revenue your goal should be delivering additional revenue etc. 3. Build an immediate plan which prioritises the partners who are going to drive 2 with you, don’t get distracted from it. Form a long term vision over time as you learn, but execute on the quarter immediately. 4. Write an ‘elevator pitch’ which articulates 1, 2 and 3 clearly. Tell it to everyone you talk to at your company, tell it to your partners too. Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat…. 5. Build rituals for celebrating partnership wins. Send out a bi-weekly summary to leadership, post a celebratory Friday post shouting out the AEs and CSMs who did good stuff with partners, secure a slot at SKO/All-Hands/Board meetings etc. 6. Hire into wins, not opportunities. Seeing success with Solutions Partners? Hire a partner manager to work on it full time and spend your time on the next partner type/category/geo until you find something else that works and then hire again. Partner Manager exceeding quota? Hire another partner manager and split the territory etc. Hiring a team based on bets is an unnecessary risk. 7. Get in front of the process. Have your headcount and budget ready for finance before annual planning starts, increase your own quota, proactively performance manage your team. Build a reputation for being on top of your sh*t, prepared, and reliable. Doors will open much more easily for your team when you need them to. 8. Own your performance. Your team should be able to perform despite low resources, alignment with other teams, executive buy-in etc not because of it. If you’re crushing without support, imagine how good it’s going to be when you get it. 9. Hire above the mean. Every new hire should increase the mean capability of your team, instill this culture across your organization. Aim to hire people as good or better than your top performers, not your bottom performers. 10. Be the easiest to partner with. Send leads to your partners, even if it’s only 1 or 2 a quarter. Be super responsive. Remove process. Remove admin. Remove blockers from engaging with your team. This is my checklist for ensuring I’m on the right track with my partner organization. What would you add? #partnerships #goals

Is your team set up for success? Foundational elements, such as executive support and compensation neutrality, can’t be overlooked. Over the last 13 years that I’ve spent working in the partnerships space, I’ve encountered many organizations that neglect this 🤦♂️.    An organization's partnership strategy should be integrated across all departments.   It should not be siloed or isolated 🏝.    It must be aligned with the corporate strategy and must have executive buy-in and support at all levels.    Everyone must be “rowing 🛶 in the same direction.”  Yet, it's surprising to still find executives who consider internal channel conflict normal and expect partnership teams to accept it 😞.    Unfortunately, their teams and strategies (and associated compensation plans) are built in isolation and incentivize competition for leads, deals, and attribution.    Often, their partnership teams are fully compensated on revenue targets, making them reactive and opportunistic. They are being treated as if they were direct sellers.   They are “wired” to take, not share.    They are not building real and long-lasting partnerships; they are just focused on meeting quota.    The result? (More often than not) missed quota and unaccomplished goals 📉.    They never stood a chance, all because the foundation was not built properly to begin with. Be better 👊!    If you are planning to build a partnership motion in your organization, don’t make these mistakes, set your team up for success! ✅ TL;DR  DO NOT neglect your foundation! You can’t build a metaphorical house 🏡 on a crooked, cracked, or non-existent foundation! #Partnerships #GTMStrategy #InternalAlignment #Compensation

Lessons Learned: How I’d Build a Modern Partner Org From Scratch (7 Key Hires) I’ve made mistakes in partnerships. Chased too many partners. Hired relationship managers instead of operators. Built programs before building a flywheel that actually works. Here’s what I’ve learned: You don’t scale partnerships through volume. You scale them through focus, GTM alignment, and fast iteration. Get to the partners who influence the ICP and persona of your customer. If I were building a startup partner org today, here’s who I’d hire—and why none of them are traditional relationship managers. 1. Partner Strategy & GTM Lead My right hand. Owns the playbook, partner segmentation, and full revenue alignment. Think GTM architect, not program manager. 2. Co-Sell Partner Manager (Product/Sales Focus) Drives pipeline with tech partners and alliances. Runs tight co-sell motions and works side-by-side with AEs. 3. Co-Sell Partner Manager (SI, agency & Private Equity Focus) Builds out service and PE partnerships that influence deals and expand customer value. Creates a flywheel for net-new and expansion growth. 4. RevOps & Marketing Enablement Lead Owns data, attribution, and campaigns. Makes sure partner activity shows up in the forecast and drives measurable GTM impact. 5. Technical Partner Enablement / Solutions Engineer Connects partners to product. Crafts joint value props and supports technical sales efforts with integration partners. 6. Ecosystem Marketing Manager Launches co-branded campaigns, fuels integration awareness, and creates pipeline-generating plays with top partners. 7. Services / Delivery Partner Lead Focuses on retention + expansion. Builds service-led motions that increase customer lifetime value and post-sale impact. Why This Team? Because partnerships only scale when they become part of the GTM engine, not a side project. This team builds flywheels that work and iterates fast to make them better. Partnerships grow through execution, not potential. What’s one mistake you’ve learned from building partner teams? Or one hire you’d make first?