The order we actually use
Most teams reverse this. They ask for a logo, then discover there is no workflow, no owner, and no way to make money together. We start from the customer job and only then pick the platform from the ecosystem directory.
- Name the workflow. What does the shared customer do by hand today between your product and theirs.
- Confirm overlap. Real customers or active deals, not a TAM slide.
- Pick the commercial motion. Referral, co-sell, or revenue share. One, on purpose. See referral vs reseller vs co-sell.
- Find the seat, not a celebrity VP. Partner manager, ISV alliances, or the inbox the program publishes. Named people on directory pages are sourced and dated. They move.
- Open with their incentive. Shared customers plus a scoped integration they can list. Not your deck.
- Scope, then build. User stories, data ownership, acceptance criteria. Then the plugin, API, or marketplace app.
- Launch as a project. Listing, help article, sales one-pager, first installs from the customers who asked.
- Keep a named owner on both sides. Multi-thread so a job change does not kill it.
What we will not do
- Invent partnership leader names. If we cannot source a person, we list the role and the official program page.
- Promise co-sell or MDF a program does not offer.
- Start three surfaces at a giant (Microsoft, Adobe, Salesforce) in one quarter.
- Call a logo on a partners page a partnership.
How this sits next to custom integrations
There is one directory. Each platform page is both the relationship map and the integration we would build. Browse it here. Creative and commerce are the deepest because that is where we run the most books.
What “done” looks like
A named owner on both sides. A commercial motion a seller can say in one sentence. A listing or a help article a customer can finish. Active connections you can report without a vanity “partners signed” number. If any of those is missing, the partnership is still a project, not a channel.
Where to learn the craft
Companies hire PartnerMatch to run this. People who want the partner-manager seat can read the Academy: 36 lessons on the role, the book, the scope, and the listing. The free tools are the worksheets.
FAQ
Do you need a partner program to start?
No. You need overlap, a workflow, and an owner. A program is distribution machinery. Use it when it exists. Do not wait for a portal to have a partnership.
How is this different from business development?
BD opens doors. Partner management turns a door into a channel that still works when you are on holiday: commercial motion plus a shipped workflow.
Will you invent names of partnership leaders?
No. If we cannot source a person on a public page, we list the role and the official program.