Identifies, prioritizes, and structures business partnerships that produce measurable revenue - matching partnership type to goal, setting economics with real rev-share ranges, and enforcing a pilot-before-contract rule. Use when someone asks "should we partner with X", "how do we structure a reseller deal", "what rev share is normal", "our partnerships never produce anything", or "which partners should we prioritize". Do NOT use for choosing between partnerships and other distribution channels - use channel-strategy instead - or for the overall market-entry plan a partnership sits inside - use go-to-market-planner instead.
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name: Partnership Strategy
description: Identifies, prioritizes, and structures business partnerships that produce measurable revenue - matching partnership type to goal, setting economics with real rev-share ranges, and enforcing a pilot-before-contract rule. Use when someone asks "should we partner with X", "how do we structure a reseller deal", "what rev share is normal", "our partnerships never produce anything", or "which partners should we prioritize". Do NOT use for choosing between partnerships and other distribution channels - use channel-strategy instead - or for the overall market-entry plan a partnership sits inside - use go-to-market-planner instead.
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# Partnership Strategy
Most partnerships are press releases that produce nothing: signed with fanfare, staffed by nobody, dead within two quarters. A real partnership creates measurable value for both sides and has a named owner accountable for a number. This skill separates strategic partnerships from logo-swap theater and structures the deal so the partner's people are actually incentivized to sell.
## Operating procedure
Fit-test before structuring, pilot before contract - in that order, because a well-structured deal with a bad-fit partner still produces nothing, and a deep contract before a proven motion locks in the failure.
### Step 1: Gather inputs
1. The goal - awareness, reach into a locked market, product stickiness, or a new revenue line. One primary goal; a partnership chasing three goals achieves none.
2. Candidate partners, if any exist, with what is known about their customer base.
3. Your ACV, margin, and sales motion - these bound what economics you can offer.
4. Capacity - who on your side would own this, at what fraction of their time. If the answer is nobody, stop here.
### Step 2: Match the partnership type to the goal
- Co-marketing (shared content, events, audiences): low commitment, fast, modest upside. For awareness.
- Technology / integration: your product connects to theirs, increasing stickiness and reach. Often the highest ROI for software. For retention and product depth.
- Distribution / channel (they sell or resell you): high ceiling, slow to build, needs enablement. For reach into a locked market.… load the full skill through Skill Me