Lessons

A course for people who want the partner manager seat.

37 lessons, four tracks. Read in order, or jump. Each lesson is a long article with a worked example, exercises, and an artifact for your hiring packet. No videos. The writing is the course.

The craft · 15 lessons

05 · 13 min · The craft

How to build a partner book from nothing

Start from demand you already have. Tag every named tool in sales and CS. Then score. Then pick five.

06 · 12 min · The craft

How to pick partners you can actually ship

Customer pull times distribution upside. Build cost is the tie-breaker. Logos are not a criterion.

07 · 14 min · The craft

Outreach and the first partner call

Lead with named shared customers and a scoped use case. Qualify their review time and their owner. Leave with a date or a no.

08 · 13 min · The craft

Commercial models in plain English

Referral, co-sell, revenue share, marketplace take rate. Pick the one a seller can explain.

09 · 16 min · The craft

Integrations for people who are not engineers

You still have to write the scope. Objects, direction, auth, errors, and what done means.

10 · 12 min · The craft

Enablement when you are a team of one

One sentence, one page, one demo path, one FAQ. That is the kit. Do not build a university.

11 · 10 min · The craft

A weekly cadence that keeps 12 partners warm

A Monday book review, two real conversations, one internal unblock. That is a week. Not 40 check-ins.

12 · 11 min · The craft

How to report partnerships without vanity metrics

Partners signed is not a result. Installs, active connections, and influenced pipeline are. Learn the difference before your first QBR with a CEO.

19 · 13 min · The craft

How to write a partnership one-pager

One page: shared customers, the workflow, what you need, what you will not do. This is the artifact that gets the meeting.

20 · 11 min · The craft

How to say no to a partner (and stay professional)

A clean no is part of the job. Ghosting and eternal ‘later’ are how books rot.

21 · 12 min · The craft

How to find the person who can actually say yes

partner@ is a mailbox. You need the human who owns app review, integrations, or the book.

22 · 13 min · The craft

How to run a partner QBR that decides something

A QBR is not a recap lunch. It is adoption, pipeline, the next build, and a deepen / hold / sunset call.

23 · 12 min · The craft

Deal registration when you do not have a PRM

A dropdown, a definition of sourced vs influenced, and a rule both sellers can see. Software comes later.

24 · 14 min · The craft

How to work with product without becoming the backlog

You translate customer pull into a scope they can schedule. You do not throw partner logos over the wall.

25 · 12 min · The craft

Customer success is where partner demand actually shows up

CS hears the workflow. Partnerships turns those tickets into a ranked book. That loop is the job.

The job · 9 lessons

13 · 12 min · The job

In-house, agency, or platform: where to learn the job

Each seat teaches a different muscle. Pick on purpose for the first two years.

14 · 14 min · The job

Partner manager interview prep

They will ask for a partner you would pick, a one-pager, and a time you said no. Prepare artifacts, not slogans.

15 · 9 min · The job

The only tools you need in year one

A list, a CRM you already have, a one-pager template, and the public APIs of your first partners. Not a PRM.

16 · 10 min · The job

Mistakes partner managers make in year one

Logo collecting, deck-first outreach, no scope, no owner, launch-and-forget, and being too polite to sunset.

33 · 12 min · The job

How to write a partner manager CV when you have not had the title

Cases, not slogans. One shipped workflow beats a page of ‘passionate about ecosystems.’

34 · 13 min · The job

Quota, OKRs, and how partner managers actually get measured

If you only get ‘sign N partners,’ you will be punished for doing the job. Negotiate the number before you start.

35 · 11 min · The job

Year one with almost no budget

You need a list, writing, and a slice of engineering. You do not need a summit, a PRM, or a booth.

36 · 12 min · The job

How to get engineering time without becoming ‘the partner person who nags’

A ranked brief, a public no-list, and a CEO who will hold the window. Nagging is what you do when those are missing.

37 · 24 min · The job

How to get a tech partner manager job in the US

A working week for the US market: where the seats actually are, how to read a posting, the packet that beats a slogan CV, and the take-home that wins.

Tools you use while you learn

Do the exercises. Date the artifact. That is the course.