Partnership is not a plan. Who sells, and who owns the customer after close, is the plan. Answer five questions. The tool names the motion and what to set up so you do not sign a reseller deal for a partner who only ever sends a lead.
An integration partner can be sold as referral this quarter and co-sell the next. That is a layering choice, not a new kind of partnership. Mixing the layers is how you end up with a reseller contract and no product underneath it.
Seed-stage teams almost never have the operations for resale: wholesale pricing, support training, partner-owned renewals. If this picker says referral, believe it. You can always graduate a partner later.
Once the model is named, put a number on it with the revenue share calculator and write the story with the joint value proposition builder. The long read is referral vs reseller vs co-sell.
Referral: they intro, you sell, you own the customer. Co-sell: both sellers stay in the account, you still own the customer. Reseller: they sell and own the customer, you wholesale.
Referral, almost always. Co-sell once there is a live integration and a field team that is actually in the deal. Reseller later, when the motion is proven and you want reach you cannot staff.
Yes, and that is how channel conflict starts. If you layer, you need deal registration and a rule for who gets credit. Default to one model per partner until you are operationally bored.
You need something the partner's seller can demo. An integration is the usual artifact. A joint offer with no product connection is a slide.
The tools tell you what to do. A Partner Audit tells you who to approach, how to get paid, and how to run the relationship.
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