Partnerships Architect

Partnerships Architect

End-to-end strategic partnership design and scaling: partnership type selection (tech integration vs channel vs OEM vs strategic), deal structures, partner program design (tiers, benefits, requirements), partner evaluation, and ROI modeling that justifies (or kills) a partnership investment.

This skill is provider-agnostic and works across SaaS, infrastructure, marketplace, and platform companies.

When to use this skill

| Situation | Skill applies |

|-----------|---------------|

| Evaluating a potential partner | Yes — use scripts/partner_evaluation_scorer.py + evaluation framework |

| Picking partnership type for a specific opportunity | Yes — see partnership type decision tree |

| Designing a partner program from scratch | Yes — see partner program design + scripts/partner_program_designer.py |

| Structuring a specific partnership deal | Yes — see partnership deal structures |

| Modeling partnership ROI | Yes — scripts/partnership_roi_modeler.py |

| Auditing existing partner portfolio | Yes — use evaluation scorer across all partners |

| Per-deal partner economics | Use business-growth/channel-economics |

| Per-deal partner approval | Use business-growth/deal-desk |

| Writing the partner contract | Use business-growth/contract-and-proposal-writer |

Partnership types — the decision tree

Five primary partnership types. Different goals; different structures; different success metrics.

What's the primary goal of this partnership?

Grow our distribution reach
├── Customer-pays-them, they-pay-us → Reseller / Distributor / VAR
├── Customer-pays-us, we-pay-them → Affiliate / Referral
└── Joint sale to mutual customer → Co-sell

Embed our product in their offering
├── Customer doesn't see us (white-label) → OEM
├── Customer sees us as embedded → Embedded ISV / Powered-by
└── We're an option in their marketplace → Marketplace listing

Combine our product with theirs (better together)
├── Pre-integrated, certified → Tech / Integration Partner
├── Bundled offering → Solution Partner
└── Joint product (rare) → Joint Venture

Build market presence together
├── Joint events, content, PR → Co-marketing Partner
├── Industry positioning → Strategic Alliance
└── Standards / consortium → Standards Partner

Achieve a specific strategic goal
├── Block a competitor → Defensive partnership
├── Enter a new market → Market entry partnership
└── Acquire capability → Strategic alliance (often pre-acquisition)

See references/partnership-types.md for each type in depth: economic structure, contract patterns, KPIs, when each works / fails.

Partner evaluation framework

Not every potential partner is worth the investment. Use this framework before committing.

Six evaluation dimensions

| Dimension | What to assess | Score (1-5) |

|-----------|----------------|-------------|

| Strategic fit | Does this partnership advance our strategy? Customer base overlap / vertical / region? | |

| Economic potential | Realistic pipeline / revenue contribution over 24 months? | |

| Partner credibility | Brand, financial stability, technical capability, customer references | |

| Mutual commitment | Are they investing equally? Senior sponsor on their side? Resources committed? | |

| Operational fit | Can our systems / processes / culture work together? | |

| Exit-ability | If it doesn't work, can we wind down cleanly? Are we creating dependencies we can't reverse? |

Scoring rubric

• 5 — strong yes
• 4 — yes with minor caveats
• 3 — mixed; substantial uncertainty
• 2 — weak; significant concerns
• 1 — no; deal-breaker

Total 25-30: green-light; invest with confidence

Total 18-24: yellow; structure carefully; small pilot first

Total < 18: red; decline or substantially restructure

Use scripts/partner_evaluation_scorer.py --partner partner.yaml to score a specific potential partner.

Killer questions to ask

Before signing any significant partnership:

• What does success look like in 12 months? If both sides can't articulate the same answer, you don't have alignment.
• What's their commitment level? Headcount assigned? Budget? Executive sponsorship?
• What's the realistic pipeline in next 12 months? Specific accounts? Or vague "we have customers"?
• Who's the day-to-day owner on each side? Names + tenure + reporting line.
• What happens if we don't hit our shared metrics? Course-correct? Wind down? Renegotiate?

If you can't get clear answers, the partnership is wishful thinking.

Partnership deal structures

Different deal types call for different structures. Standard patterns:

Structure A: Standard reseller agreement

• Term: 1-3 years, auto-renew
• Discount: per published tier matrix
• Exclusivity: usually non-exclusive
• Termination: 90-day notice both sides
• Use when: typical channel relationship

Structure B: Co-sell agreement (mutual customer)

• Term: 1-2 years
• Compensation: shared commission OR referral fee
• Joint marketing commitment: optional
• Use when: complementary offerings; existing or target shared customers

Structure C: OEM agreement

• Term: 3-7 years (long; relationship-heavy)
• Royalty / rev-share: % of partner revenue OR per-instance fee
• Exclusivity: often partial (specific use case / market)
• Source code escrow: usually required
• Termination: complex (typically 12-24 months notice; transition rights)
• Use when: deeply embedded technical relationship; high mutual investment

Structure D: Strategic alliance

• Term: open-ended; reviewed annually
• Resources committed: explicit (e.g., 2 FTEs per side, $X budget per year, joint roadmap session quarterly)
• Governance: steering committee (executive sponsors meet quarterly)
• Specific deliverables: joint product features, joint customer wins, joint thought leadership
• Use when: 5+ year strategic relationship; not transactional

Structure E: Tech / integration partnership

• Term: 1-3 years
• Compensation: typically none direct; mutual value from joint customers
• Certification process: defined (testing, documentation)
• Marketplace listing: typically included
• Co-marketing: optional but common
• Use when: integration creates joint customer value; no direct revenue flow

See references/partnership-deal-structures.md for the full deal-structure templates with negotiation guides.

Partner program design

When you scale beyond a few partners, you need a program.

Three pillars of a partner program

| Pillar | Components |

|--------|------------|

| Recruitment | Target partner profile; outreach motion; intake / qualification; onboarding |

| Enablement | Training; certification; technical resources; sandbox; partner portal; marketing materials |

| Activation | Deal registration; lead sharing; MDF / co-marketing; co-selling motion; quarterly business reviews |

Standard program elements

• Partner agreement (master): tenant-of-the-relationship
• Tier structure (Authorized → Silver → Gold → Platinum): different benefits + requirements per tier
• Deal registration: protect partner-developed opportunities
• Certification program: train + test partners on your product
• Partner portal: deal reg, MDF, training, marketing materials, lead sharing
• MDF (Marketing Development Funds): co-funded marketing
• Channel manager(s): 1 per 10-15 active partners
• Annual partner conference: community building + recognition

See references/partner-program-design.md for the full program template including tier definitions, benefit / requirement matrices, and the "Year 1 / Year 2 / Year 3" maturity model.

Use scripts/partner_program_designer.py --org-spec org.yaml to generate a baseline program design based on company stage + ICP + target partner volume.

Partnership ROI modeling

Partnerships consume real investment. Headcount, MDF, technology, executive time. Model the ROI before committing.

ROI model template

3-year cumulative partnership P&L

Year 1 (investment year):
  Revenue from partnership: $X
  Costs:
    Partnership manager headcount: $200k
    Engineering integration (one-time): $300k
    Marketing / co-launch: $50k
    Partner enablement (content, training): $50k
    Travel / events: $30k
    TOTAL Y1 cost: $630k
  Y1 net: $X - $630k

Year 2:
  Revenue from partnership: $Y (growth)
  Costs:
    Partnership manager: $200k
    Engineering ongoing: $100k
    Marketing: $80k
    Enablement: $30k
    Travel / events: $40k
    TOTAL Y2 cost: $450k
  Y2 net: $Y - $450k

Year 3:
  Revenue: $Z (mature)
  Costs: $400k (stable)
  Y3 net: $Z - $400k

3-year cumulative net: ($X + $Y + $Z) - $1,480k

If 3-year cumulative net is negative, the partnership doesn't pay back. Common reasons:

• Revenue estimates too optimistic
• Forgotten costs (executive time, opportunity cost)
• Partner under-performs on commitments
• Market shift makes the partnership less relevant

Use scripts/partnership_roi_modeler.py --partnership partnership.yaml for the full model.

Clarify First

Before designing the partnership, confirm these inputs. If any is unknown or vague, ASK — do not assume:

• [ ] Partnership goal + type — distribution, embed (OEM/ISV), better-together (tech/integration), market presence, or strategic (selects the decision-tree branch and deal structure)
• [ ] Single deal vs scaled program — structuring one partnership vs designing tiers/portfolio (determines deal-structure vs program-design output)
• [ ] Partner specifics for evaluation — their pipeline expectation, commitment, and credibility (feeds the 6-dimension scorer and green/yellow/red call)
• [ ] ROI inputs — expected revenue and the real costs (headcount, integration, MDF) (drives the 3-year P&L payback)

Stop rule: ask only the 2-3 that most change the output. If the user says "just draft it," proceed and list your assumptions at the top of the deliverable.

End-to-end workflows

Workflow: Evaluate a new partner opportunity

• Initial conversation with potential partner — understand their pitch
• Gather data for evaluation: their company, their pipeline expectations, their commitment
• Score using evaluation framework — scripts/partner_evaluation_scorer.py
• If score < 18: decline or pilot-scope only
• If score 18-24: pilot scope (3-6 months, limited investment)
• If score 25+: standard partnership agreement; full investment

Workflow: Stand up a partner program

• Define target partner profile (TPP): ideal partner attributes (size, vertical, region, capability)
• Pick partnership types in scope (resellers? OEM? tech partners?)
• Design tier structure — scripts/partner_program_designer.py
• Build foundational tools: partner portal, deal-reg, certification
• Recruit pilot cohort (3-5 partners) — manual, high-touch
• Iterate based on pilot feedback — usually 6 months
• Scale recruitment — content marketing, outbound, partner events
• Add channel managers as portfolio grows (1 per 10-15 active partners)

Workflow: Structure a specific partnership deal

• Identify partnership type using the decision tree
• Score the partner — scripts/partner_evaluation_scorer.py
• Pick deal structure matching the type
• Model ROI — scripts/partnership_roi_modeler.py
• Draft term sheet (key business terms)
• Negotiate — alignment on commitment, timelines, exit
• Legal review + contract — business-growth/contract-and-proposal-writer
• Internal approval — Deal Desk + CRO/CFO/CEO depending on scale

Workflow: Audit existing partner portfolio

• List all active partners + key data: revenue, costs, deals, tier
• Score each against evaluation framework — scripts/partner_evaluation_scorer.py
• Identify low-ROI partners — bottom quartile by contribution per investment hour
• Decide per partner:
• Invest more (top quartile, expand commitment)
• Maintain (middle, status quo)
• Wind down (bottom; explicit timeline to exit gracefully)
• Quarterly review of portfolio with CRO

Anti-patterns

• "Strategic" partnership that's actually transactional. If the only thing exchanging is money, it's transactional; call it that. Strategic means joint goals + shared roadmap + executive commitment.
• Partner stack with no portfolio strategy. Signing every partner that asks. Quality > quantity. 10 productive partners beat 100 zombies.
• No partnership owner. Partnership exists in nobody's job. It withers.
• Resource asymmetry. You commit 3 FTEs; they commit 0.5. The partnership skews to their convenience.
• Promises without commitments. "We'll do joint webinars." When? With what budget? Whose role to organize?
• Open-ended exclusivity. "Exclusive in this region forever" without performance gates. Lose flexibility for nothing in return.
• OEM deal with no source-code escrow. Customer-impact risk if your company goes away.
• Strategic alliance with no governance. No quarterly review = no executive engagement = partnership drifts.
• Partner program with no enablement. Partners can't sell what they don't understand.
• Tier benefits that aren't worth tier requirements. Partners don't advance because there's no incentive.
• Co-marketing dollars wasted on activities without pipeline. Great event, zero attribution.

Tooling outputs

| Script | Input | Output |

|--------|-------|--------|

| scripts/partner_evaluation_scorer.py | Partner spec YAML | 6-dimension score (1-5 each), total, recommendation (green-light / yellow / red) |

| scripts/partnership_roi_modeler.py | Partnership spec YAML | 3-year P&L, payback period, sensitivity analysis |

| scripts/partner_program_designer.py | Org spec YAML | Recommended program structure: tiers, benefits, requirements, headcount needed |

All scripts: stdlib only, argparse CLI, JSON or markdown output.

References

• partnership-types.md — 5 partnership types in depth + economic structure + when each works
• partnership-deal-structures.md — deal templates per type + negotiation guides
• partner-program-design.md — full program design with tier matrices + maturity model

Related skills

• business-growth/channel-economics — per-deal financial mechanics underneath partnership structure
• business-growth/deal-desk — per-deal approval mechanics for partner-mediated deals
• business-growth/pricing-strategy — pricing flexibility / floor for partner deals
• business-growth/contract-and-proposal-writer — partner contracts (MSA, partner agreement, OEM agreement)
• c-level-advisor/cs-cro-advisor — strategic-level partnership decisions
• c-level-advisor/cs-ceo-advisor — board-level alliance decisions