A Simple Framework for Early-Stage B2B Founders

One of the most consequential, and often misunderstood, growth levers founders face is their partnership strategy. Done right, partnerships can accelerate distribution, enhance product value, improve unit economics, and create strategic moats. Done wrong, they drain resources, distract teams, and deliver little return.

We invited two of our Venture Partners, Jeremy Aber and Brent Nixon, to develop a practical decision-making framework to help founders approach their partnership strategy with clear eyes and structured thinking.

Jeremy brings over 28 years of SaaS legal expertise, having advised hundreds of software companies on channel contracts, pricing, and legal structure. Brent has built and scaled partnership programs at companies like Adobe Workfront, navigating everything from referral networks to global systems integrator relationships.

Together, they created the Partner Strategy Decision Tool, a framework that maps six common partnership types against the key dimensions founders need to evaluate: technology requirements, margin impact, sales enablement needs, brand control, legal complexity, and more.

Here are the biggest takeaways:

Founders Make Partnership Decisions Reactively

Early-stage founders often approach partnerships reactively. They meet someone on a plane, get excited about a big-name reseller, or chase a GSI relationship because it sounds impressive. But partnership decisions have long-term implications for margin structure, resource allocation, brand ownership, growth trajectory, and even exits.

👉 The gap: Most founders don’t have a structured way to evaluate which partnership type makes sense for their stage, product maturity, and strategic goals—or what they’re truly signing up for in terms of complexity and cost.

Jeremy and Brent saw this pattern repeatedly: founders confusing referral relationships with reseller commitments, underestimating enablement requirements, or entering OEM deals without understanding the margin and brand trade-offs.

Partnerships Are Complex—and Why That Matters

The challenge with partnership strategy is that it’s not just about choosing “referral vs. reseller.” It’s about understanding the interconnected trade-offs across a dozen dimensions: economics, technology, legal structure, branding, time to scale, and operational strain.

👉 Brent’s insight: “The first thing founders misunderstand is the complexity of it. They’ll meet somebody and want to partner with that person without taking the time to understand what it really means, and the amount of effort it takes to make a partnership successful.”

This complexity is compounded by the company’s stage. A company at $1.5M ARR faces different partnership trade-offs than one at $10M ARR. Product maturity, API robustness, sales enablement infrastructure, and even renewal cycle visibility all affect which partnership models are viable.

The Partner Strategy Landscape: Four Strategic Drivers

Before diving into specific partnership types, Jeremy and Brent encourage founders to start with strategy: why are you pursuing partnerships in the first place?

They identify four high-level drivers:

1. Distribution & Reach

You want to access new markets, break into segments you can’t reach alone, gain credibility with buyers, or tap into decision-makers beyond your current network. Partnerships here are fundamentally about expanding your sales footprint without hiring an army of reps.

2. Product & Ecosystem

You’re focused on product completeness—filling gaps, reducing churn by offering a more integrated solution, or embedding into critical workflows where your customers already operate. These partnerships make your product stickier and more valuable.

3. Economics & Efficiency

You’re laser-focused on reducing customer acquisition costs (CAC), improving capital efficiency, or offloading lower-margin activities like implementation and support. Partnerships here are about optimizing unit economics.

4. Strategy & Moat

You’re playing the long game: improving valuation multiples, creating barriers to entry, becoming part of a larger ecosystem, or identifying strategic exit partners. These partnerships are about positioning and competitive defensibility.

👉 Key takeaway: Partnerships should augment your three-to-five-year company strategy, not run parallel to it. If your strategy isn’t aligned, you’ll end up with “paper partnerships”, signed agreements that drain resources without delivering results.

The Six Partnership Models (and When Each Makes Sense)

The framework breaks down six common partnership types, arrayed on a spectrum from lowest complexity and highest margin retention (referral) to highest complexity and lowest margin retention (OEM/white-label).

1. Referral / Lead Gen

What it is: A partner introduces your solution to their network or clients. You handle the sale, contract, and customer relationship. You pay a small percentage (typically 5-10%) for the introduction.

When it works:

• You’re an early-stage company with limited resources
• Your product is mature enough to demo and close independently
• You’ve identified partners with complementary offerings who touch your ICP

What to watch:

• Referral partners often lack deep commitment. Expect sporadic activity unless the partnership is tightly aligned with their business model.

👉 Brent’s example: At Workfront, they partnered with a change management consultancy focused on CMOs. “They were doing the people side; we were doing the tech side. It was incredibly successful because of that complementary nature.”

2. Cloud Marketplace (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)

What it is: Your product is listed and sold through cloud provider marketplaces. Customers can purchase using their existing cloud commitments.

When it works:

• Your customers already have cloud spend commitments they need to burn down
• You can complete the technical integration relatively quickly
• You’re selling into enterprises with procurement tied to cloud vendors

What to watch:

• Revenue share to the marketplace (typically 3-7%)
• Nuances around co-sell motions and marketplace-specific rules
• The marketplace won’t sell *for* you—it’s a distribution channel, not a sales team

3. Reseller

What it is: The partner resells your product under their own sales motion. They handle customer relationships, pricing, and, often, first-line support. You provide the technology and enablement.

When it works:

• You have a strong product-market fit and proven renewal rates
• Your technology is mature and reliable at scale
• You’ve built robust sales and technical enablement programs

What to watch:

• Resellers demand high margins (often 20-40% discounts)
• Enablement is *significantly* underestimated by most founders
• If your product isn’t ready, you’ll frustrate customers and your own sales team

👉 The hidden cost: To enable a reseller effectively, they need to be able to sell, demo, implement, and support your product. That’s often more than a 1X training investment compared to onboarding an internal hire, because they’re not exclusively focused on you.

4. Regional SIs & GSIs (Systems Integrators)

What it is: Systems integrators—regional specialists or global firms like Accenture and Deloitte—co-sell alongside you, often providing implementation and advisory services.

When it works (Regional SIs):

• You’re targeting specific verticals or geographies where they have deep relationships
• Your solution requires meaningful services revenue to implement
• You’re not yet large enough to attract GSIs

When it works (GSIs):

• You’re generating significant enterprise demand and already have traction with large customers
• You’re part of a bigger ecosystem (e.g., Adobe, Salesforce) that GSIs care about
• There’s substantial services revenue on the table for them

What to watch:

• GSIs only move when there’s big services revenue and enterprise demand
• For startups, regional SIs are usually the smarter play

👉 Brent’s advice: “At Workfront, we found success by attaching to Adobe’s ecosystem and becoming a differentiator. Over time, GSIs adopted Workfront not because of Workfront itself, but because it made Adobe’s pitch more compelling.”

5. Technology Partnerships (API / SDK Integration)

What it is: You build technical integrations with complementary platforms. Your product works seamlessly with theirs, often through APIs or SDKs.

When it works:

• You’ve identified a “1+1=3” opportunity where the combined solution is meaningfully better
• Your APIs are robust and designed for external consumption
• There’s a clear joint customer value

What to watch:

• API development is often under-prioritized on roadmaps because it’s hard to tie directly to revenue
• Integration maintenance is ongoing work, not a one-time project

6. OEM / White-Label

What it is: A partner embeds your technology into their product and sells it under their brand. They handle all customer acquisition, support, and often pricing.

When it works:

• The partner has massive distribution you can’t access otherwise
• Your product can operate “invisibly” as part of a larger solution
• You’re comfortable giving up brand visibility for volume

What to watch:

• You retain the lowest margin in this model
• You lose brand awareness and direct customer relationships
• Risk of cannibalization if the OEM partner competes in your core market

👉 Jeremy’s warning: “OEM agreements are the most complex. That’s something to think about—referrals can be up and running in days, while an OEM will take weeks or months just because of the legal and technical complexity.”

The Matrix: Evaluating Trade-Offs Across Key Dimensions

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The real power of Jeremy and Brent’s framework isn’t just the six partnership types; it’s the decision matrix that overlays these types against the critical dimensions founders need to evaluate.

The matrix rows include:

• Technology Requirements: How much technical investment is needed?
• Reduction of CAC: How much does this lower customer acquisition costs?
• Margin to Vendor: What percentage of list price do you retain?
• Sales & Support Training: What’s the enablement burden?
• Time to Scale: How quickly can this generate meaningful revenue?
• Branding: Who owns the customer relationship and brand visibility?
• Legal Complexity: How long will contracting take?
• Strain on Company: What’s the internal resource drain?

Each cell in the matrix provides guidance; some are flagged green (opportunities), others red (warnings).

👉 Jeremy’s philosophy: “Price and terms are linked. If a partner expects you to lower your price significantly, they need to add more value by taking on more of the selling, marketing, or support. This matrix helps you see those trade-offs and have the right conversations.”

Common Pitfalls—and How to Avoid Them

Pitfall ❶: Pursuing Partnerships Before You’re Ready

The mistake: Chasing partnerships before you have product-market fit, proven renewal rates, or technology maturity.

The fix: Wait until you’ve crossed at least $1-1.5M ARR, understand your ICP, and have completed a renewal cycle. Partners will ask about retention—and if you can’t answer confidently, you’re not ready.

Pitfall ❷: Underestimating Enablement

The mistake: Assuming a reseller or SI can sell your product after a single training session.

The fix: Ask yourself: how long does it take to onboard a new AE, SC, and implementation specialist internally? Now multiply that effort—because partners are juggling multiple products and won’t give you 100% focus.

Pitfall ❸: Signing “Paper Partnerships”

The mistake: Signing too many partnerships without focus, leading to a portfolio where 80% deliver nothing.

The fix: Be disciplined. Set a cap on the number of active partnerships. At Workfront, Brent’s team had a rule: they couldn’t add a new reseller without removing an underperforming one first.

Pitfall ❹: Ignoring Long-Term Customer Relationships

The mistake: Entering reseller or OEM deals without contractual rights to maintain end-user relationships if the partner exits or underperforms.

The fix: Negotiate upfront for the ability to contact or contract directly with end users. Recurring SaaS revenue requires durable customer relationships—don’t give that up.

Pitfall ❺: Misaligning Incentives

The mistake: Expecting a partner to prioritize your product without clear economic or strategic alignment.

The fix: Align with the partner’s business model, not just your vision. If an SI needs services revenue, position your product as a differentiator in a larger platform deal, not a standalone sale.

When to Say No to a Partnership

Not every partnership opportunity is worth pursuing. Here’s when to walk away:

• The partner can’t articulate how your product fits their business model
• They’re asking for exclusivity or terms that limit your flexibility
• You don’t have the resources to enable them properly
• The partnership would cannibalize your core direct sales motion
• It’s a “vanity partnership”—looks good on paper, delivers no revenue

👉 Brent’s rule: “If a partner doesn’t ask you about your ICP, renewal rates, and product maturity, that’s a red flag. If they’re not asking those questions, they might not be serious.”

Founder Takeaways

• Start with strategy, not tactics. Understand *why* you’re pursuing partnerships and which of the four strategic drivers (distribution, product, economics, strategy) you’re optimizing for.
• Match partnership type to your stage and capabilities. Referral partnerships are the fastest and lowest risk. OEM deals are the slowest and have the highest complexity. Choose based on where you are, not where you want to be.
• Treat enablement as a first-class investment. If you can’t train partners to sell, demo, and support your product effectively, the partnership will fail—or worse, damage your brand.
• Negotiate for long-term customer relationships. In SaaS, recurring revenue depends on durable customer relationships. Don’t give those up.
• Use the matrix to ask the right questions. Jeremy and Brent’s framework isn’t prescriptive—it’s a structured way to think through trade-offs and make informed decisions.
• Be disciplined about focus. A few high-quality, well-enabled partnerships will always outperform a sprawling portfolio of paper partnerships.

👉 Final thought from Jeremy: “Trust the process. If you go through this framework and think through the issues, you’ll make better decisions—not just about the *type* of partnership, but about how much energy, resources, and time you’re willing to invest.”

Ready to Build Your Partner Strategy?

If you’re a founder navigating partnership decisions, we’ve made Jeremy and Brent’s Partner Strategy Decision Tool available for free HERE. It’s designed to help you map your strategic drivers, evaluate partnership types, and understand the trade-offs before you sign on the dotted line.