Product strategy, should drive Partner strategy

In today's competitive marketplace, businesses need to find new and innovative ways to reach their customers. One way to do this is through partnerships. Partnerships can help businesses fill gaps in their product roadmaps, accelerate their product development process, and reach new markets.

Partner strategy should be dictated by product strategy

The first step in developing a successful partner strategy is to align it with your product strategy. Your product strategy should define your target market, your value proposition, and your go-to-market strategy. Once you have a clear understanding of your product strategy, you can start to identify potential partners who can help you achieve your goals.

Partnerships can help fill gaps in product roadmaps

No one company can do everything. Partnerships can help you fill gaps in your product roadmap by providing access to new technologies, expertise, and resources. For example, if you're a software company that develops CRM software, you might partner with a marketing automation company to provide your customers with a more comprehensive solution.

Partnerships can help accelerate product roadmaps

Partnerships can also help you accelerate your product development process. By working with partners, you can tap into their expertise and resources to get your products to market faster. For example, if you're a hardware company that's developing a new product, you might partner with a manufacturing company to help you get your product to market more quickly.

Reasons partnerships need to align with product

Partnerships need to align with product for a number of reasons. First, partnerships should be aligned with your product strategy in order to achieve your business goals. Second, partnerships should be aligned with your product roadmap in order to ensure that you're getting the most out of your partnerships. Third, partnerships should be aligned with your product development process in order to ensure that your partnerships are established in a way that meets the needs of your customers (both internal and external).

Here are some additional tips for developing a successful partner strategy:

Start by identifying your target market. Who are your ideal customers? What are their needs and pain points?
Once you know your target market, you can start to identify potential partners who can help you reach them. Look for partners who have complementary products or services that can help you solve your customers' problems.
When evaluating potential partners, make sure to consider their capabilities, experience, and reputation. You want to partner with companies that have the resources and expertise to help you achieve your goals.
Once you've identified potential partners, it's time to start building relationships. Get to know the people you're working with and understand their goals. The more you can build trust and rapport, the more successful your partnership will be.
Finally, don't forget to measure your results. Keep track of the value that your partnerships are delivering and make adjustments as needed. By following these tips, you can develop a partner strategy that will help you achieve your business goals.

Partnerships should also align to your primary GTM motion

Your go-to-market (GTM) motion is the process of how you bring your product to market. It includes everything from market research and product development to sales and marketing. It is how the majority of your customers find > try > buy your products. Partnerships can play a key role in your GTM motion by helping you reach new customers, expand into new markets, and increase your brand awareness.

When choosing partners, it's important to make sure that they align with your GTM motion. Trying to marry a PLG / flywheel motion with a traditional / enterprise motion is not pretty.

"Be stubborn on vision but flexible on details". – Jeff Bezos

If you enjoyed this piece, please share it. Thanks. 🙏