Most software companies will have one or more partner programs over the life of the company, with many failing to achieve the high expectations of revenue, growth and profitability expected from them. Most partnerships fail to achieve long term success, because the goals of both parties are not aligned for mutual success. By understanding the goals of the partnership and having a way of measuring how well a partner lines up with these goals, the right partners can be selected with a greater chance of a successful relationship. This paper is compelling reading for anyone managing partners, reviewing a current partner model or setting up and new partner model. The author is an industry veteran, with experience in running channel businesses for multi-nationals and silicon valley startups, as well as creating and running a partner business. Further information is available from http://www.techinject.com

1. Building High Value
Partners in the
Software Industry
A White Paper by
Stu Garrow – CEO of Tech Inject

2. The Partner Challenge
• Most software companies will have
one or more partner programs over the
life of the company, with many failing
to achieve the high expectations of
revenue, growth and profitability
expected from them

3. Alignment of Goals
• The single most important factor in
ensuring a successful partnership is
the alignment of goals, yet this is often
overlooked
• By understanding the core
characteristics of any partner, we can
recruit partners that share common
goals

4. Partner Classification Example
Mixed Product & Services Business
Product Focus
5
Transactions per 4 Service Focus
Year
3
2
1 Presales
Customer
0 Enablement
Success
Required
Partner Postsales
Generated Enablement
Opportunities Required
Self Sufficiency

5. Guaranteed To Fail
• If goals are not aligned, then the
partnership is unlikely to:
• Achieve the targets that each party has
• Last long term
• Justify the investment that each party
must make in the partnership

6. A Common Example
• A software company has a product
quota ($$) to achieve
• The product margin offered is so low that partners cannot
build a viable business out of product sales, assuming
partners will make money from services
• The companies that want to be partners make most of
their money from services, so have little incentive to push
product sales
• The goals of the two parties are not aligned and the
partnership is unlikely to be successful

7. White Paper
• The full white paper is available from
www.techinject.com and covers the characteristics
of partners and how to select the right ones to
achieve long term success
• The white paper will benefit anyone wanting to
review their current partner programs or setup a
new partner program for software
resellers, distributors or consulting partners

8. About The Author
• Stu Garrow is a 20 year industry veteran, having
built and managed software partner businesses in
the Asia Pacific region for multi-nationals, Silicon
Valley startups and also built his own reseller
business
• His wide variety of experience provides a unique
set of guidelines for building long term, viable and
successful partnerships in the software industry

9. About Tech Inject
• Tech Inject is the world’s leading venture
technologist, providing early stage startups with the
unique ability to “turn on” a global sales and field force
that can generate the revenue that startups so
desperately require for growth
• Providing new products to a global sales force has
traditionally been the domain of the global enterprise
software companies that acquire startups and
immediately make them available to their sales force
world wide. Tech Inject now brings this capability to
startups that are looking for growth

10. Visit our website
for more
information
www.techinject.com