Welcome to the Nearbound Daily Newsletter—the #1 partnerships newsletter in the world keeping thousands of partner professionals on top of the latest industry principles, tactics, and trends. nearbound.com is a project of Reveal. Join the movement here.
PRINCIPLES
A secret about the biggest ecosystems 🤐
Most of the biggest ecosystems out there are not actually orchestrated.
When you look at large ecosystems it’s easy to think, "There must be someone connecting all of these dots behind the scene."
But the truth is, dots connect because customers demand it.
The more networks are connected, the more value it creates for the ecosystem.
In most ecosystems, there’s not enough involvement from the parent of the ecosystem.
Jared Fuller (Chief Ecosystem Officer at nearbound.com and Reveal) and James Hodkinson (SVP of Ecosystems at 360insights) have opinions on this phenomenon and what it looks like to do ecosystems right.
Join them to discuss this on May 2nd.
TACTICS
Most partner pros miss this...
Have a POV when you explore partnership opportunities.
Even if that point of view is wrong, it shows you care enough to develop a hypothesis about the partnership.
Before working with Reveal as Head of Strategic Partnerships, Kevin Linehan worked at HubSpot, Drift, and impact.com.
He’s an incredible partner professional who has learned what it takes to establish big and successful partnerships.
Recently he’s been working with 360 Insights, a critical partner for Reveal, on their new marketplace and event coming on May 2nd so I asked him for an exclusive insight on developing stronger partnerships.
He shared,
Before you partner, you need some sort of validation mechanism. You have to have a reason to have the conversation. Oftentimes companies don’t do the amount of homework or research that they need to develop a point of view or a hypothesis.
Here’s how to develop a strong POV around every potential partnership.
Establish general understanding—What can you learn about the product, offering, mission, and customer of this partner company?
Website
Product page
Social presence
Demo
Gather data—What kind of data points validate this partnership?
Market data
Reveal account mapping data
Partner intel—Can any of your partners weigh in on this partnership or give you insights to create a stronger better-together story?
Kevin points out,
The exploration and discovery aspect of a partnership is often overlooked, especially when companies are partnering inside of existing ecosystems.
Here are five additional questions you can ask yourself to make sure you’re on the right track with a new partnership:
Do they have a relevant and accessible customer base?
Does their customer base match our ICP?
What is their customer base’s maturity?
Is this partner credible to my customer?
Would my end customer look at this partnership and understand it?
TREND
Ecosystem representation in the C-suite?
Last week, Asher Matthew (CEO of Partnership Leaders) shared data on CPO titles that showed that since the beginning of 2024, there are already 59 new Chief Partner Officers.
The title is growing steadily, but the question remains—will it become a widespread position or will it stay niche?
That’s where the ecosystem gets to weigh in, and the market gets to decide.
What do you think about the CPO title? Do you think this is the best way for partnerships to get representation in the boardroom?
If your mind still isn’t made up yet, join Heather Margolis (President and CEO of Channel Maven) and Asher Mathew (CEO of Partnership Leaders) on May 2nd to talk through the rise of the CEO (Chief Ecosystems Officers) and CPO (Chief Partnership Officers).
They’ll explore questions like:
What does the normalization of partnership and ecosystem strategy in the c-suite mean?
How can a new approach to their tech stacks help these new executives maximize impact?
EVENT OF THE DAY
2 days left to register
360Insights is partnering with the best individuals and companies in the industry to discuss their new project, a true ecosystem in action.
What does it look like to create an integrated user experience where ecosystem partners can get everything they need in a single orchestrated workflow?
Learn on May 2nd.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Stuff you don’t want to miss!
May 1st—Tracking Success In Cloud Marketplaces—Join Jay McBain (Chief Analyst of Channels, Partnerships, and Ecosystems at Canalys) and Sam Yarborough (Chief Growth Officer, Salesforce at Invisory) to discuss how you should be thinking about marketplaces. Register here.
May 2nd—The Era of Ecosystem Orchestration is (Nearly) Here—Join 360 Insights and their close partners to unveil their new ecosystem project that stands to redefine their marketplace forever. Register here.
May 7th—MartechDay 2024—Join Scott Brinker (VP Platform Ecosystems at HubSpot) and Frans Riemersma (Founder, MartechTribe) to release the latest Marketing Technology Landscape graphic. It’s a celebration of the thousands of talented people working in martech, at brands, vendors, and across the community. Scott and Frans will also be interviewing key leaders for their deep domain-specific knowledge. Register here.
Nearbound Summit 2023 Recordings—The future of GTM is Nearbound. Watch the recordings to hear how B2B leaders across departments unite with Nearbound strategies and tactics. Listen here.
You’re all caught up.
RECENTLY PUBLISHED ON NEARBOUND.COM
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Chapter 2: Nearbound Defined by Jared Fuller
What I Learned at Goldenhour (And Why It All Points to Nearbound) by Shawnie Hamer
Nearbound and the Rhythm of Business by Jared Fuller
How Pigment Increased Win Rates 5-10% with a Nearbound Overlay & Reveal by Shawnie Hamer
How to use Reveal for Co-marketing Events
Unleashing the Power of Nearbound: The Stats You Need to Know by Andrea Vallejo
Oneflow Sees a 190% Surge In Created Opportunities After Beginning 2-Way Data Sharing with HubSpot with Johan Jansson
Howdy Partners #71: Natasha Walstra on Increasing Luck Surface Area in Business
Nearbound Podcast #161: 3 Things You Need to Know: Attribution Crisis, Early Majority, and the Consolidation of Tech with AI
Mastering the Nearbound Rhythm of the Business: Key Takeaways from the Nearbound Book by Andrea Vallejo
A Deep Dive Into the Nearbound Book, with Mike Midgley Part 2
See you tomorrow
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