Channel Blasphemy: sometimes it's better to go direct (for now)
Me, alone for a moment, but together with great partners going up the Kilimanjaro in 2022.
"I could ask you if I should start building a reseller motion now, but I just know you're going to say yes automatically."
The Series-A founder, AKA my paying client, smiled sheepishly as he said this.
Never one to be put in a box, I laughed politely and thought of a detailed and helpful response. Despite my 20+ years building and scaling partner-led businesses, surely even I didn't believe in absolutes... Are there exceptions I am willing to admit to, as a partner-focused paid consultant, in public?
When partnering 'just works'
I've written before about the keys to early success with resellers, alongside other types of partners, in an earlier post. I recommended to see relationships as a company mission, empower partners to sell, and be boringly credible and predictable—but those are elements of a vendor's mindset, and not the field conditions.
Here is a simplistic ranking of those favourable conditions, that I often use with founders:
Good: you want to develop a key geography, vertical, or segment that are dominated by partners (language, culture, specific services, historical relationships, etc.).
Better: you meet partners in your prospect accounts, and come to believe that they can add real value in your opportunities, regardless of the lead source. Maybe some of them are asking if you have a partner program (top tip: I can help with that :) ).
Best: partners have heard of you and land in your inbox, net-new leads in hand (amazing).
What partners are unlikely to do for you
I'm a huge believer in great channel partnerships, but I also never forget that these folks work best at scale, and have other vendors putting demands on their time. An often overlooked fact, as I've mentioned in that earlier post, is that these are normal companies that wish to attract and retain talent; in field roles that talent will want to work with vendors that are credible and predictable.
So, partners will probably be happy to help with many things early on, who doesn't like an exciting new innovation; however, they will be far less likely to lead on short-term tasks such as:
Prove product-market fit for you.
Engage in GTM-fit tasks like pricing & route-to-market experimentation.
Evangelise a disruptive new category for you.
Sell to a whole new buyer persona, vertical, or segment.
In addition, here are some temporary use cases to look out for, that I don't think lean towards the channel model:
When your short-term priority is a fast revenue ramp, for example if you're trying to prove out a pilot product, or hit a growth benchmark for your next investment round.
When you can't keep up with inbound, in a direct-friendly geo/vertical/segment.
When you're selling to companies just like you, in your own market (often the starting point for many b2b startups).
Urgent & Important: build for the future
All the tasks and use cases I've noted above are usually short-term. The only permanent thing in life and business is change, so even if going direct is the need of the moment, I recommend to make an honest assessment of your possible/probable indirect future (hire a Red Team for a day!), and then proactively build for that future.
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What's your view on this?
I'm keen to hear your thoughts! If you need help with a similar challenge for your company—feel free to reach out.
