Partner-Based Innovation Models

Partnerships Are No Longer Promotions. They’re Infrastructure. The most important partnerships in entertainment today do not chase hype. ⌙ They unlock behavior. Consumer products once sat downstream from storytelling. ⌙ Now they function as capability extensions of the IP. When structured well, a partner does not borrow equity. ⌙ It opens a new entry point into the universe. That is the ecosystem shift. If you look at The Walt Disney Company’s Blockbuster Season, built on the strength of its portfolio across Lucasfilm, Pixar Animation Studios, The Walt Disney Studios, and Marvel (in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment), you can see how this model activates across categories. Zoom in on Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu and the mechanics become visible. the LEGO Group translates narrative into construction. ⌙ Story becomes spatial reasoning. ⌙ Kids engage through rebuilding, problem solving, remixing. ⌙ The IP moves from passive viewing into hands-on authorship. Time spent increases. Replay value increases. Ownership deepens. Funko Pop and Hasbro’s Black Series and Vintage Collection function as continuity engines. ⌙ Completion psychology drives habitual purchasing. ⌙ Each figure extends the narrative timeline inside the home. The collecting loop sustains cultural presence between media cycles. POP MART introduces scarcity mechanics aligned with regional buying patterns. ⌙ Randomization increases repeat purchase probability. ⌙ Unboxing creates shareable moments that travel organically. Girls Crew expands the addressable audience through jewelry and everyday accessories. ⌙ Earrings, rings, and necklaces shift the IP into personal styling. ⌙ Characters move into fashion rotation rather than display shelves. ⌙ The universe reaches consumers who may not engage through traditional toy or collector categories. This is incremental reach, not overlap. New entry points. New occasions. New frequency. Different partners unlock different habits. Build. Collect. Wear. Display. Customize. Gift. Activated together around a tentpole like The Mandalorian and Grogu, this becomes a behavioral grid rather than a traditional product rollout. Disney Experiences cross-category slate signal orchestration. Toys, collectibles, eyewear, apparel, specialty formats. Multiple consumer rhythms addressed simultaneously. This is the structural shift. Opening weekend is a moment. Habit formation is a system. A theatrical release provides cultural legitimacy. Partnerships distribute that legitimacy across daily life, households, and quarters. The companies that scale today design ecosystems. When behavior compounds, economics follow. #Media #Licensing #ConsumerProducts #Disney #NYTF

As I meet more people, especially budding tech founders, a recurring question is about leveraging partnerships as a revenue channel. One key aspect that often stands out in these discussions is identifying the right partner. The right partnership can provide up to 80% leverage in your ROI by aligning perfectly with your goals and capabilities. Consider the example of a health tech startup partnering with a large hospital chain. By integrating their cutting-edge telemedicine platform with the hospital's extensive network, the startup was able to provide virtual health services to a vast number of patients. This partnership enabled the startup to scale rapidly and gain credibility in the healthcare market, while the hospital chain could offer innovative services to their patients without developing the technology in-house. To help identify the right partner, I recommend using a simple framework like the "PARTNER" scoring model: - 'P'urpose Alignment: Do your missions and goals align? - 'A'ccess to Market: Can they help you reach new or larger markets? - 'R'esource Complementarity: Do they offer resources you lack and vice versa? - 'T'rust and Reliability: Can you trust them to deliver consistently? - 'N'etwork Synergy: Do their connections and networks benefit you? - 'E'conomic Benefit: Is the partnership financially advantageous? - 'R'eputation: Does partnering with them enhance your brand image? By scoring potential partners on these criteria, you can identify the one that offers the best strategic fit and highest potential for ROI. #B2BPartnerships #TechFounders #BusinessGrowth #StrategicAlliances image - courtesy to Freepik

Innovation doesn’t happen in isolation It happens when teams, disciplines and companies decide to build real relationships—the kind that push boundaries instead of protecting comfort zones That’s why the story of IDEA Design Mindset in Spain stands out A real reminder of the power of collaboration done right IDEA Design started as a product-development studio in Murcia with a clear aim: blend strategy, engineering and design into solutions that genuinely solve problems Their work now spans medical devices, industrial design, packaging, and technical product development What matters isn’t just the portfolio—it’s how they operate They partner deeply, stay close to customer challenges, and co-create instead of designing in a vacuum That relationship-first mindset is why their journey has been packed with global recognition: iF Design Awards in the Medicine/Health category New York Product Design Awards Red Dot and BIG SEE accolades across multiple years Awards don’t matter on their own What matters is why they’ve won them: because they build trust with clients, learn the nuances of the industries they serve, and create long-term engagement instead of transactional output In healthcare and medtech—where risk is high, timelines are tight, and user experience is mission-critical—this approach isn’t optional It’s the difference between shipping a product and shaping a market Their work with companies like INBENTUS Medical Technology, developing rugged field-ready ventilators, is the perfect example That type of device doesn’t happen without tight collaboration between designers, engineers, clinicians and manufacturers. It takes aligned teams, clear communication and shared accountability It’s a demonstration of how the right relationships multiply capability And that’s the point worth highlighting IDEA Design’s journey is proof that strong partnerships drive stronger outcomes. Looking ahead, their future will be shaped by the same principles that built their past: Deep collaboration with clients Cross-functional development A commitment to understanding needs before solving them Good People making a difference, sounds so simple But it's the simple things people miss, and that really make a difference!

There is major disconnect in the GTM (go to market) industry. Those people who are trying to integrate marketing, sales, and CX professionals into one cohesive strategy and set of motions. I read the GTM Manifesto from a consortium of experts and it has some major blindspots. The founders behind the consortium are industry celebrities Sam Jacobs (Pavilion), 🐶 Jacco van der Kooij (Winning by Design), and Sangram Vajre (GTM Partners). The manifesto lays out the different motions of inbound-led, outbound-led, product-led, event-led, community-led, and yes, partner-led. It fails to recognize that as every company is trying to become a platform for their buyer (and succeed inside other major platforms), that the word platform itself is synonymous with partnerships. Platforms are measured by product integrations inside the 7-layer stacks customers are building, services relationships inside the 7 partners that surround the buyer before, during, and after the transaction, and the digital marketplace functionality that brings it all together. The slide below shows a very linear, simplistic view of the world that we may have drawn in 1999. Visit a website and download content? That is (if a company is successful) one of 28 measurable moments a buyer goes through in a B2B purchase. The other 27 moments? Likely partner driven. How much of a company's market SAM (serviceable market) shows up in their pipeline? The delta is those deals where 100% of buyer activity happens outside their inbound/outbound reach. Heck, even Salesforce in their latest State of Sales report showed that 89% of salespeople are using partners every day. Oh, and 58% of the remaining 11% plan to in the next 12 months because that is how they are making their numbers in this tough environment. No mention of that below. Retaining and enriching customers in subscription and consumption models? Those 7 services and technology partners who are provisioning, implementing, integrating, and driving managed services every 30 days forever are critical. Let's forget research for a second. The most successful B2B companies in the world - the ones who have achieved platform status and $100 billion+ valuations are partner-led companies (Go check out the list for yourself - https://lnkd.in/e75Q2Qkm). Listen to their CEO's kick off their major conferences and talk about 100% commitment to be partner-led. Now take Gen AI. Every CEO who is leading in this era talks partner ecosystems. For example, Microsoft last week in Chicago talk about deep partnerships with OpenAI, NVIDIA, Snowflake, and a host of others making up a $4 trillion market TAM. It behooves everyone in marketing, sales, CX, and product to understand who the 7 trusted services partners are inside each of the customers in your TAM. Understanding who the other 6 technology companies are that will form the outcome/solution the buyer is after. We are in the "surround" moment of GTM. Winners and losers will be defined here.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐆𝐂𝐂 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲? Because the GCC model has evolved from service delivery to value creation, innovation, and enterprise transformation - and no single organization can deliver that alone. 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐆𝐂𝐂𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲 𝐜𝐨-𝐨𝐰𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐱 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬: -Consulting & Advisory to shape vision, operating models, and transformation roadmaps -Technology Providers to co-build digital platforms, AI/ML and cloud foundations -Delivery & Operations Partners to embed automation-first execution and scale reliably -Academia & Talent Partners to sustain future-ready skill pools -Start-ups & Innovation Hubs to accelerate experimentation and differentiated solutions -Infrastructure, HR & Recruitment Partners to build resilient, hybrid-ready, talent-attractive environments This is no longer about vendor management - it's about shared accountability, shared investment, and shared value realization. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐂𝐂𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭: ✅ Build integrated partner ecosystems ✅ Co-create innovation, IP, and talent capabilities ✅ Move from SLA delivery to outcome ownership Partnerships are no longer support mechanisms - they are strategic multipliers. They determine speed, scalability, and impact. Follow Devjyoti Seal for more GCC insights #GCC #GlobalCapabilityCenters #GBS #DigitalTransformation #Innovation #StrategicPartnerships #FutureOfWork #SharedServices #Leadership #CoCreation #EcosystemThinking

For most of our journey, we worked on a straight service model. Clear scope. Clear fee. Clean execution. But over time, something became obvious. Some founders didn’t just need execution. They needed a partner who was as invested in the outcome as they were. That’s why we’re now working on a equity or equity + service fee models with a small number of promising startups. Not because it’s trendy. Because incentives matter. When your product partner has skin in the game: • Conversations become sharper • Trade-offs become more honest • Long-term thinking powers consistent delivery This model isn’t for everyone. And it shouldn’t be. But for founders building something meaningful and willing to be challenged, it changes the relationship completely. If you’re building a product and looking for more than just “execution", I’d love to exchange notes. Even if it doesn’t lead anywhere, those conversations are usually the most interesting ones.

When the model makers become channel builders, pay attention. Anthropic just committed $100 million to a partner ecosystem. Certifications. Co-investment. Dedicated engineers embedded in partner deals. Sales playbooks shared openly with the firms helping enterprises deploy Claude. That infrastructure exists because frontier models cannot reach the enterprise alone. The distance between a model demo and a production deployment is enormous, filled by people who understand compliance, change management, integration, and industry context. Partners do that work. Anthropic just backed that reality with capital — and every frontier AI model company will follow. The model wars are becoming ecosystem wars. And ecosystem wars are won by the teams that can actually operate across them. That is the part most people are not talking about yet. Every new partner program that launches — every certification, every co-sell motion, every marketplace listing — adds complexity that lands on the desks of partner managers who are already stretched thin. The infrastructure to manage that complexity has to operate across company boundaries, not just inside your own walls. That is a fundamentally different problem than anything the partnership category has faced before. What comes next is a world where every major AI company has a mature partner ecosystem, where multi-model, multi-partner deals are the norm, and where orchestrating across that complexity is a genuine competitive advantage. We are at the very beginning of that world. At WorkSpan, helping partner teams navigate what comes next — and turn ecosystem complexity into revenue — is exactly what we exist to do. The partners who move now will shape how it gets built. https://lnkd.in/gX3d_-kd

We doubled revenue without running a single ad, hiring more reps, or changing our pricing. All we did was pick the right partner. That’s the kind of leverage most teams ignore. Have you ever noticed how the right partner can change everything? Not just add pipeline. Not just expand reach. But completely rewire your growth engine. We’ve seen it firsthand, and across the board, partnerships do 3 things better than any other motion: They build trust faster They increase average deal size And when done well, they drive compounding growth But here’s the secret most teams miss: Partnerships only work when the value is mutual and visible. Some of our favorite examples: UPS + Jabil — paired logistics scale with just-in-time manufacturing to reinvent supply chain flexibility for industrial clients. Shopify + Klaviyo — created one of the most powerful ecommerce growth loops by doubling down on the email/SMS layer their merchants needed. Caterpillar + Seeing Machines — proved that even in heavy industry, partnering on outcomes like safety and efficiency builds unmatched customer trust and retention. The best partner plays aren’t just logos on a slide. They’re co-selling motions, joint narratives, and shared outcomes. Done right, it’s not just a channel It’s an accelerant. If we had to start from scratch tomorrow, we’d start with two things: A compelling problem A trusted partner already talking to the buyers we want Let’s keep it real: Partner-led growth is the fastest, most capital-efficient way to scale. But only if you go beyond “let’s do a webinar together.” 🎥VC: onlyaminuteofaviation #SalesAndMarketing #RevenueGrowth #CustomerExperience #JuddBorakoveStyle 

A 'quick' customer call on Friday revealed something fascinating about their Value Added Reseller (VAR) business. Less than 18 hours later, I drove 4 hours to Dallas through the rain. Because when you sense a partnership that could reshape both businesses, you don't wait for Monday! As I reflected during the drive, I couldn't help but think about how tech partnerships have evolved. While running partner programs at Zoho I saw firsthand how partnerships weren't just a channel – they were the foundation of growth. The tech giants understood this decades ago: Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, SAP, Cisco, Citrix , IBM, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Atlassian, AppDynamics, HubSpot – they all built partner-first empires. But 2024 showed us something revolutionary happening in the partnership space. Through customer (agencies/partners) conversations at Layerpath, I'm seeing three massive shifts: 1. The Rise of Partner-Led Innovation ↳ Service providers aren't just implementing anymore – they're becoming product innovators ↳ Small agencies are building sophisticated, AI-powered platforms ↳ Traditional consulting firms are transforming into software companies ↳ Solo practitioners are scaling to enterprise-level operations 2. The Democratization of Partnerships ↳ AI is lowering the barrier to software development ↳ Partners are building proprietary solutions on top of platforms ↳ White-labeled, automated workflows are replacing manual services ↳ The line between service provider and software vendor is disappearing 3. The Power Dynamic Shift ↳ Partners are closer to customer problems than big-tech ↳ They understand industry-specific workflows deeply ↳ They can move faster and adapt quicker ↳ They're building moats through specialized knowledge + technology Most founders miss this: While everyone's debating AI agents and the "death of SaaS," they overlook a fundamental truth—partnerships are being reimagined. Your biggest threat isn't the incumbents or the next AI startup. The thousands of partners could build competing solutions if you don't enable them first. The next wave of successful startups won't just build better software – they'll build better partnership ecosystems. They'll understand that in 2025: - Partners can be product innovators, not just implementers - Small companies can build powerful partnership programs - Technology + domain expertise + distribution is the winning formula After today's meeting, I'm more convinced than ever: the future belongs to companies that understand this partnership transformation. For founders building in 2025: How are you thinking about partnerships? Are they just a distribution channel, or could they be the core of your strategy? Let's discuss. P.S. Sometimes, the best strategies come from real conversations, not board rooms.

Over the past two days, I have been at the OECD listening to governments from around the world present their approaches to building innovation ecosystems. As other countries seem to double down on their work in this area, I was surprised to see Canada's 2025 budget pull back on the model - particularly as it is regularly cited as something others are trying to emulate. Whatever one thinks about the performance of any individual cluster, the underlying model is exactly the kind of approach this government needs: industry-led collaborations focused on building long-term competitiveness in new advanced industries. Canadian industry associations rarely develop strong visions for the future of their sectors. The supercluster model forced companies, research institutions, and other actors across a value chain to sit together, articulate a coherent vision of where their industry is heading, and then commit resources to make that vision real. The results speak for themselves. After being reviewed too early by the PBO, independent evaluations have since been broadly positive (see https://lnkd.in/eXesmk7B). The clusters have brought together of 10,000 partners (my favorite story being how two companies who shared a parking lot didn't know about each other before being introduced through the program). For every dollar the federal government invests, the superclusters are able to leverage $1.60 from private and other partners. That is precisely the kind of multiplier effect we say we want from public investment in innovation. The supercluster model is also incredibly flexible as a way government can mobilise supply chains to address strategic priorities. It has helped drive the commercial application of artificial intelligence under Canada's artificial intelligence strategy, it has supported Canada's quantum strategy, and it is enabling innovation in the building sector as part of the government's response to the housing crisis. Rather than stepping back from this model, I think we should be asking how to develop more reflexivity - creating a regular process to review the clusters, phasing some out, and introducing new ones. The response when the program was first launched shows how powerful this can be. The original competitive process attracted 50 proposals representing nearly 1,500 organizations , which collectively committed $17 billion. The government only funded five. Canada does not suffer from too many visions for the future of our industries. It suffers from too few. We need more structured spaces where companies, researchers, and workers build shared roadmaps.