Article · 9 min read

Freshworks partner program: insights into the evolving channel ecosystem

Bharti Trehan · DQ Channels Free Intermediate India

Published margin bands from an Indian origin company: 10 to 15% referral, 20 to 30% solution provider with deal registration protection, up to 40% strategic, plus a 72 hour deal exclusivity window.

  • Freshworks runs 500-plus transacting partners and a marketplace of 1,400 integrations with 150,000 active installs.
  • Margins by track: referral partners 10 to 15 percent, solution providers 20 to 30 percent, strategic partners up to 40 percent.
  • Registered deals get 72-hour exclusivity, which is the protection a reseller actually cares about.
  • Top-tier partners also get SPIFFs and MDF, with the 40 percent ceiling tied to multi-year contracts.
Open on dqchannels.com ↗

It answers 5 questions

  1. What is a channel partner, and why would a software company hand over 30% of the price?
  2. How do I stop my AEs from treating partner deals as a threat to their number?
  3. What margin should we give partners, and how do we stop channel conflict?
  4. How do I design a partner program from scratch: tiers, margins and enablement?
  5. How do the best mid market SaaS companies use a partner flywheel instead of hiring more AEs?

Read with it

  1. The clearest single explanation of the five partner types and what each is worth, including real margin bands (20 to 30% for... Bessemer Venture Partners (Atlas) Article · 20 min read The GTM guide to building SaaS channel partnerships MP Eisen
  2. First hand from the person who ran HubSpot's channel for a decade, with the four maturity stages and the argument that support,... SaaStr Article · 10 min read HubSpot's ex-VP of Channel Sales: How to Build The World's Best Channel Sales Program David Shepherd
  3. A small company showing its own numbers: their partner manager took the program from under 4% to 10% of revenue in a year on... Close Article · 14 min read Building a B2B SaaS Partner Program: Our 8-Step Process Amy Copadis
  4. Named teardowns instead of theory: Shopify, Microsoft, AvePoint, Nintex and Lookout, with what each does differently on... Impartner Article · 12 min read How to Build the Best SaaS Partner Program (with Examples) Impartner
  5. The best plain English glossary of the nine partner types plus 20 metrics to track, which is exactly what you need when you are... HubSpot Blog Article · 15 min read Channel Sales: What It Is and How to Create Your Program Aja Frost
  6. Makes the point most first timers miss: channel accelerates growth that already exists, it does not create it, and you should... GTMnow Article · 10 min read How to Get Started With Channel Partnerships for SaaS Businesses Shubham Sood
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →