Video · Talk, roughly 30 to 45 minutes

Partner Ecosystems: Trends, Predictions and Forecast, with Jay McBain

Jay McBain · YouTube Free Intermediate

Partner Ecosystems: Trends, Predictions and Forecast, with Jay McBain

Jay McBain is the most-cited named voice on channels and partner ecosystems, so if you are deciding whether resellers or partners belong in your motion, this is who founders actually listen to. He walks through how partner ecosystems are structured and where the customer relationship really sits, which is the part most first-time channel programs get wrong. We could confirm the video and speaker but not fully verify the runtime, so check the length before you block time.

  • Most buyers now reach a vendor through a partner or an existing relationship, which reframes when indirect is worth building.
  • Value-added resellers own the customer relationship by wrapping services around your product, so your program has to be designed around their economics, not just yours.
  • A partner motion is a business model you build for the partner, not a distribution deal you bolt on, and treating it as the latter is why many programs stall.
Watch on YouTube ↗

The question it answers

  1. When does it make sense to sell through resellers or partners instead of direct?

Read with it

  1. Ross and Lemkin are the people who wrote the sales-growth playbook most SaaS teams actually copy, so this is a solid grounding... Wiley Book · Book, roughly 350 pages From Impossible to Inevitable: How SaaS and Other Hyper-Growth Companies Create Predictable Revenue Aaron Ross and Jason Lemkin
  2. This is the cleanest side-by-side we found on what you actually trade away going indirect: margin, customer contact, and... GTM Playbook Article · Long-form article, about a 12 minute read Direct Sales vs. Channel Sales: Choosing Your Route to Market in B2B SaaS James Doman-Pipe
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