What’s the number one thing you look for in a partner when you're recruiting? What are your non-negotiables?

Partner recruitment is the core of building a robust partner ecosystem.It's not just about their existing client base or their size; it's about their genuine willingness to invest in understanding our product deeply, getting certified, and then actively delivering exceptional value to shared customers. We want partners who see our solution as a strategic pillar for their own growth, not just another line item. This commitment translates into proactive engagement, quality implementations, and ultimately, happy, retained customers. My non-negotiables, therefore, stem directly from this: 1.Alignment with our Ideal Partner Profile (IPP): Do they target our ideal customer segments? Do their services complement our product? We need to ensure a mutual market fit from day one. 2.Investment in Enablement & Certification: Partners must be willing to dedicate resources to training and achieving necessary certifications. Without this foundational knowledge, they cannot effectively sell, implement, or support our solution. This commitment to learning is non-negotiable. 3.Shared Values & Integrity: Trust is the bedrock of any successful partnership. We look for partners who operate with transparency and a genuine focus on long-term relationships, both with us and with the end customer.

The number one thing I look for when qualifying a new partner is their customers. Who are their customers, how many do they have and do they fit our ICP. After that, we would look at their services offering, their other partners (do they fit with our ecosystem, do they work with competitors), their size to understand capacity and when we speak to them we would want to understand their commitment to this partnership (are they agnostic and we would be one of many and they are only looking at us because a customer was asking or did they make a strategic choice on our product(s) and want to go all in). A non-negotiable is when a partner signs up but does not invest in learning, account mapping etc. and just expects leads. Such a partnership will not work out.