00 / WHY ONE METHOD

One conversation is an enterprise working out which providers to build on as AI rewrites what software even is. The other is a software vendor working out how to build a partner ecosystem that grows without grinding its team into the ground.

Both succeed or stall on the same three things: an honest read of where you actually are, a clear definition of what the partnership is for, and a deliberate design for how it runs. So whichever door you come through, the method is shared. The lens changes; the discipline does not.

Twenty years inside SaaS channels, alliances and professional services taught me that the expensive mistakes are almost never made at the negotiation table. They are made earlier, in the quiet assumptions nobody wrote down. This work exists to surface those assumptions before they cost you a year.

01 / THE METHOD, IN THREE MOVES

Everything below runs on the same spine.

Assess

We start with the truth, not the org chart. Where the relationship actually sits today, what's working by design versus working by luck, and where the friction is hiding. No frameworks for their own sake - just a clear picture you can act on.

Define

We get specific about purpose. What this partnership is for, in plain terms. Who owns it on your side and theirs. What “good” looks like in twelve months, and how each party earns its place in the value created. Most partnerships are vague here - and vagueness is what quietly kills them.

Design

We turn the definition into something that runs: the model, the motions, the incentives, the operating rhythm, and the points where AI does real work in the flow rather than sitting in a slide. You leave with an architecture you can staff, fund and measure.

02 / DOOR A · DEPTH

Partner Network Architecture

For enterprise and scale-up leaders deciding which software and AI providers to build the next phase of the business on.

Depth · scoped per engagement

Architecture, not procurement.

Who this is for

Heads of technology, transformation, procurement-with-teeth, and the executives who own the consequences when a provider relationship goes sideways.

The shift we're responding to

Choosing a provider used to be a buying decision with a contract at the end. AI changed the stakes. You're no longer licensing a tool - you're entering a relationship that shapes your data, workflows, compliance exposure and optionality for years. Treat it as procurement and you optimise for price and features. Treat it as architecture and you optimise for what you can build, change and trust over time.

What we do together

We map the provider relationships you have and the ones you're considering as a connected system rather than a list of vendors - pressure-testing each against what it's genuinely for, who owns it inside your organisation, how it handles your data and obligations, and how easily you could evolve or exit. Then we design the relationship architecture deliberately: where to go deep, where to stay flexible, and where you're quietly over-exposed.

What you walk away with

A clear map of current and prospective provider relationships as one architecture - not a procurement spreadsheet.
A fit and exposure read on each key relationship: purpose, ownership, data and compliance posture, switching cost, strategic risk.
A recommended design for the relationships that matter most, including where AI providers sit and how that exposure is governed.
Internal ownership defined - every important partnership has a name attached, not a committee.
A decision you can defend to your board and live with in three years.

The European layer

Most providers were designed for a different regulatory and cultural reality than the one you operate in. We bring that lens - GDPR, the EU AI Act timeline, data residency, how European buyers and partners actually behave - built into the assessment rather than sold as a separate add-on.

Scope and end point agreed up front. The design is yours to run. Book a first conversation →

03 / DOOR B · LEAD

AI Partnership Readiness Sprint

For software companies standing up a partner ecosystem for the first time - or rebuilding one that promised a lot and delivered noise.

Lead · fast, scoped, ecosystem-native

Design the ecosystem you should have - then make it real this quarter.

Who this is for

Founders, alliance and channel leaders, and revenue teams who suspect their partner programme is running on goodwill and effort rather than design.

The shift we're responding to

Partner programmes used to be bolted on once direct sales plateaued. That model is ageing badly. The strongest ecosystems now treat the partner motion as part of the product and the go-to-market from the start, and assume AI is part of the operating layer - not a future project.

What we do together

In a focused engagement we work through the foundations most programmes skip and later regret: the ideal partner profile defined tightly enough to say no, the commercial model and incentives that make the maths work for both sides, the proof-of-involvement rules that stop attribution arguments before they start, and the operating system that lets a small team run a real ecosystem. Where AI genuinely helps - signal scouting, routing, drafting, enablement - we design it in with clear read, recommend and write boundaries.

What you walk away with

A sharp ideal partner profile and a disqualification standard - your team stops chasing the wrong logos.
A commercial and incentive model that holds up under scrutiny, mapped to how partners actually source, assist and retain revenue.
An operating system on a page: the weekly rhythm, the data you watch, the human checkpoints, and the moments AI does the heavy lifting.
A pragmatic AI design with read, recommend and write boundaries - automation earns trust instead of creating cleanup.
A staged rollout you can run with the team you have now, not the one you wish you had.

The European layer

If you're building into Europe, the texture matters: how partners expect to be treated, where the regulatory lines sit, and why a programme that wins in one market can stall in another. That fluency is in the design from the start.

Structured so you have something real to act on within weeks, not quarters. ▸Book a first conversation

05 / FAQ

Before you book.

Which door is mine?+

If you're choosing or rethinking the providers you build on, that's Partner Network Architecture (Door A). If you're building or fixing your own partner programme, that's the AI Partnership Readiness Sprint (Door B). If both sound true, start a conversation and we'll work out where the leverage is. They share a method, so nothing is wasted either way.

You keep saying “architecture, not procurement.” What does that actually change?+

Procurement optimises for the deal: price, features, terms. Architecture optimises for the life of the relationship: what it's for, how it connects to everything else you run, how it handles risk, and how easily you can change course. Same vendors, very different questions, and a very different result three years in.

Where does the AI part come in? Is this an AI consultancy?+

No. We're partnership and ecosystem people who treat AI as part of the operating layer rather than the product on sale. In practice that means designing where agents and automation do real work in the flow - signal scouting, routing, drafting, enablement - with explicit read, recommend and write boundaries so a human stays accountable for anything consequential. AI speeds the work. It does not run the relationship.

Is this only for European companies?+

No. The European fluency is a strength we bring, not a fence around who we work with. We work with companies building into Europe and companies anywhere who want that regulatory and cultural reality designed in rather than discovered later. The geography informs the work; it is not the point of it.

How long does an engagement take?+

The Sprint is built to move quickly, structured so you have something real to act on within weeks, not quarters. Partner Network Architecture scales with the number and complexity of the relationships in scope. Either way we agree a clear end point up front - you'll always know what you're getting and when.

What do we actually walk away with?+

Something you can staff, fund and measure - not a slide deck that ages in a drive. Depending on the door, that's a relationship architecture and ownership map, or an ideal partner profile, commercial model and operating system on a page. The test we hold ourselves to: could your team run on this without us in the room. The answer should be yes.

Do you stay involved afterwards?+

Only if it genuinely helps, and only by separate agreement. The design is yours to run. We're not interested in building dependency, and we'd rather you didn't need us than keep you on a retainer that quietly stops earning its place.

What makes this different from a big consultancy or a generic channel agency?+

Twenty years actually inside SaaS channels, alliances and professional services - on both the vendor and partner sides - rather than a framework applied from the outside. You work directly with that experience, not a deck handed down to a junior team. The thinking is current with where ecosystems and AI are heading, and grounded in what's already been built and broken in the real world.

We already have a partner programme. Can you fix it rather than start over?+

Usually, yes - and rebuilding is often the better-value engagement. We assess what's working by design versus working by luck, find where it's leaking effort or trust, and redesign the parts that matter. Starting over is rarely necessary; honest diagnosis almost always is.

Two ways in. One method.