“If you don’t know what you are looking for in a partner and what you need, then how can you possibly know when you find it?” — Caroline Egan, Inspiren 4. Make your product channel ready. If you are looking to sell through a channel, ensure that your solution is packaged enough for partners to pick it up and sell it. That means going through the sales process yourself first, and then fine-tuning it to effective- ly activate partners and drive a repeatable, profitable, and happy sales and customer engagement process. 5. Have a plan. Create a simple business plan for every partnership and monitor it on an ongoing basis. This ensures that everyone understands their roles and re- sponsibilities with clear objectives, owners, and milestones. Communicate on an agreed regular basis. Having a plan means there is a documented view of what success looks like and what it will take to get there. “Startups absolutely cannot afford to just bring on lots and lots of partners and spend all their energy to do that if those partners then don’t deliver.” —Caroline Egan, Inspiren 40