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A friend called me - ten years in sales, good at it, tired of it.

"I'm thinking about moving into account management," he said. "I want to actually build real relationships. Not just close and disappear."

I asked if he'd looked at comp.

Long pause.

"Yeah. It's not great."

There's a third path most people don’t think about…

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I get asked about partnerships constantly. Why I'm in it, what it actually is, whether it's right for you.

Honest answer on the last one: it depends on whether you actually like the strategy part of sales or just the kill.

This is how I got here:

After about a decade into my career I started noticing something. The conversations I enjoyed most weren't always the ones I closed. They were the ones where I was sitting across from a VP of Sales, Founder or PE Operator trying to figure out how two companies could build something that neither would build alone. It felt more like strategy than selling. The stakes were high and the opportunity was massive.

Here’s a simple explanation of what partnerships is — in direct sales, you're selling your product to a customer. That's it. One company, one buyer, one need to satisfy. Partnerships is finding other companies that already have the relationships, distribution, or capabilities you don't have, and figuring out how you can help each other win.

Simple example: a real estate agent and a mortgage broker

The agent sells the house. The broker finances it. They aren't the same company, they don't share a paycheck but every time the agent closes a deal, they need a broker, and every time someone needs a mortgage, they need to find a house. So they refer each other. The agent's clients become the broker's clients and vice versa. Both grow their business without either one doing more cold outreach. That's a partnership.

Instead of positioning "here's what we do," you position "here's what we could build together and here’s how we BOTH win”

I've heard partnerships described as running a mini business inside your company. You're doing business development to get a partner's attention. Marketing to position why the relationship makes sense to their team. Sales to structure the actual deal. Customer success to make sure partners are seeing results — if they aren't, the whole thing falls apart in six months.

The upside is that it compounds. A strong partner network generates pipeline you didn't have to originate yourself. The downside is it takes longer to build and attribution can be a nightmare.

I'd be lying if those were the only reasons I made the move. The travel is fun. The dinners are nice. The networking is great. And the business golf keeps me sane.

So… if you're an AE who closes a deal and immediately forgets the customer exists, direct sales is probably a better fit. If you're the AE who's still thinking about the account six months later - wondering what else they could use, who else you should connect them with, what their next problem is - that's a partnerships instinct. You're just not getting paid for it yet.

and you're thinking about adding a partner channel or you're an AE wondering if partnerships is the right move - reply to this email. I’d love to help.

Sometimes the best investment advice is the most boring.

This episode covers 10 companies that are likely to explode in the coming years.

Until next week,

TG

P.S. I reply to all emails