Partnerships timing and GTM - a conversation with VC Sean Kester

In this episode, I speak to Sean Kester, Partner at In Revenue - a unique new operator-immersive capital firm obsessed with enabling founders with what their Partners have learned. 

I asked Sean to join me because he is a former Partnerships lead at Salesloft, Stax, and an advisory to partnerships-driven org’s like PandaDoc. So he has the ideal experience to help us understand: 

• What is GTM fit and how partners fit in. 
• Where partnerships can help with capital raises.
• How Sean and In Revenue incorporate partnerships strategy with their portfolio companies.
• Ecosystems-led vs community-led (i.e. DealHub in HubSpot or Qualified in Salesforce eco vs Lavendar.ai which started as a community + services, then launched their Ai product) 
• What must be in place before any startup launches into partnerships.
• And, I ask Sean to poke holes in a Partnerships-Led GTM that we are testing with our V2 product (Partnerhub®):

1. Paying partnerships leaders for __ number of posts on social about the launch. 
2. Bringing PL’s into the product by way of templates branded with their name that the users can deploy for their internal partner operations. 
3. Matching new users with expert consultants - exclusive to vertical and type of support.

This is a type of episode I’ve been wanting to do for a while, so I hope you like it. 

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Sponsors:

Reveal - A free account mapping solution.

‍Partnerhub® - for finding and managing your partnerships.

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Links: 

https://www.partnerhub.app/blog/when-is-the-ideal-time-for-a-tech-startup-to-invest-in-partnerships

https://www.linkedin.com/in/theseankester/details/experience/

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