Partnership Proposal Skill

This skill produces a complete B2B partnership proposal covering the partnership rationale, mutual value, partnership model, commercial terms, governance, and a joint go-to-market plan. Output is ready to share with a prospective partner or use as the basis for a business case to internal stakeholders.

Required Inputs

Ask the user for these if not provided:

• Your company — name, what you do, and the audience you serve
• Prospective partner — name, what they do, and their audience
• Partnership type — technology integration / co-marketing / reseller / referral / strategic alliance / OEM
• Partnership goal — what does each party get? (new customers / revenue / product capability / market reach)
• Proposed commercial model — revenue share, referral fee, licensing, co-investment?
• Urgency or context — is there a specific event, product launch, or competitive reason for this partnership?

Output Structure

Partnership Proposal: [Your Company] × [Partner Company]

Prepared by: [Name, Role at Your Company] Date: [Date] Partnership type: [Technology / Co-marketing / Reseller / Referral / Strategic Alliance] Proposal status: [Initial proposal / For negotiation / Final]

Executive Summary

[3–5 sentences. Answer: what are we proposing, why now, and what does each party stand to gain? Write this so a busy executive can understand the proposal in 60 seconds without reading further.]

Headline value for [Partner]:

[One sentence — the most compelling thing this partnership does for them]

Headline value for [Your Company]:

[One sentence — the most compelling thing this partnership does for you]

1. The Opportunity

Market context: [Why does this partnership make sense now? What's happening in the market that creates a window for this to work?]

Shared customer: [Describe the customer both organisations serve — the overlap that makes this logical. Include size of the shared addressable market if you have it.]

Problem neither of us solves alone: [What can't either party do for the shared customer independently that the partnership would enable?]

2. What We're Proposing

Partnership model:

What this looks like in practice:

[3–5 bullet points describing what the partnership actually means day-to-day. Make it concrete and operational — not abstract. e.g.:]

• [Our product will natively integrate with [Partner's product] — the integration will be live in [timeframe]]
• [We will co-market to each other's customer bases — joint webinar, co-authored content, shared newsletter placement]
• [Each company will train a dedicated partnership contact who manages the relationship]
• [[Partner] will list [Your product] in their marketplace / app directory / referral programme]

3. Value Proposition — What Each Party Gets

For [Partner]

For [Your Company]

4. Commercial Model

Proposed commercial terms:

Payment terms: [Monthly / Quarterly in arrears / Annual true-up]

What we're not proposing: [Be explicit about what's off the table — e.g. equity / exclusivity in all markets / upfront payment]

5. Joint Go-to-Market Plan

Phase 1: Foundation (Months 1–2)

Phase 2: Launch (Month 3)

Phase 3: Scale (Months 4–12)

6. Success Metrics

How we'll know the partnership is working:

Review cadence: Monthly partnership lead check-in + Quarterly business review at VP level

7. Governance & Operations

Partnership contacts:

Decision-making:

• Day-to-day partnership operations: partnership leads
• Commercial term changes: VP-level approval from both parties
• Partnership termination: CEO/MD sign-off + [X days] written notice

Legal framework:

• Partnership agreement / MOU to be drafted by [Company]'s legal team
• Data processing agreement (if personal data is shared)
• NDAs: [already in place / to be signed before detailed discussions]
• IP ownership: [Clarify who owns jointly developed materials, integrations, content]

8. Risks & Mitigations

9. Proposed Next Steps

Quality Checks

• Value proposition for the partner is written from their perspective — not yours
• Commercial model includes specific numbers, not just structure
• "What we're not proposing" section prevents misaligned expectations
• Go-to-market plan has named owners and dates, not "TBD"
• Success metrics are agreed bilaterally — not set unilaterally
• Risks section includes the most uncomfortable risk (partner signs with a competitor)

Example Trigger Phrases

• "Write a partnership proposal for [Company] to partner with [Partner]"
• "Draft a co-marketing partnership brief between us and [Partner]"
• "Create a reseller partnership proposal for [Company]"
• "Build the business case for a strategic partnership with [Partner]"
• "Structure a technology integration partnership proposal"

Anti-Patterns

• Do not write the value proposition from your own perspective — the "For Partner" section must be written from the partner's point of view, in the language of their goals and their customers
• Do not leave commercial terms as structure without numbers — a proposal that says "revenue share" without stating the percentage is not a proposal, it is a conversation opener
• Do not omit the "What we're not proposing" section — leaving unstated assumptions creates misaligned expectations that derail negotiations later
• Do not set success metrics unilaterally — metrics that only your company controls or cares about will not earn partner commitment
• Do not write a go-to-market plan with "TBD" owners — every activity must have a named owner on at least one side before the proposal goes out