Which features and integrations should you prioritize?

Strategy is just choice.

It’s making informed decisions with the greatest likelihood of success on the other end.

Last week at the Nearbound Summit, Simon Bouchez, CEO at Reveal, and Karen Ng, SVP of Product at HubSpot, shared their product strategies.

Simon Bouchez set the stage by explaining,

“We don’t have a product partnership strategy. We have a product strategy.”

Partnerships should be an integrated part of your overarching product strategy. They’re not add-ons. They’re a method for delivering on your company’s mission.

Karen Ng took it a step further sharing how she thinks about the prioritization of integrations in two phases.

From zero to one, the only thing that matters is the core product.

“Sometimes the core product gets insights on top of data in which the data-in concept and the insights and value on top of those integrations is so key that integrations need to come early.”

The next phase is all about retention, stickiness, interoperability, and data-out.

Listen to Simon and Karen’s session recordings here.

A case study in HubSpot’s ecosystem and partner maturity

Hubspot started as an app, became a suite, and evolved into a platform.

For many, building a platform is a fantastical goal. For others, the goal isn’t building a platform, but rather winning in an existing platform.

Either way, to get there you need to learn from those who have been to your promised land.

Last week Karen Ng, SVP of Product at HubSpot, and Kelly Sarabyn, Platform Ecosystem Advocate at HubSpot, united to share everything they’ve learned while helping HubSpot evolve into a competitive platform.

Karen explained how HubSpot’s product team is viewing its ecosystem opportunity in 3 horizons:

Horizon one: Make it possible

Integrations are table stakes for a good customer experience. In horizon one, make customization possible.

Horizon two: Unlock the flywheel

At this horizon, you make it possible to drive more demand and make it frictionless to acquire and install integrations.

Horizon three: Be the destination

Enable ecosystem verticals and products (like hapily in the next section!).

Kelly Sarabyn added the partnerships lens to this product perspective, paralleling each horizon to partner maturity.

Horizon one partner maturity:

Custom, one-to-one partnerships, are more reactive, not necessary to look at operational difficulty or scale. Start exploring GTM.

Horizon two partner maturity:

Lay the groundwork for ops success and attribution. Partners will be looking to drive revenue. You need to be able to tell the ROI story. Building strategy begins here.

Horizon three partner maturity:

You need structure. Find new (or better) ways to drive partner value. Partners need to get the most out of the relationship so they continue wanting to invest. 

Watch the recording and get the slides here.

The integrated network economy is growing

HubSpot, and other platforms like it, are evolving fast.

And as these companies move up market, capture bigger and bigger customers, and discover more of these peoples’ business needs and problems, the things people want expand. This creates more demand for partners.

Look at the HubSpot report Scott Brinker and Connor Jeffers just shared.

Watch the recording and get the session slides.

Last year we saw similar numbers from ecosystems like Microsoft, AWS, and Salesforce.

• Salesforce’s partner ecosystem will make $6.19 for every $1 Salesforce makes by 2026.

• Partners who sell multiple AWS services can make $6.40 for every $1 of AWS they sell.

• 95% of Microsoft’s revenue flows through its partners.

It’s a flywheel of value creation with platforms, partners, and customers winning in tandem.

Confidently run co-marketing campaigns

Few better ways exist to create buzz than teaming up for prolific partnerships.

Check out HubSpot’s co-marketing starter kit to tap into scaling with synergy. Inside are templates and guides to help you source partners and nail campaigns.  

So when you find the right ones… the rest seems simple.

Get the Partnership playbook here for co-marketing 101, including 32 pages on partnerships.

Stuff you don’t want to miss!

• TODAY —PXP Academy Partner Manager Certification Course— Join the interactive learning session that equips you with everything you need to be successful in your daily job as an operational Partner person. Register here.

• November 16th —Elevate Your Presale GTM with Tech Partners— Learn from industry experts like Kelly Sarabyn (HubSpot), Jared Fuller (nearbound.com and Reveal), Sunir Shah (AppBind), and Alexander Buckles (Forecastable). Evolve your GTM strategy with tech partners. Register here. 

• Enroll by November 17th —Firneo’s Mastering Partnerships Strategy (4-week course)— Registration is now open! Learn how to diagnose and solve your partner program’s biggest challenges from the world’s top partnership leaders. Use the code "NEARBOUND" for a 1:1 Strategy Coaching package (worth $1,000) for FREE. Enroll (or check out a free preview) here 

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It’s not every day the SVP of Product at HubSpot shares exactly how she’s thinking about building HubSpot’s ecosystem.