D

Playbooks

Strategic Partnership & Business Development Playbooks

Operator playbooks for building partnership programs, structuring strategic deals, and scaling business development. Each playbook includes frameworks, case studies, mistakes to avoid, and links to relevant tools and roles.

Modern Sales

Playbook · 14 min read

How to Build a Strategic Partnership Program From Scratch

An operator playbook for designing, launching, and scaling a strategic partnership program — from first hire to a measurable revenue contribution.

Tech & Innovation

Playbook · 13 min read

The Enterprise Tech Partnership Playbook

How tech companies should structure strategic partnerships with enterprise customers and platforms — moving beyond logo deals to real co-engineering, co-selling, and joint roadmaps.

Venture Capital & Startups

Playbook · 12 min read

The VC Portfolio BD Playbook: Building Real Partnership Value at Scale

How venture firms should structure portfolio business development to actually move partner-sourced revenue across their companies — not just facilitate intros.

Roles That Apply These Playbooks

All Roles

Role

Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)

C-suite executive owning all revenue-generating functions — sales, partnerships, customer success, and often marketing — at scaling B2B companies.

Role

Director of Channel Partnerships

Senior partnerships leader running the channel program — resellers, distributors, MSPs, and SI partners — including recruiting, enabling, and managing partner-sourced revenue.

Role

Head of Strategic Partnerships

Senior leader who designs and runs the company's strategic partnership program, owning partner relationships, deal structures, and partner-sourced revenue contribution.

Decisions Often Discussed

All Comparisons

Compare

Business Development Rep (BDR) vs. Account Executive (AE): Roles and Career Path

Compare Business Development Rep (BDR) and Account Executive (AE) roles — what each does, comp differences, and how to progress between them.

Compare

Business Development vs. Sales: How They're Different and When to Use Each

Side-by-side comparison of business development and sales — the motions, the metrics, the org structures, and how to know which function you actually need.

Compare

Channel Partner vs. Reseller: Are They the Same? Differences Explained

Compare channel partners and resellers — overlapping terms, real differences, and how to structure a program that works.

Explore Further

Hub

Tools

Free calculators and interactive utilities

Hub

Resources

Ideas, checklists, glossaries, and statistics

Hub

Case Studies

Strategic breakdowns of leading companies and projects

Hub

Roles

Business development and partnership roles defined

Hub

Salaries

Compensation data by role and city

Hub

Compare

Side-by-side comparisons of roles and strategies

By David Shadrake · Strategic Business Development & Tech Partnerships