Partnerships Best Practices

The Smart Way to Establish Partnerships

Based on insights from Tim Cox, Partnership Manager at Pool Together

1. Build Before You Pitch

Demonstrate value upfront rather than just talking about it:

• Create working prototypes or MVPs specific to potential partners
• Show up with something already built that solves their problem
• "Instead of creating long emails or slide decks, just build them something and say 'Hey, look what I built you'"

2. Focus on Relationship Building

Partnerships in Web3 are highly relational:

• Attend industry events to make in-person connections
• Leverage existing relationships to get introductions
• Identify and build relationships with responsive team members
• Look for the "person who's on it" in each organization

3. Find the Active Responders

Target the most responsive people in any organization:

• In group chats, identify who responds fastest and most frequently
• Direct message these responsive individuals to build momentum
• "I find the person that responds the fastest over the most… whoever frequently responds the fastest and then I start DMing that person"

4. Use Experimental Approaches

Embrace a culture of experimentation:

• Try unconventional partnership approaches without extensive legal review when possible
• Be willing to create quick experiments to test concepts
• Maintain a scrappy, builder mindset rather than a corporate approach

5. Leverage Technology and AI

Use modern tools to streamline partnership development:

• Employ AI tools to quickly build MVPs and solve specific problems
• Create data visualizations or dashboards to illustrate value
• Use no-code/low-code tools to implement ideas rapidly
• "I find myself basically weekly creating a new thing to solve an issue"

6. Identify Mutual Benefits

Create clear incentive structures:

• Understand what each partner needs from the relationship
• Define how each side benefits from the partnership
• Look for asymmetries that could be exploited for mutual gain
• Make benefits transparent to all parties

7. Create Unique Value Propositions

Stand out with unique offerings:

• Add gamification elements to standard products/services
• Create memorable and unique marketing approaches (like "silly songs" or meme content)
• Find ways to combine existing technologies in novel ways

8. Use On-Chain Actions and Incentives

Leverage blockchain features for partnership programs:

• Create token-based reward systems for partner communities
• Use on-chain actions to trigger partnership benefits
• Consider "prize power" where actions lead to chances to win
• "Whatever you want to reward, you just drop a token on them"

9. Build With Communities, Not Just Companies

Recognize the community aspect of partnerships:

• Identify and engage with active community members
• Create tools and resources that benefit entire ecosystems
• Allow communities to build upon your technology
• "If people are building with your thing… that's the way"

10. Think Beyond Traditional Marketing

View partnerships as superior to traditional marketing:

• See partnership development as the core marketing strategy
• "The best marketing is actually like partnerships and working with other projects"
• Focus on cross-promotion and "vampire attacking" (attracting users from other projects)
• Consider how partnerships can create network effects

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Remember: In the Web3 space especially, the most effective partnerships often come from building something concrete first, being highly responsive, maintaining a builder mindset, and creating genuine relationships with key individuals in target organizations.