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# System prepended metadata

title: The Smart Way to Establish Partnerships

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# Partnerships Best Practices

[The Smart Way to Establish Partnerships](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCSdqNixcks)

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.