17 Partnership Proposal Writer

# Skill: Partnership Proposal Writer

## What This Skill Does
Writes compelling partnership proposals — co-sell, referral, technology integration, and strategic alliance — that get taken seriously by potential partners. Structures the proposal around mutual value, financial upside, and execution simplicity. Output is a polished, ready-to-send partnership proposal document.

## When to Use
- You want to formalize a partnership conversation into a written proposal
- A potential partner has shown interest and needs something in writing to share internally
- You're approaching a company cold with a partnership pitch
- You need to upgrade an informal partnership into a structured agreement
- You want to create a standard partnership proposal template for scale

## Inputs Required
Before running this skill, ask the user for:
1. **Your company and what you do** — one-sentence description
2. **Target partner company** — name and what they do
3. **Partnership type** — co-sell, referral, technology integration, white-label, or strategic alliance?
4. **What you bring to the partner** — their upside (revenue, customers, product strength)
5. **What you need from the partner** — their contribution (distribution, relationships, technology)
6. **Financial structure** — revenue share %, fixed fee, equity swap, or reciprocal?
7. **Tone** — warm and exploratory, formal and business-focused, or executive-level strategic?

## Step-by-Step Instructions

### Step 1 — Structure the Proposal Outline
A strong partnership proposal has 7 sections:

```
1. Executive Summary — Who we are, why we're reaching out, and what we're proposing
2. The Opportunity — The market problem and why acting now matters
3. How the Partnership Works — Mechanics, roles, and workflow
4. The Value Exchange — What each party brings and receives
5. Financial Model — Revenue potential and economic structure
6. How We'll Execute — Launch plan, governance, and success metrics
7. Next Steps — Clear ask with a timeline
```

### Step 2 — Write Each Section

**Section 1 — Executive Summary**
```
[Partner Company] and [Your Company] serve the same customers — [ICP description] —
from complementary angles. This proposal outlines a [type of partnership] that would
allow us to [specific mutual benefit — e.g., 'expand revenue together without competing'].

We believe there's a significant opportunity to [specific outcome]. This document outlines
how we'd make it work, what each party brings, and what we'd both gain.
```

**Section 2 — The Opportunity**
```
[ICP customer] is dealing with [problem]. Right now:
• [Your Company] helps them with [your part of the solution]
• [Partner Company] helps them with [their part]

There's a natural gap where our solutions meet — and customers who have both get
significantly better results [include a data point, customer quote, or market stat if available].

The market for [relevant category] is [size/growth]. Companies that act now on
partnerships like this establish a significant structural advantage.
```

**Section 3 — How the Partnership Works**
Describe the mechanics clearly:

*For Co-Sell:*
```
When [Partner Company] is in a deal where [your problem] is relevant, they introduce us.
We handle the sale, implementation, and ongoing support. [Partner Company] receives
[X%] of the contract value for the referral.

Conversely, when [Your Company] identifies an opportunity where [partner's capability]
is needed, we introduce [Partner]. Same structure applies.
```

*For Technology Integration:*
```
[Your Platform] and [Their Platform] will build a native integration that allows
shared customers to [specific workflow benefit]. Both companies will co-market the
integration to our respective customer bases and list it in both product marketplaces.

Development responsibilities:
• [Your Company] — [specific API/module]
• [Partner Company] — [specific API/module]
Timeline: [X weeks] from signed agreement to beta
```

*For Referral:*
```
[Partner Company] refers clients who could benefit from [Your Solution].
Referrals are tracked via [mechanism — unique link, partner code, CRM tag].
[Partner Company] earns [X%] of first-year contract value for each successful referral.
Payouts are issued [monthly / quarterly] with full transparency reporting.
```

**Section 4 — The Value Exchange**
Present this as a clear, symmetric table:

```
WHAT [YOUR COMPANY] BRINGS:
✓ [Specific product/solution value]
✓ [Revenue share or financial incentive]
✓ [Access to your customer base for cross-sell]
✓ [Co-marketing budget and joint content]
✓ [Dedicated partner success support]

WHAT [PARTNER COMPANY] BRINGS:
✓ [Distribution — access to their customer base]
✓ [Trusted relationships with shared ICP]
✓ [Complementary technology or capability]
✓ [Market presence in [geography/vertical]]
```

**Section 5 — Financial Model**
Make the economics concrete:

```
PARTNERSHIP REVENUE PROJECTION (Year 1)

Conservative Scenario:
• [X] referrals per quarter at average deal size of $[Y]
• Total new revenue generated: $[Z]
• [Partner Company]'s share: $[A] ([X%])
• [Your Company]'s net revenue: $[B]

Realistic Scenario:
• [X] referrals per quarter
• Total revenue: $[Z]
• [Partner] share: $[A]

Optimistic Scenario:
• [X] referrals per quarter
• Total revenue: $[Z]
• [Partner] share: $[A]

Note: These projections are based on [basis/assumption]. We're happy to model
your specific scenarios together.
```

**Section 6 — Execution Plan**
```
LAUNCH PLAN

Month 1:
• Sign partnership agreement
• Internal kickoff (1 hour meeting to align teams)
• Integration setup / technical work begins [if applicable]
• Co-marketing kick-off: joint announcement, social post, newsletter

Month 2:
• First co-marketing campaign live
• Both teams trained on referral process
• First referrals submitted and tracked

Month 3:
• First results review (what's working, what's not)
• Optimization based on early data
• Expand to new use cases or segments if results are strong

GOVERNANCE:
• Monthly check-in between partnership leads (30 min)
• Quarterly business review (QBR) to assess pipeline, results, expansion
• Shared Slack channel / partner portal for real-time communication

SUCCESS METRICS:
• Referrals generated per quarter
• Conversion rate of referrals to customers
• Revenue generated per partner
• Customer satisfaction with referred clients
```

**Section 7 — Next Steps**
```
We'd like to propose a 30-minute call this week to walk through this proposal
and answer any questions. If it makes sense, we can move to a short-form agreement
and be live within [30 days].

Suggested next steps:
1. Review call — [Proposed date/week]
2. Align on terms — [Week 2]
3. Sign agreement — [Week 3]
4. Launch — [Week 4–5]

We're excited about the potential here and believe this is one of those partnerships
where 1 + 1 = 3. Looking forward to building something together.

[Your Name] | [Title] | [Contact]
```

### Step 3 — Proposal Design Tips
For a polished document:
- Keep to 4–6 pages (not a 30-slide deck, not a one-pager)
- Use your brand colors and their logo on the cover (shows you invested)
- Put the financial model in a simple table — no ambiguity
- Include one social proof element (a mutual customer quote, relevant case study, or market stat)
- End every section with a forward-looking statement, not a feature

### Step 4 — Delivery Strategy
How you send the proposal matters as much as the proposal itself:

**Do:**
- Send as a PDF with a personal video loom explaining the key sections (30–60 seconds)
- Follow up 3 business days later if no response
- Offer to present it live: "I'd love to walk you through it — it's better in person"

**Don't:**
- Send the proposal cold without prior conversation
- Send it as a Google Doc with editing rights (they'll tear it apart before reading it as a whole)
- Send and disappear — the proposal creates a moment, not a conclusion

## Output Format
Deliver:
1. Complete Partnership Proposal (all 7 sections, ready to polish/format)
2. Cover email to send with the proposal
3. Follow-up message (if no reply in 3 days)
4. Executive summary (1 paragraph) for their leadership to share internally

## Pro Tips
- The financial model is the most important section — make the partner's upside so obvious they'd feel stupid saying no
- A proposal that flatters the partner's existing strengths gets read; one that ignores them doesn't
- Always propose the partnership as exploratory first ("let's try this for 90 days") — lowers the activation energy to say yes
- The best partnerships are announced publicly — propose a joint press release or LinkedIn announcement as part of the launch plan
- Follow up on partnership proposals faster than any other deal — partner enthusiasm decays quickly