Chapter 6 -Build with partners who deliver
Why partnerships matter (plus why they often fail, and how to fix it)
You are reading our Manufacturing Software GTM Founder Guide for early-stage b2b manufacturing Saas founders. Flip back to: The Intro, Perfecting the pitch, The Art of Industrial Selling, Scaling Across Plants, Escaping Pilot Hell & Post Sales Implementation — Productising the Deployment.
TLDR
- Partnerships are key to penetrating the factory stack.
- Succeeding in industrial tech partnerships is a marathon, not a sprint
- Use partnerships to scale proven concepts, not initial demand
- Focus on building credibility and gaining access, not immediate revenue, when partnering with incumbents.
- Understanding partnership maturity, timing it right, and aligning with existing structures enables you to leverage big companies for market traction
- Retain control over your innovation evangelism and customer learning
Industrial tech doesn’t move in a vacuum. If you look at any factory, what you see is not just machines and software, but an ecosystem of relationships: OEMs who sell the equipment, integrators who make it all work together, distributors who keep spare parts flowing, and service providers who carry the day-to-day accountability.
For a startup stepping into this world, it’s impossible to ignore those relationships. Partnerships in manufacturing aren’t ‘nice to have,’ they’re structural, for two simple reasons:
1. The industry is shaped by incumbents.
Factories run on systems from players like Siemens, ABB, Rockwell, SAP, and Autodesk. These giants don’t just sell products; they set procurement norms and technical standards. If you’re a startup, you’re not entering a greenfield, you’re entering an ecosystem where the default answer is, “we’ll ask our existing supplier.”
2. Buyers purchase accountability, not just technology.
A plant manager isn’t buying features on a data sheet; they’re buying the promise that someone will take responsibility when things break. Or, as one founder put it: “The buyer doesn’t just want a capability. They want accountability.”
That’s why partnerships matter. If buyers doubt you can shoulder accountability alone, they look for familiar names - OEMs, integrators, or distributors - who already have their trust. Partnering transfers some of that credibility to you.
Here's a great example of best practise. In 2024, CarbonRe teamed up with ABB to help cement producers slash emissions and boost productivity.
For Heidelberg Materials, one of the world’s largest cement companies, the combined power of Carbon Re and ABB delivered impressive results (see below).
PLUS ABB’s stock saw a 0.75% bump after the partnership was signed. Partnership in action!
Mindset over matter: Playing the long game
It’s easy to think of partnerships as a GTM shortcut to quick revenue. On paper, why wouldn’t you want access to an incumbent’s customer base and salesforce? Yet many early-stage founders complain about “unfair” revenue splits (often 50/50 in the case of reselling) despite startups doing as much, if not more, of the heavy lifting to close deals.
In practice, their partners rarely sell the solution on their behalf in the early days.
The challenge? Many founders approach partners as if they were resell partners from day one. Partnerships with large incumbents are long games that are measured in years, not quarters.
At the start, the value is credibility and access, not bookings.
Partnership (Maturity) Model
If there’s one lesson from the field, it’s that partnerships work best when expectations are set right from the start. Too many founders try to jump straight into resell agreements with big OEMs, only to find themselves disappointed.
Below, we outline the most common partnership types, their purposes and economics, and example partners.
The partner types listed here can be viewed in two ways: as distinct categories, or as a sequential roadmap. Some incumbents are large and diversified enough to span the entire maturity model. A player like Siemens or Microsoft might co-market with you, open doors through their salesforce, offer implementation capacity through service arms or integrators, and eventually resell your product as part of a bundled catalog.
Others, like a regional distributor or a specialist integrator, may only ever play one role, say, implementation or door-opening. Mapping partners to the right “lane” in the model prevents mismatched expectations and helps you negotiate terms that fit their actual scope.
Working with Partners: 7 lessons from the Field
Getting into a partnership is only the first step. The real work starts once you’re inside the relationship. Founders who’ve been down this road highlight a few practical lessons:
1. Time it right.
Don’t rush in. Partners will take you more seriously once you show you can win deals independently — even against them. One or two successful deployments with reference customers are often the minimum ticket to entry. Without that proof, you risk becoming a “pilot partner” who never makes it into the real sales motion.
2. Follow the accountability line.
Buyers don’t think in terms of feature sets; they think in terms of who they call when something breaks. That’s your north star for identifying the right partner. If warehouse automation is already “owned” by Integrator X, your GTM path is usually to slot in beneath them rather than trying to fight for the prime position. Aligning with the existing point of accountability lowers friction and makes procurement smoother.
3. Leverage incumbents’ roadmaps.
Plugging into a major platform means you can benefit from their investments in certifications, compliance, and marketing. For example, when you align with an OEM’s service arm, your product can ride their upgrade cycles and get visibility in their quarterly roadmap updates. The trade-off: you sometimes move at their pace, not yours — but the credibility you gain with buyers often outweighs the loss of speed.
4. Improving your partner’s product.
That said, the technology that large industrial players sell doesn’t always work. Trying to sell through a channel or on top of someone else’s product is tough when things break — but it’s often the reality in industrial partnerships. A key question becomes: how do you help your partner improve their own product through your implementation? Understand this and you’ll make your pitch toward industrial partnership far more attractive.
At the same time, watch out: Some partners, in fact, may not be interested in you fully optimising or “fixing” their product, particularly if their primary business model or monetisation strategy is heavily reliant on generating revenue through consulting services, ongoing support, or professional fees.
5. Don’t outsource the evangelism of your innovation.
Channel partners are built to sell what’s already understood, not to evangelise something new. Their account managers will happily attach your product to an existing deal — but they’re unlikely to create demand from scratch. Until your category is recognised, you’ll need to carry the weight of evangelism yourself.
A practical rule: you own the first sale; they can help you scale repeat sales.
To incentivise a field sales team of your channel partners, your product must directly contribute to their revenue and commission goals. Their time is money, and they need confidence that your product is reliable and effective, leading to successful outcomes for clients and their own performance. Products perceived as complex, unreliable, or requiring significant extra effort without a clear payoff will be deprioritised.
6. Handle white-label carefully.
White-labeling under a partner’s brand can get you distribution in conservative or hard-to-penetrate markets. But it comes at the cost of customer learning and brand equity. Founders often underestimate how much they lose by not hearing feedback directly..
7. Match GTM model to geography.
Direct GTM should remain your default in strategic regions — this is where you learn fastest and where brand equity matters most. When it comes to internationalisation, partnerships (especially the resell model) help in two scenarios:
- Non-key markets where you don’t plan to establish a presence or salesforce
- Entering a key market without sufficient budget and/or a clear strategy for building your sales team (e.g., expansion to the US)
This way, you stretch your resources without compromising your core learning loop.
TLDR
Succeeding in industrial tech partnerships requires a long-term strategy.
Focus on building credibility and gaining access, not immediate revenue, when partnering with incumbents. Understanding partnership maturity, timing engagements, and aligning with existing structures allows startups to leverage larger companies for market traction. But retain control over your innovation evangelism and customer learning, and use partnerships to scale proven concepts, not initial demand. Effective industrial partnerships hinge on strategic resource allocation and mutual benefit, enabling growth without sacrificing core learning or direct market engagement.
Series authors: Jess Burley, Kim Dang, Christoph Gras, Sam Baker.
With thanks to Sid Khullar (Aris Machina), Maximilian von Düring (AiSight), Alex Grots (ProGlove), Yohann Rousselet (BAC), Sabine Erlinghagen (Siemens Grid), Matthias auf der Mauer (AiSight, Juna.ai), Thibauld Martin (Altrove), Omar Fergani, Josh Vernon (Carbon Re), Daniel Schütt (Ekko.io), Fabian Veit (Celonis / Make), Benjamin Benharros (Alteia), Pascal Mies (Schwenk Materials), Mladen Milicevic (Unchained Robotics), Alexander Fitzgerald (Isembard), Matthias Stammen (Source.ag), Michel Lutz (Total Energy), Albertsson Adam & Erik Johansson (Volvo Ventures), Till Rosnick (WEPA), David Niedermaier (Agilox), Elena Ballesteros (Hitachi Ventures), Sander Njissen, Finn Stadler (Possehl Group), Dr. Christopher Schneider.
About us
Planet A is an early-stage European tech VC backing founders solving the world’s greatest systemic challenges. We use rigorous scientific impact assessments to identify solutions the world cannot afford to ignore. Investments include Carbon re, Aris Machina, AUAR, INERATEC, Makersite, C1, HIVED, traceless materials and 44.01. Follow us on LinkedIn.
