Partnerships and co-selling for Series A companies: the 90-day install for fintech in Southern Europe
The exact 90-day plan for standing up partnerships and co-selling at Series A — the point where the founder can no longer be every function. Written for heads of growth and revenue at regulated fintech companies in Southern Europe.
This edition of the Growth Broker playbook is written for heads of growth and revenue at regulated fintech companies operating in Southern Europe. In this market, Southern European buyers reward relationship depth over transactional outreach, so the way you install partnerships and co-selling has to be shaped to that reality from day one.
Series A is the moment partnerships and co-selling stops being optional. The founder has to step out of some of the work, the plan requires a defensible growth number, and every quarter compounds toward the next raise.
Day 1 to 30: diagnosis and instrumentation. Name the constraint, write the ICP, wire sourced and influenced pipeline from partners into the board pack.
Day 31 to 60: first live cycle at 20% of planned volume. Founder still in every review. Kill criteria written and enforced.
Inside fintech, the binding constraint is almost always access to buyers gated by compliance, not lack of demand, and in Southern Europe it is compounded by the fact that relationship depth, not activity volume is what actually gates growth. Partnerships and co-selling is only useful here when it is pointed at both constraints at once.
Day 61 to 90: ramp to full volume, hire the first dedicated operator, and hand off ops. Founder retains strategy and the weekly review.
By day 90 the metric is legible and the trajectory is defensible. This is what turns a Series A story into a Series B round.
Trap most Series A companies fall into: signing MOUs no one operationalises. It usually shows up around day 45 when the founder tries to hire ahead of the model.
The Series A version of partnerships and co-selling looks small compared to what you will build at Series B. That is the point — it is a foundation, not a monument.
Concretely for fintech in Southern Europe: one qualified fintech opportunity typically justifies a full quarter of program spend, and a single trusted Southern European relationship compounds into a regional beachhead. That is the reason it is worth installing partnerships and co-selling deliberately for this market rather than importing a playbook designed for somewhere else.
Frequently asked questions
Partnerships · fintech · Southern Europe — answered
- Does partnerships and co-selling work for fintech in Southern Europe?
- Yes — provided it is pointed at access to buyers gated by compliance, not lack of demand and adapted to the fact that in Southern Europe, Southern European buyers reward relationship depth over transactional outreach. One qualified fintech opportunity typically justifies a full quarter of program spend.
- Should we start partnerships and co-selling before Series A?
- Yes if the founder has time; the Series A version is the same model at higher spend.
- How much of the round should fund partnerships and co-selling?
- Meaningful — often 20–30% of the growth line — but only after diagnosis.
- When do we hire the first partnerships and co-selling operator?
- Around day 60, once the model has run one full cycle with the founder.
- What Series A trap should we avoid?
- Signing MOUs no one operationalises — usually a premature senior hire.
- What is the Southern Europe-specific pitfall when running partnerships and co-selling for fintech?
- Importing a playbook that was built for another market. In Southern Europe, Southern European buyers reward relationship depth over transactional outreach — the install has to reflect that.
Growth Broker editorial
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