Partnerships and co-selling for Series A companies: the 90-day install for professional services firms in the APAC region
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 managing partners and heads of business development at consultancies and agencies in the APAC region.
This edition of the Growth Broker playbook is written for managing partners and heads of business development at consultancies and agencies operating in the APAC region. In this market, APAC buyers span very different cultures and reward vendors who adapt playbooks per market, 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 professional services firms, the binding constraint is almost always senior partner time, not lead volume, and in the APAC region it is compounded by the fact that market-by-market adaptation, not one-size playbooks 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 professional services firms in the APAC region: one signed retainer typically funds the entire growth program for a year, and the APAC teams that install this stop treating the region as one market and start winning it as many. 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 · professional services · APAC — answered
- Does partnerships and co-selling work for professional services firms in the APAC region?
- Yes — provided it is pointed at senior partner time, not lead volume and adapted to the fact that in the APAC region, APAC buyers span very different cultures and reward vendors who adapt playbooks per market. One signed retainer typically funds the entire growth program for a year.
- 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 APAC-specific pitfall when running partnerships and co-selling for professional services?
- Importing a playbook that was built for another market. In the APAC region, APAC buyers span very different cultures and reward vendors who adapt playbooks per market — the install has to reflect that.
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