Nearbound Marketing: What It Is and How It Works
Demand generation that runs through partners by borrowing their trust, measured as pipeline.
Forecastable Blog
Forecastable's Education Center -- The best advice on building partner programs that produce forecastable revenue.
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AI-Native PRM: What It Is and Why It Beats Bolted-On AI
What is an AI-native PRM? Short answer: An ai-native prm is a partner relationship management platform built from the ground up around AI capabilities rather than bolted on later. It treats the data model, the user interface, and the workflow layer as AI-first surfaces from day one. That distinction matters because traditional PRMs were architected […]
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Editor's Picks
MDF Programs That Generate Real Pipeline (Not Just Activity)
Short answer: most MDF (Market Development Funds) programs in B2B SaaS waste 50 to 70 percent of their budget. The cause is structural, not size. MDF gets framed too narrowly as marketing money. It then goes to partners who will not run the activity that drives pipeline. The fix is a defensible MDF program that […]
Joint Demand Generation: How to Run Co-Marketing That Converts
Short answer: joint demand generation campaigns with partners produce 2x to 4x the ROI of solo demand-gen when designed correctly. They produce 0.5x or worse when designed wrong. The difference comes down to four design decisions. You need a shared ICP, a single accountable owner, lead-level attribution, and a structured handoff motion. Get those four […]
Alex Buckles Partnerships POV: 5 Operating Rules
For broader industry context, see Partnership Leaders’ practitioner community. What Does Alex Buckles Think About Partnerships? Short answer: Alex Buckles’ partnerships work is grounded in one operating belief, partnerships is a measurable system, not a relationship motion. I run Forecastable, an independent third-party professional services firm that designs partner-led GTM systems for B2B SaaS companies, […]
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Always-On Comms: The Partner Cadence That Keeps Mindshare
What are always-on comms? Short answer: Always-on comms is the structured, recurring cadence of brief, value-add 1:1 communications from a vendor’s partner team to named contacts at partner firms. They are not newsletters, not marketing blasts, and not pitch sequences. They run quietly in the background of a partnership and keep mindshare from decaying between […]
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AWS Marketplace Co-Sell: The Motion Most ISVs Skip
What is AWS Marketplace co-sell? Short answer: AWS Marketplace co-sell is the sales motion where an ISV transacts a deal through AWS Marketplace while simultaneously working the opportunity with an AWS field seller through the ACE (AWS Customer Engagements) system. It pairs a private offer with a registered, accepted opportunity, so the AWS rep gets […]
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AWS Marketplace Strategy: Billing Rail, Co-Sell, or Both?
What is AWS Marketplace strategy? Short answer: AWS Marketplace strategy is the set of strategic decisions an ISV makes about whether and how to use AWS Marketplace as part of their go-to-market motion. It covers strategic intent, listing model, pricing approach, channel design, and operational stack, and the answers shape everything from your pricing page […]
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Building a Partner Program: The 2026 Operating Blueprint
What is building a partner program? Short answer: Building a partner program is the end-to-end exercise of designing and launching a partner-led growth system from zero, with a defined thesis, archetypes, operating model, partner journey, and measurement scoreboard. It is a system-design effort, not a hiring decision. A working partner program has three properties. It […]
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Co-Sell Activation: 8-Week Cadence That Builds Pipeline
What is co-sell activation? Short answer: Co-sell activation is the structured process of taking a partner from signed to actively producing co-sell pipeline. It is the difference between a paper partnership and a producing one, and it lives or dies on a recurring deal-review cadence run for the first six to eight weeks after signature. […]
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Co-Sell Advisor: When to Hire One and What They Actually Do
What is a co-sell advisor? Short answer: A co-sell advisor is an external advisor, fractional partnerships leader, or consultant on retainer who helps a partnerships org design and run its co-sell motion. They sit alongside the in-house team, diagnose what is actually broken, design the operating model, and coach the team through the first cycles […]
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Co-Sell Agency: What to Outsource and What to Keep In-House
What is a co-sell agency? Short answer: A co-sell agency is an external firm that runs co-sell programs on behalf of a vendor. It is different from an advisor (who coaches) or a consultant (who designs). The agency executes the mechanics: account mapping, partner cadences, deal reviews, attribution reporting, and partner-program operations. The agency model […]
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Impartner Alternatives: A 2026 Buyer’s Comparison
What are the strongest Impartner alternatives in 2026? Short answer: Impartner alternatives worth a real evaluation in 2026 are Allbound (now Channelscaler), ZINFI, Introw, Magentrix, Kiflo, PartnerStack, and Mindmatrix. Each is the better answer for a specific buyer condition, not a generic replacement for one of the deepest enterprise PRMs in the category. Buyers shop […]
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OEM vs Reseller: A 2026 Comparison for Programs
What is the difference between OEM and reseller? Short answer: OEM vs reseller is the decision between embedding your product inside a partner’s offering (OEM) versus letting a partner sell your product as-is alongside theirs (reseller). The two motions look adjacent and produce opposite operating models. The economics, the legal posture, the support model, and […]
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