At a glance
| Who it is for | Fintech, lending, mortgage, wealth and B2B fintech infrastructure companies, typically $50M to $2B in revenue |
| What you get | Partnership development from target selection through negotiation and launch |
| Who does the work | Kevin Schwaner, supported by a second director and two U.S. account managers |
| How it runs | Identify, Engage, Discover, Scope, Launch |
| How it is priced | Monthly retainer plus a performance fee on closed partnerships |
| Where it starts | Eight to ten initial targets for one product, prepared for the first call |
What does an engagement cover?
We lead strategic partnership development from identifying potential partners to negotiating agreements and preparing the partnership for launch. That includes executive outreach, discovery, commercial discussions and coordination with your legal, compliance and product leads.
We do not sell leads, book meetings at volume, or resell another company's product.
The engagement follows five stages, Identify, Engage, Discover, Scope and Launch. The partnership strategy and management guide explains each stage and its completion point. Ongoing partner management stays with your team unless separately scoped.
How do we choose the first partners?
We start with one product and the companies that own the customer relationship it needs. Our Partnership Graph evaluates customer access, product fit, partner economics and launch requirements. Each proposed target is checked against the company's own announcements. The partner types we open most often are listed on our partnership pipeline page.
A full engagement works a longer list of 50 to 200 candidates across products and categories. The first call starts with eight to ten priority targets for one product. That initial map gives us something specific to discuss before you decide on an engagement.
Who leads the work?
Kevin is on every partner conversation, from first message to signature. A second director and two U.S. account managers handle research, list building, scheduling and follow-through, so the work moves at the pace of a team rather than one person's calendar.
Relationships already open in your partner categories
We have 200+ enterprise relationships across insurance, banking, lending, automotive and consumer platforms, built over nearly a decade, and have driven over $200M in partnership revenue for the companies our team members have worked for. Where your partner categories overlap with those relationships, the first conversation starts warm.
We reached 173 people inside one top-five P&C carrier, starting from a cold message with no introduction, and the result was a signed partnership agreement. Enterprise partnerships are decided in negotiation, follow-up and approvals, and that is where most of our time goes.
If your immediate need is someone to lead new partnership development, the fractional head of partnerships page explains that role and the comparison with hiring.
What does your team provide?
We need an executive sponsor and named legal, compliance and product leads. Your team supplies product expertise, reviews commercial terms and approves the work needed to launch.
We coordinate the deal work and prepare the supporting documents. The business development consulting services page sets out the deliverables and reporting. The partners launch under your team's name.
Why consider partnerships now?
Three market shifts make partnerships a stronger growth channel than they were a few years ago. Each proposed partnership still has to carry a clear customer benefit and workable economics.
Economic
Google Ads cost per click has more than doubled in ten years, from $2.32 to $5.42, and Finance and Insurance converts at 2.64%, the lowest rate in WordStream's 2026 benchmarks of 13,474 U.S. search campaigns. A partner that offers your product to customers it already serves does not buy those customers one click at a time.
Social
Half of consumers chose one brand over another because paying or getting a refund was easier, and 70% of brand executives report losing customers to brands with stronger financial offerings, in Galileo's 2026 Integrated Financial Services Research Report. Customers are increasingly open to financial products inside the brands they already use.
Technology
In the same report, every one of the 152 brand executives surveyed plans to offer integrated financial services within 12 to 18 months, 20% have launched, and 53% prioritize partners that integrate with minimal disruption to current operations. Those are companies looking for a product and a provider that can plug in, with the implementation plan already written.
More growth runs through partnerships now. The companies that show up with a product, a plan and a stated benefit for the partner are the ones those executives choose.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to sign a strategic partnership agreement?
Enterprise partnership agreements usually take quarters, not weeks. The first 90 days typically cover the approved target map, opened executive conversations and the first scoped proposals. Signature timing then depends on the partner's compliance and legal review, which is why one owner stays on each conversation through negotiation, follow-up and approvals.
Does strategic alliance consulting include joint ventures or acquisitions?
Our focus is distribution partnerships in which another company offers your product to its customers. We clarify the proposed arrangement before agreeing the engagement scope.
Can a strategic partnership consultant help with an opportunity already in discussion?
Yes. We can assess an existing opportunity as part of the initial scope. Share the conversation history, the proposed commercial arrangement and the outstanding decisions so we can identify the work still required.
Share your product and partnership goals so we can prepare an initial target map for our first call. Discuss your partnership goals.