Mike speaks to Jinesh Patel, co-founder and CEO of Uptime Health, to discuss the importance of strategic partnerships in scaling a tech business. Jinesh used 15+ strategic partners to grow from £1 million turnover in 2023 to £10 million in 2024. He explains how they found the right partners and built effective relationships with them to sell an innovative product that those involved in the dental industry had never heard of or thought about using before.

He explains how to put together deals that are so good for the partners that they will not be able to resist working alongside you.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

● With so many ways to promote your business, it is easy to choose the wrong ones and waste money. Jinesh talks about how to avoid this pitfall.

● Use partners who have a rolodex of the type of people who need your product so you are targeting a pre-filtered list of prospects.

● Take a highly structured approach to partnerships. Include regular milestones and incentives.

● Create a clear go to market strategy.

● Look for partners who are likely to sell your products alongside theirs e.g. anyone who sells medical equipment is also likely to sell medical software.

● Take the time to educate your partners.

● Vet your partners as you would investors.

● Reaching out to partners automatically improves brand awareness.

● Attend conferences as attendees and approach people in the booths who could be good partners for you.

● Tailor the incentives to appeal to each partner. Look for synergies and ways to help them to grow their business too. Examples are shared in the podcast.

● As you grow, partnerships need to evolve.

● You need different types of partners. Often, once a few have jumped aboard others will follow.

● If you are just getting started, target smaller partners. Jinesh explains why.

● Craft the contract to ensure that you have a way to contact the end customer.

BEST MOMENTS

00:13:08 - "We educate the partners. They educate the clients, and they’re only bringing us opportunities that make sense.”

00:33:13 - “Qualifying your partners is just like when you want to raise capital from an investment group. You want to make sure you’re taking in good money, and it has good reputation.”

00:47:50 - "We still do direct [sales], because at the end of the day, not everyone wants to buy from a partner.”

01:06:39 - “The best way to hedge is to have more than one partnership of that size, so you’re not putting all your eggs in one basket.”

01:18:18 - "Closing a partnership has this huge element of pitching the product, talking about it, and...getting feedback."

01:19:07- “We’re always pushing out articles, podcasts just to educate and inform the community. That's been our go-to-market strategy.”

ABOUT THE GUEST

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jineshjpatel

https://www.uptimehealth.com

ABOUT THE HOST

Meet Mike, a seasoned tech entrepreneur and visionary with over two and a half decades of invaluable experience in founding and scaling successful tech start-ups. Mike brings a wealth of firsthand knowledge, and a deep understanding of the challenges faced by entrepreneurs and tech professionals.

As a host, Mike is dedicated to sharing actionable insights, strategies, and stories gathered from conversations with industry leaders, innovators, and experts. With a remarkable ability to distil practical wisdom from guests, Mike curates engaging discussions that resonate with both aspiring entrepreneurs and seasoned professionals.

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