Learning From FreshBooks to Build A Partner Integration Strategy

<p>In this episode of <em>SaaS Connect</em> by <a href="https://www.cloudsoftwareassociation.com/">Cloud Software Association</a>, George Kyriakis, Senior Director, Business Development &amp; Partnerships at Freshbooks, who at the time boasted 12 million global users, gives a presentation about how to go about building an integration partner program, and why you should bother.</p> <p><br></p> <p>George explains why it’s hard convincing CEOs of the importance of partner integrations, and how providing numbers persuades them to buy in. Presenting metrics such as higher long-term value and cost of acquisition are very helpful, because they align with what’s important to the CEO.</p> <p><br></p> <p>After 30 years of “doing it wrong”, George offers 12 steps to building an integration program to “do it right”:</p> <ol> <li>Define the need</li> <li>Get executive buy-in</li> <li>Define the categories</li> <li>Building an API library</li> <li>Website structure per amount of partners</li> <li>Value propositions for developers</li> <li>Target integrations and prioritising</li> <li>Negotiate value with partner</li> <li>Consider outsourcing development</li> <li>Marketing</li> <li>Tracking</li> <li>Reporting</li> </ol> <p><br></p> <p>He also shares additional tips:</p> <ul> <li>Things that go wrong, and what to look out for</li> <li>Common questions and answers</li> <li>The next stages for FreshBooks, and ideas you can use in your next steps</li> </ul> <p><br></p> <p>Resources Mentioned:</p> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.zendesk.com/">Zendesk</a></li> <li><a href="https://mailchimp.com/">MailChimp</a></li> <li><a href="https://slack.com/">Slack&nbsp;</a></li> <li><a href="https://trello.com/en">Trello&nbsp;</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.chargify.com/">Chargify</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.hubspot.com/">HubSpot</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.onesaas.com/">OneSaaS</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.google.com/">Google</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-za">M