Compress 10 years of partnerships learning into 8 weeks

Learn the playbook of the world’s best partnership leaders as a Certified Partnerships Professional

Certified Partnerships professional

You just “fell into” a Partnerships role

Congrats! But now...

  • Your point of contact stopped responding to your emails.
  • The VP of Product won’t prioritize your integration on the roadmap.
  • Your partners aren’t delivering you any leads
  • And your CEO just sent you another email asking for a progress report from the Partnerships team

Next Cohort

April 29th -
June 23rd, 2023

Live Meetings

Wednesdays
6pm-8pm ET

Commitment

3-5 hours
per week

Capacity

Limited to
25 people

Access

Lifetime access to module materials

Bonuses

Tools, templates, Firneo community +more

Partnerships isn't rocket science - it's harder

The challenge is: You didn’t learn this stuff in school. Unlike traditional roles, like Accounting or Finance - it’s not a single discipline that you can learn in a textbook.

There’s a complex web of skills that you need to weave together in order to be successful in this job.

  • Your point of contact stopped responding to your emails.
  • The VP of Product won't prioritize your integration on the roadmap.
  • The deal you closed last quarter isn't generating the traction you expected.
  • And your CEO just sent another email asking for a progress report from the Partnerships team.

Now what do you do?

Build your skills, confidence, and experience as a Certified Partnerships Professional

In our immersive 8-week cohort experience, you’ll learn the playbook for becoming a transformational partnerships leader

As a Certified Partnerships Professional, you will know how to:

Have a clear process for building scalable partnership programs.

Build and prioritize a pipeline of the highest-performing deals.

Overcome roadblocks & conflicts that can sink your partnerships.

​Align with internal stakeholders to gain buy-in and secure resources.

​Demonstrate the value of partnerships (and your role) to your execs.

​Build an incredible network of peers that opens doors.

Influence company-wide strategy and maintain a seat at the table.

​Deliver continuous results to make decisions and have a greater impact.

Here's how it works:

Testimonial Icon

If you're looking to hone your BD and partnership skills, this is an amazing program.

Janet Giessen
Former VP of Partnerships

In-Depth Curriculum

Get the playbook for building better partnerships

Go deep on 50+ topics that cover every aspect of the partnering process, from getting internal buy-in to scaling partner ecosystems

Expert-Led Discussions

Join interactive live sessions led by seasoned mentors

Participate in weekly live sessions to compare notes with peers in group discussions led by a highly-experienced partnerships leader

Testimonial Icon

This program was a game changer for me

Emily Cozzens
ISV Partner Manager

Grow your professional Network

Build an incredible network for feedback and support

Foster strong relationships with a tight-knit cohort of partnership leaders that’ll last your whole career

Practice your skills

Get hands-on practice in the “Partnership Simulator

Challenge yourself in interactive simulations to practice skills like negotiating deals, writing better emails, creating business cases, and overcoming roadblocks & conflicts with partners.

Testimonial Icon

Wow wow wow. I cannot say enough about the value of this program.

Tricia Olson
Senior Partner Marketing Manager

Learn from Seasoned pros

Learn to avoid common partnerships mistakes

Put yourself into the shoes of experts as you hear their stories of partnerships gone awry - and work out “how would I handle that?” 

Templates & Tools

Move faster with tools and templates

Get a headstart on every deal by leveraging templates, swipe files, and tools designed & used by seasoned partnerships professionals.

Template ScreenshotTemplate ScreenshotTemplate Screenshot

You’ll learn directly from experienced mentors who’ve done deals for the top companies in the world

Scott Pollack

Your instructor

The program was designed by and is led by Firneo CEO Scott Pollack, a 20-year partnerships veteran from American Express, WeWork, and Dow Chemical, and best-selling author of What, Exactly, Is Business Development?: A Primer on How Deals Get Done

Hear the stories & lessons of partnership leaders from:

Bonuses and perks

Resources to support your entire career

After the program ends, you’ll continue your learning journey with access to bonus resources that will help you for the rest of your career

Free Bonus

Join our growing alumni community

Get access to networking opportunities, career support, and expert mentorship reserved exclusively for alumni

Continuous access to learning material

Revisit any of the learning modules, tools, templates, and resources shared during the program

Free Bonus

Build your personal brand as a thought leader

be featured in content, speak at events, and become a recognized contributor to the partnerships ecosystem

Free Bonus

60+ hours of insights from top partnerships leaders

You’ll get insights from experienced and seasoned experts who’ve done deals for the top companies in the world.

Free Bonus

Course Curriculum

What you'll learn

Over 8 weeks, you’ll learn the Value Alignment Framework™ - a blueprint for building a high-performance partnerships engine

Understanding Value

Week One

In week 1, we’ll explore what "partnerships" really means to you -- and to everyone else at your company. You’ll build a strong foundation for the rest of the program, meet your fellow students, and start applying what you learn to your own company.

  • ​The Opportunity for Partnerships
  • ​The Many Faces of Value
  • ​Determining what is Long-Term
  • ​Exploring Sources of Value
  • ​Understanding stakeholders within your own organization and what they care about

Getting Buy-In

Week Two

In week 2, we’ll start the process of identifying and prioritizing partnership opportunities that not only get results, but get buy-in.

  • ​Identifying what matters to your company
  • ​The #1 Killer of Deals (and Careers)
  • ​How partnerships looks across different companies and organizations
  • ​The Value Alignment Framework
  • ​How Companies Think​
  • ​Net Perceived Value
  • ​The Having Value Phase
  • ​Identifying Opportunities
  • ​Reactive vs. Proactive Opportunities
  • ​Reporting Lines and the impact on opportunities

Building Business Cases

Week Three

In week 3, you’ll start building a business case to size opportunities, align with stakeholders, and get resources

  • ​Assessing Opportunities
  • Finding Best-Fit Opportunities
  • Building a Business Case
  • Identifying your organization’s power centers
  • Stakeholder management
  • Sizing Opportunities
  • Financial modeling for partnerships
  • Assessing Resource Constraints
  • Securing Resources and Internal Alignment

Prioritizing Pipelines

Week Four

In week 4, we’ll explore how partnerships compare to other go-to-market strategies so that you can do deals with the full support of internal stakeholders.

  • Go-to-market Strategy
  • Evaluating Build vs. Buy vs. Partner
  • The Pros and Cons of Partnership
  • Types of Partnerships
  • Storytelling & Business Cases
  • Driving Internal Decisions
  • KPIs and setting expectations
  • Leading without positional authority
  • Short-term wins vs Long-term wins

Getting In the Door

Week Five

In week 5, you’ll start identifying prospective partners and building a killer deal pipeline. You’ll learn how to craft a winning pitch that can help open doors and set you up to quickly win deals.

  • The Communicating Value Phase
  • Recognizing Vanity Partnerships
  • What Prospective Partners Are Thinking About You
  • Defining your ideal partner profile
  • Crafting a Value Hypothesis
  • Identifying Prospective Partners
  • Validating Partner Interest
  • Building and Prioritizing a Partner Pipeline

Negotiations & Deal Structuring

Week Six

In week 6, you’ll “get in the door” with prospective partners, and learn how to leverage different types of champions within their companies to drive deals to close.

  • Prospecting Ideal Contacts
  • Deciphering Org Structures
  • How Org Structures Impact Perceived Value
  • Understanding Organizations from the Outside
  • Deciding on Seniority Levels for Ideal Contacts
  • Nurturing Champions
  • The Psychology of Motivating Champions
  • The 5 Types of Champions
  • Tactics for Getting in the Door
  • ​Finding Connectors
  • ​When to Use Warm vs. Cold Intros
  • ​Leveraging Navigators
  • ​Writing Effective Intro Emails​

Partner Enablement

Week Seven

In week 7, you’ll learn how to structure and negotiate partnerships. You’ll learn how to overcome roadblocks that can sink your deals, and bring a deal past the finish line

  • The First Partner Meeting
  • Testing Value Hypotheses
  • Interest-Building Meetings
  • Deal Structures
  • Key Deal Terms
  • Incentives and Deal Performance
  • A Tale of Two Sales Forces
  • ​Drafting a Term Sheet
  • Overcoming Roadblocks to Closing
  • ​The Impact of Company Culture and Processes on Closing
  • Fundamentals of Negotiation
  • When and How to Work with Lawyers
  • ​Legal Risk vs. Business Risk
  • ​Closing Deals

Scaling Partner Programs

Week Eight

In week 8, you’ll bring your partnership to market. You’ll create a plan to launch, manage, and scale your partnerships so that you can create the maximum impact.

  • The Delivering Value Phase
  • Preparing for Partner Launch
  • Engaging Key Teams
  • Creating a Launch Plan
  • Aligning on KPIs
  • Building a Partner KPI Dashboard
  • Partner Management
  • Establishing Feedback Loops
  • Expanding Partner Relationships
  • The Evolution of Partnerships
  • Detecting Issues in Partnerships
  • Terminating Partnerships
  • Building Partner Programs
  • Ecosystems and Platforms
  • What Comes Next

Transform Your Career

Boost your capabilities, your confidence, and your career

Testimonials

Check out more of what our students & expert mentors have to say about their Firneo experience

Get Started

Get started today so you can get promoted tomorrow

Next Cohort

October 7th -
December 1st. 2023

Commitment

3-5 hours
per week total

Live Sessions + Self-Paced Learning

On-demand learning modules + weekly live sessions on Wednesdays 6-8 PM ET

Class Size

Small groups to help you learn & build relationships

Bonuses

Tools, templates, and a private community

Payment Options:

Flexible payment options that work for you

$0

Your company may pay for you to join - we’ll help you talk to HR or your boss.

$641 / Month For 6 Months

Split the payments into monthly installments - with no interest and no fees.

$3,497 One-Time Payment

Save 10% when you pay in full

Start your application

Enrollment Includes

  • 8-week cohort program
  • Lifetime access to the 50+ learning modules
  • Project-based learning to apply what you learn to real-world challenges
  • Weekly group discussions to get feedback, and support
  • ​Designation as a Certified Partnerships Professional (upon successful completion of the program)
  • ​Bonus materials including tools, templates, and resources
  • ​Ongoing membership in the Firneo community
  • ​Interactive role-play games to help cement what you learn
  • ​Access to an incredible network of Partnerships leaders

100% Risk Free

Kick-Ass Guarantee

If you don’t start kicking ass in your career during the first 2 weeks of the program, you’ll get a full refund.

Average Salary by Seniority

Salary by Seniority Graph

Source: Crossbeam State of the Partner Ecosystem Report

Level up your career

What would you do with an extra $30k, $50k — even $70k per year?

Average Salary by Seniority

Salary by Seniority graph

Source: Crossbeam State of the Partner Ecosystem Report

As a Certified Partnerships Professional, you’ll be able to have a greater impact at your company and be a shoe-in for promotion.

Did you know that the average jump in salary from Partnerships Manager to Director is an additional $70K, and the average salary jump from Director to VP is an additional $50K?

Every minute that you’re not focused on leveling up your career is time you’re wasting and money you’re leaving on the table.

FAQ

Who is this program for?

This program is ideal for:

1. Current partnerships professionals who want to accelerate their on-the-job learning, operate with more confidence, and create more impact in their companies.

2. ​Experienced professionals from adjacent fields (such as sales, consulting, lawyer, customer success, product management) who are looking to transition into partnerships and want to build a strong foundation in the role.

Do I need to attend classes live?

The course materials are pre-recorded and will be released each week on Saturday so that you’ll be able to review it on your own schedule (plus, you’ll get lifetime access so that you can always refresh yourself).

In addition, throughout each week there’ll be opportunities to engage in live cohort discussions, peer 1:1s, and other events with your fellow students. It is strongly recommended that you attend each cohort discussion in order to maximize your learning, though other events are optional.

What will this cost?

The 8-week program costs $3,497.  We have monthly payment plans available.

Can I still participate if I’m not working in Partnerships?

Absolutely. While the program is designed to help partnerships professionals create an immediate impact at work, you will gain knowledge and skills that you will carry into your next job and for your whole career.

What is the time commitment?

This program is designed for busy working professionals. You should expect to spend 3 to 5 hours per week in total, between reviewing course materials, applying your knowledge to assignments, and participating in group discussions & events.

It’s an intense program, but consider it as an 8-week investment that compounds over the next several decades of your career.

Is this in-person or virtual?

The entire program is virtual.  You can review the materials, engage with the community, use the templates and tools, and participate in the cohort experiences from anywhere in the world.

Will my company pay for it?

Quite possibly. Many companies designated “Professional Development” or “Learning & Development” (L&D) budgets for these types of programs.

If you are accepted into the program, we can help you talk to your manager or HR team.

Why is there an application process?

We limit the number of participants in each cohort so you can get personalized attention and build relationships with a tight-knit group of peers. This requires us to have an application process so that we can ensure the right mix of participants in each cohort.

Application Form

Why do you want to join the Certified Partnerships Professional program?

Tell us about your current role

What are your professional goals for the next 12 months?

What barriers to achieving your professional goals are you hoping that the program can help you overcome?

In addition to reviewing course materials, the program features live group sessions (Wednesdays 6-8pm ET), real-world case studies, and interactive role-play simulations. Can you commit to 3-5 hours per week during the program to help you achieve your professional goals?

What salary increase do you hope to achieve over the next 12 months?

On average, a promotion from Manager to Director in BD & Partnerships is a $50K+ bump

If invited to join the Certified Partnerships Professional program, you will have 72 hours to accept your placement and enroll before we release your spot to the next person. With that in mind, which payment option would be the best fit for you?

Did anyone refer you to the program? If so, who referred you?

If you were invited into the program today, is there anything holding you back from participating?

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