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Leveraging Go-To-Market Partnerships - An Interview with Barrett King

Picture of Nicholas Page   Nicholas Page  ·  2 minute read

In this episode of Tech Marketing Trends, host Jakob Löwenbrand welcomes Barrett King, Head of Alliances at Ramp and former HubSpot partnerships leader, to discuss the art and strategy of go-to-market partnerships. Barrett draws on years of hands‑on experience building ecosystems that scale—from early stages at HubSpot to his new role at Ramp—offering practical frameworks for SaaS marketers seeking to unlock mutual growth and value through partnerships.

 

 

Why partnerships matter beyond leads

Barrett opens by highlighting how successful ecosystems like HubSpot view partnerships not just as lead engines but as engines for retention customer success and differentiated revenue models. He emphasizes partnership value as a triple win for partners customers and the core business.

“By helping partners transition from project based work to retainer models we unlocked transformational growth.” - Barrett King

 

 

First steps finding partner market fit

Barrett outlines the foundational move define your partner market fit. It is not enough that partners can bring leads they need to benefit from working with you and help serve customers more effectively. This alignment builds trust and credibility and sparks partner led growth.

“When you help your partner grow then the customer wins and your business grows as a by product.”

 

 

Educate and empower with learning

Once alignment exists the next step is structured education. Barrett cites HubSpot’s investment in a world class academy as a key differentiator enabling partners to execute consistently. Thoughtful onboarding self paced modules and live coaching fuel scalability and enable partners to deliver greater value.

“Lead every interaction with what the buyer wants to learn, not what you want to pitch.”

 

 

Build community not just channel

Barrett stresses that beyond training successful partner programs build community. This means creating spaces where partners share learnings surface insights and drive collective innovation with the platform itself. A collaborative partner community boosts both ecosystem health and product feedback loops.

“Your partners are closer to the customer than you treat them as collaborators not channels.”

 

 

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Sustaining ecosystem momentum

Sustainable partner ecosystems rely on culture and curation. Barrett explains how HubSpot evolved from individual to collective growth curating shared best practices small group coaching and peer learning. Ecosystems stay strong when platforms facilitate mutual value not competition.

“Scaling an ecosystem is about sharing curated knowledge so every partner benefits from collective intelligence.”

 

 

Common pitfalls to avoid

Barrett flags three common mistakes:

  1. Self-centered leadership make it about yourself
  2. Eroding partner value by delivering services themselves
  3. Encouraging price wars and commoditization rather than depth and differentiation 

He argues that partners will only invest in relationships where long term value and mutual outcomes are prioritized.

“When ecosystem leaders try to replace services offerings they erode trust and discourage lasting partnerships.”

 

 

Future of partnerships adapting to new models

Barrett sees the future of partnerships combining human expertise with scaled productivity powered by tech and AI. Agencies and integrators will evolve they must be leaner more outcome driven and smarter about leveraging tools to deliver deeper value and justify their existence beyond cost.

“As AI raises efficiency the value lies not in manpower but in scaled human expertise and that’s where partners win.”

 

 

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