In my final article in this series, let's talk about metrics. Measuring your channel performance is status quo. Some metrics you need now, and some you need later.

With our initial steps completed to get your alliance up and running, let’s advance the timeline. This early in the relationship, the tangible benefits are still a couple of faithful leaps forward. However, there are a few metrics you can start putting down to check if the partnership is meeting your original goals. Here are three data points I like to establish early.

In my second article about alliances, I want to have a conversation about building a value-based relationship with accountability at its core. Why am I even writing about this? Shouldn't this be webbed into the fabric of every partnering relationship?

When you’re looking for strategic partnerships, a top motivation is how the alliance creates value for your end customers. Understanding how to build a relationship might seem tangential to that goal, but it is essential. If the partnership mechanics don’t work right, customers will sense it—through poorer experiences, support breakdowns, and incomplete promises.

Join Agile Stacks and Stratus10 for a discussion of successful DevOps strategies to positively impact the entire software development lifecycle. Having a fully optimized DevOps approach helps engineering leaders and their organizations get the most out of the Cloud.

This is my first in a three-part series to express my top nine questions used to evaluate the appropriate partnership that Agile Stacks looks to have with other cool companies and startups in infrastructure automation, machine learning, and/or DevOps. The ecosystem is growing so fast that there simply is not enough time nor bandwidth to consider every latest, well-funded software startup in our space. Let's be honest, we make some good choices and we make a few bad ones (hopefully, more good than bad). Using these questions get me through the tough topics that eventually I will need to answer anyway.

For young SaaS companies looking to develop a product and get it to the market as quickly as possible, without neglecting the need to build a sustainable business, finding the right technology partners is high-stakes. The process can seem overwhelming—a little like dating.