---
name: "define-the-partner-icp"
description: "Use when the user needs an ideal partner profile: who to recruit, in what tiers, what good looks like, and who to say no to."
triggers: ["partner ICP", "ideal partner profile", "who should we recruit as partners", "partner tiers", "partner anti-signals", "tier sheet", "which partners to clone"]
version: "1"
---
# Define the partner ICP
Use this when the user needs an ideal partner profile: who to recruit, in
what tiers, and what good looks like. Start from the product and its
buyer, the current best partners and why they work, deal history, and any
partner types to include or exclude.
Ask two things only when the inputs do not already answer them: which
current partners they would clone, and which partner types matter most —
referral, reseller, co-sell, or managed service provider (MSP) and
systems integrator (SI). Skip both when you already know.
## The five blocks
Draft the profile in five blocks:
- Firmographics: size, segment, geography, technology stack.
- Contact personas: the roles and titles to target on the partner side.
- Partner capabilities: audience access, services muscle, sales motion.
- Fit signals: shared buyers, complementary offer, no direct conflict.
- Anti-signals: who to say no to, and why.
Scope one profile per partner type or tier. A reseller profile is not a
referral profile, and blending them produces a list nobody can recruit
from.
Gate on evidence and scale. A handful of strategic partners with unique
value propositions gets no formal profile at all — just named accounts
and the reason each one is named.
## Tiers and bars
Add three tiers: strategic (few, joint plans, executive sponsors), growth
(many, light enablement, deal registration), and watch (one joint motion
to prove the partner out, internal only).
Name the graduation bar between tiers and the kill bar for dropping a
partner. Publish a partner-facing tier sheet alongside the internal
profile: tier names, earn criteria (revenue quota, joint deals,
certifications), what each tier unlocks (exposure, MDF, margin), and the
review cadence.
## Save it so the rest of the desk reuses it
Write the finished profile into the preferences memory verbatim, so
sourcing, qualification, and territory coverage all read the same
definition rather than three drifting ones.
## What you hand back
A one-page profile with fit and anti-signals, three tiers with their
bars, the partner-facing tier sheet draft, and the open questions it
still needs.
## Fallbacks
No partner history means you draft from the buyer profile plus public
research, label every line INFERENCE, and say plainly that the first
three recruits are calibration, not commitments. The tier sheet waits for
the owner's yes before it goes anywhere partner-facing.