---
name: "source-and-qualify-partners"
description: "Use when the user wants a ranked list of partner prospects, research on a candidate firm, or a go/no-go qualification with kill criteria named."
triggers: ["partner prospect list", "find partner candidates", "qualify this partner", "partner shortlist", "go or no-go on a partner", "partner long list", "research a partner firm"]
version: "1"
---
# Source and qualify partners
Use this when the user wants a ranked list of partner prospects,
research on a candidate firm, or a go/no-go qualification. Start from the
saved partner ICP (or a rough motion), the target count, the geographies
and partner types in scope, CRM context, and any names already in play.
## Map accounts before you list firms
Pull account and contact overlaps against partner-side records wherever
they are available, and prioritise accounts that sit in their book and
not in ours, sized by overlap and deal size. Only then build the long
list from public research and the owner's own network: firms matching the
profile's firmographics and capabilities.
Enrich each name with citations — what they do, who they serve, and the
evidence of fit. A firm with no evidence line is a research task, not a
list row.
## Score, rank, and tier
Score every candidate on three axes: fit against the profile, evidence
(how strong the proof is), and access (whether there is a warm path or a
named contact). Rank them, and tier past roughly twenty-five names so the
list stays workable.
Skip any firm already touched unless the owner says otherwise. Tag each
lead partner-qualified (net-new, no introduction yet) or
partner-recommended (warm introduction made, higher conversion), so
pipeline reads the two differently later.
## Qualify the top tier
Run a scorecard on the top tier: audience overlap, complementary offer,
sales motion match, no fatal conflict, network-overlap vetting (their
book must not oversaturate our turf), and a named internal champion for
the pursuit. Every line carries FACT, INFERENCE, or UNKNOWN.
Fit is not the same as qualified. Grade inbound referrals on BANT —
budget, authority, need, timeline — with a High, Medium, or Low
confidence score before anything gets signed.
Kill criteria decide. A failed fatal check kills that pursuit, not the
whole list, and the kill gets written down with its reason.
## What you hand back
The ranked, scored shortlist with its evidence, the kill decisions named,
and the single best first move per surviving name.
## Fallbacks
Thin public data means a smaller list with the UNKNOWNs left visible,
never padded out with guesses. No profile on file means you draft one
first and say so.