How Startups Win Big with Enterprise Partners

How many startup founders take partnerships seriously?

Most startups chase customers, but the right partnerships can unlock far more — they can accelerate growth and scale.

Last night I had the chance to attend Triangle Tech Night meetup on "From Pilot to Platform – How Startups Win Big with Enterprise Partners"

The panel brought together an incredible mix of perspectives:

• Stephen Markwell - Head of Fintech Partnerships, Global Banking at JPMorgan Chase
• Aviva Rosman - VP of Data Products at CiviTech & Co-Founder of BallotReady
• Alex Anderson - Director of Strategic Sales & Partnerships at RepSpark

A few takeaways that really stood out to me:

🔹 Partnerships open doors – Access to customers, credibility, and distribution often come faster with the right enterprise partner. Early stage startups lack credibility and partnerships open doors to customers you would otherwise have missed.

🔹 Big Potential – Strategic partnerships can evolve into long-term relationships and even acquisitions.

🔹 Balance is everything – exclusivity, commitments, and expectations need to be aligned on both sides. It needs to be mutually beneficial for both parties.

🔹 Partnerships evolve – Many partner relationships can shift over time. Companies need to be prepared to manage the shift.

🔹 Founders can't sit back after forming a partnership – helping partners sell and market is as important as building the product itself.

How do big companies partner?

Trust and conviction in the founders matter even before you have customers or revenue. The best partnerships aren't just transactional; they're about shared conviction, long term relation, engagement, and collaborating together where both parties grow.

Really grateful for events like this that go beyond theory and share real-world experiences of scaling from pilots to platforms. Triangle Tech Night has been one the most engaging meetups I have been to. I would highly recommend for those in triangle to attend one of their meetups. Looking forward to more of these.