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If you don't have a code, contact JO at jose@sofos.com.au.
Identify Bundled, Complementary, and Compatible partners across your segments — map them to the customer lifecycle and prioritise recruitment.
This tool requires a Whole Product Model Design export to begin — it consumes the partner-tagged components and inherits the Customer / Market Segment, business context, and compelling reason. You can also import a previously-saved Sofos Channel Partners JSON to resume work.
The tool detects the framework type automatically and routes accordingly.
For each cluster of partner-tagged components, assign a partner type: Bundled (&), Complementary (+), or Compatible (©). The default mapping uses your WPM Design layer assignments — Expected → Bundled, Augmented → Complementary, Potential → Compatible — but override is the norm.
A channel partner is one that has direct access to the target customer segment. The partner IS the channel. Without customer access, a company is just a service provider, not a channel partner. For each cluster, AI generates partner types (categories like “Custodian with API integration” or “Specialist fund-formation legal counsel”) with 3 example companies per type \u2014 prioritised for their access to your specific segment. The examples are anchors; the full working partner list comes later. Run AI to generate, then edit / delete / add manually until you’ve got the right typology.
Channel partners = entities with direct access to the customer segment. After the MWP-derived partner types in Step 3, this step adds Complementary and Compatible partner types that don’t deliver MWP components but DO have established access to your customer segment \u2014 industry associations, channel marketplaces, capital placement agents, advocacy groups, aligned vendors selling to the same customer. The connecting criterion is segment-access, not service capability. Bundled partners are MWP-derived only and do not appear here.
The AI scores each candidate on four dimensions:
| Dimension | Points | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Segment-specialist match | 0–40 | How strongly this candidate specialises in your customer segment |
| Size-band fit | 0–15 | How well their company size matches your stage |
| Geography match | 0–10 | How much their geography overlaps with yours |
| Lifecycle coverage | 0–10 | How many parts of the customer journey they can serve |
Then the tool adds bonuses (no AI call):
| Bonus | +Points | Trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Bundled type | +10 | Candidate is connected to a Bundled (must-have) partner type |
| Cross-segment x2 | +15 | Same entity appears in 2 of your segments |
| Cross-segment x3 | +25 | Same entity appears in 3 of your segments |
| Warm-intro | +20 | You marked the candidate "warm intro" via Annotate |
| Blocked | = 0 | You marked the candidate "blocked" via Annotate — floored to 0 |
Final score (out of 100) bands into tiers:
| Tier | Score | What it means | Suggested action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | 70+ | Top priority — strongest segment fit, often cross-segment leverage too | Recruit first. Direct outreach. Front of the queue. |
| Tier 2 | 40–69 | Solid secondary candidates | Pursue after Tier 1, or for diversification of the partner set |
| Tier 3 | < 40 | Long-tail / weak fit | Last resort or skip. Consider deprioritising. |
You can manually override any candidate's tier via the Annotate panel (☆ appears next to the tier label when manually overridden).
| Badge | Meaning | Suggested action |
|---|---|---|
| ✓ SEGMENT SPECIALIST pink | Has known specialisation in your customer segment | Lean in — these are the highest-quality matches |
| GENERALIST FALLBACK gray | No segment-specialist available; AI fell back to a generalist | Use only if no specialists exist. Add caveats to your pitch. |
| ☆ N SEGMENTS yellow | Same entity appears in N of your customer segments | Stronger recruitment value — one relationship serves multiple segments. Pursue first. |
| ☆ xN CARDS yellow | Linked to N partner-type cards within this segment | Versatile candidate — can play multiple roles in your channel |
| \u26a0 N COMPETITORS | Candidate has one or more partnerships flagged as competitor signal (their partner competes with your offering) | Hover the badge to see which competitor partner(s) triggered it. Scroll the card to "Known partnerships" for full context. Caveat your pitch. |
| \u26a0 ACTIVE-PARTNER CONFLICT | Candidate has a partnership matching one of your \u2605 Active partners with a competitor relationship type \u2014 channel-conflict warning | Discuss with the active partner first. Skip if recruiting this candidate would jeopardise the active partnership. |
| \u2605 VIA ACTIVE PARTNER | Candidate has a partnership matching one of your \u2605 Active partners (non-competitor relationship) | Strongest intro path. Ask the active partner to broker the introduction. |
| AI / Manual / Edited | How this candidate was added: AI research, manually added, or AI-generated then edited | Sanity check Manual + Edited entries before sending to outreach |
Click Annotate on any candidate card in Step 5 to set a personal-connection chip, free-text note, or manual tier override. Connection options:
| Connection | What it means | How you\u2019d open the conversation | Score impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| \u2605 Active partner One-click via star icon \u2605 on the candidate card | Existing partner \u2014 active referral deal, formal agreement, co-selling, or already working together. Already recruited. | (no recruitment outreach \u2014 deepen the relationship instead) | +30 priority score (highest), pinned above warm-intro, pathway flips to \u2605 Active partner |
| Warm intro | You have a specific third party who can introduce you. The intro is available \u2014 you just need to ask. | "Hey [contact], can you intro me to [candidate]?" | +20 priority score, pinned to front of queue, pathway flips to Founder warm |
| Known | You know the candidate yourself \u2014 met them, worked together, mutual industry events \u2014 but no third-party intro path. | "Hi [candidate], we met at [X]. Following up because\u2026" | No score boost. Pathway flips to Known to founder \u2014 follow up directly. |
| Cold | No prior relationship. You\u2019d need to start from scratch. | Outbound cold email / LinkedIn outreach. | No change. Default state. |
| Blocked | Don\u2019t pursue \u2014 legal conflict, prior bad blood, NDA issue, founder ruled them out. | (do not engage) | Score floors to 0, row demoted to bottom and struck through. |
Mark Warm intro only when the path is real and you\u2019re ready to pull the trigger. Warm intro typically converts 3\u201310\u00d7 better than cold but depends on the intro happening (days/weeks). Known is faster but trades on your own past context, not third-party trust.
Visual distinction: founder-input pills (these four \u2014 Active partner, Warm intro, Known, Blocked) render as solid filled, fully-rounded pills in Step 6 because they\u2019re your judgement (locked-in). Data-derived pathway tags (Cross-card, Cross-segment, Via active partner, Warm intro from partnership, Specialist, Direct) render as soft chips because they\u2019re inferred from the data. So if you see Warm intro as a soft pink chip, it\u2019s the AI\u2019s warm-intro-path inference (from a flagged partnership) \u2014 different from Founder warm (solid pink pill) which is your own annotation.
Manual tier override: the same Annotate panel lets you force a candidate into Tier 1, 2, or 3 (or back to Auto). The override beats the AI-scored band. A tier with a small * next to it indicates manual override.
Notes: any free-text you add appears in Step 6\u2019s Recruitment Sequence under that candidate\u2019s suggested action, prefixed with \u270e. Use it for "GM is an ex-colleague \u2014 last spoke Q1" or "needs intro by mutual board director" type prompts.
When you mark candidates as \u2605 Active partner, the tool automatically scans the partnerships flagged on every other candidate and surfaces two cross-references:
| Auto flag | What it means | Suggested action |
|---|---|---|
| Via active partner | This candidate has a partnership with one of your active partners. Strongest intro path \u2014 stronger than warm-intro because the broker is already actively engaged with you. | Ask the active partner to broker the introduction. |
| \u26a0 Conflict with active partner | This candidate is a competitor of one of your active partners. Recruiting may strain the existing relationship. | Discuss with the active partner first \u2014 channel conflict warning. Skip if it puts the active partnership at risk. |
Both flags appear automatically on the partnership chips inside Step 5 candidate cards (\u2605 VIA ACTIVE PARTNER yellow / \u26a0 ACTIVE-PARTNER CONFLICT red), and on the pathway column in Step 6\u2019s Recruitment Sequence.
| Badge | Means | How to treat it |
|---|---|---|
| P | Public — formally announced (website, press release, partner directory) | Highest confidence. Trust as-is. |
| A | Active collaboration — not formal but evident through joint events, case studies, co-presentations | Strong signal. Verify via the source citation in the chip. |
| M | Media-inferred — from media coverage only | Lowest confidence. Verify before relying on. AI may be inferring from soft signals. |
| Rank | Flag | Meaning | Suggested action |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TARGET-SEGMENT FIT | Partner serves the same customer segment you're targeting | Highest priority. Mutual customer alignment — co-sell or mutual referral potential is immediate. |
| 2 | WARM-INTRO PATH | Partner is reachable via your existing network or value-prop overlap | Concrete next step — ask for the intro through that mutual contact. |
| 3 | ALSO ON YOUR LIST | Partner is another candidate on your own recruitment list | Cross-card warm-intro path. Pursue both as a pair — one intro can carry the other. |
| 4 | ECOSYSTEM LEVERAGE | Partner extends your ecosystem (referral / channel / capital / platform) | Possible multi-partner play. Worth a follow-up call to map the ecosystem. |
| 5 | COMPETITOR SIGNAL | Candidate is partnered with someone who competes with your offering | Lowest priority — this is a caveat, not an opportunity. Understand the competitive context before approaching. |
| Rank | Type | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joint-venture | Formal JV, equity-tied — closest commitment |
| 2 | Bundled-supplier | Candidate uses partner as an integrated supplier in their stack |
| 3 | Complementary | Sold separately; sales drive each other (referral / co-sell) |
| 4 | Co-marketing | Joint campaigns, content, events |
| 5 | Shared-customer | Both serve a known shared customer / portfolio company |
| 6 | Vendor | Candidate consumes partner as a paid vendor |
| 7 | Unknown | Relationship type unclear |
| 8 | Competitor | Compete for the same revenue (adversarial — not on the closeness spectrum, placed last by default) |
Hover or click any partnership chip to see the AI's rationale and source citation.
A channel partner is one that has direct access to the target customer segment. For each partner type from Steps 3 + 4, AI researches a full named-company list \u2014 segment-specialists first, generalists only as fallback (suffixed). Click 🤖 Research candidates for all to batch-process every partner-type card, or run them one card at a time. Phase 4 ships priority scoring + cross-segment leverage view. Phase 5 adds existing-partnership flagging + founder annotations.
The payoff for everything in Steps 1\u20135. The Per-segment view shows the full picture for the active segment (insights + recruitment sequence + coverage gaps + risk signals). The Cross-segments view surfaces the connections that span segments \u2014 same entities, recurring partner-type categories, recurring partner-tagged components.
Configure how the tool calls Claude. Without this, the tool falls back to copy/paste prompts.