§ Partner Foundry · Principal Advisory
Fractional partnerships
leadership, for an AI-enabled world.
A principal advisory practice for companies building ecosystems, standing up partner functions, and shaping new markets.
The diagnostic rigor of a strategy firm and the operating instincts of a senior BD leader, in a single engagement model designed for senior teams.
§01 · The Practice
Partnerships, realized.
Partnerships can be one of the most compounding forces inside a company. They extend reach, accelerate product, and unlock markets a company cannot reach alone. When they're treated as leverage, value compounds. When they're an afterthought, returns flatten.
And yet — most companies under-invest in partnerships. The function gets stood up too late, scoped too narrow, or led by someone with the wrong background. The result is partnerships that never deliver the leverage they were meant to.
Partner Foundry is built for the moment a company knows partnerships matter but isn't ready for a full-time hire — or isn't sure what shape that hire should take. We bring the diagnostic rigor of a strategy firm and the operating instincts of a senior BD leader, in a single engagement model designed for senior teams.
Who we work with
Three archetypes.
The 0→1 builder
Founders or BU leaders standing up a partnerships motion for the first time. The thesis is real; the playbook isn't yet written.
The scaling team
Companies with early partnerships traction needing to systematize, scale operating cadence, and avoid the plateau that follows the first wins.
The interim
Teams between partnership leaders who need an experienced operator to hold the line, keep deals moving, and frame the next hire.
What changes when partnerships work
Three outcomes.
A clear map
You know which partners matter, and in what order to engage them. Attention concentrates instead of dispersing.
Live deals
Pipeline development converted to signed agreements — less time in meetings about partnerships, more time on partnerships that compound.
A repeatable function
Operating cadence, deal templates, and a path to the right permanent hire — so the function endures past any single person.
§02 · How we work
Clarify · Craft · Operate.
Three areas of work, mapped to a single arc. Each phase is independently valuable and earns the right to the next. Clients commit one phase at a time.
Clarify
Map the landscape of potential partners, assess where the company plays in the value chain, and identify where to concentrate effort.
Market map · Archetypes · Shortlist
Craft
Define what partnership looks like in practice. Deal structures, partner archetypes, value exchange models, and operating rhythms that hold up at scale.
Partner motions · Deal structures · Org model
Operate
Run point on the earliest partnerships while the company builds internal capability. Shape the role, then support the hire.
Pipeline · Live deals · First hire
Operating cadence
A weekly rhythm, async between.
A simple operating cadence designed for senior teams. Synchronous time stays focused on decisions; the rest is async, visible, and continuous.
Working sessions, weekly
A focused working session each week with the executive sponsor. Designed as a working meeting, not a status update. Pressure-test findings, surface blockers, agree on next steps.
Live artifacts, always visible
Every deliverable develops as a running document, accessible throughout the engagement. No big reveal at the end. The work compounds in the open and you can react to it as it forms.
Direct access, bounded
Slack or email for quick questions and clarifications. Involvement of other team members happens at your direction; the engagement does not impose meeting load on the broader team.
Mid-point checkpoint
A scheduled review of the emerging work before committing to final shape. Calibration when it still matters — not after the deck is locked.
Final readout, in usable form
A single live session walking through the deliverables. Materials handed off in a form your team can use directly — not consulting artifacts that gather dust.
Decisions made in the open
Trade-offs surfaced, not hidden. Where the analysis points to a clear answer, we say so. Where it doesn't, we make the uncertainty visible and the options legible.
§03 · Engagements
Four ways to engage.
Each engagement maps to one or more phases of the arc. Clients typically start with a diagnostic and expand from there.
Market & Partner Diagnostic
4–6 weeks · fixed fee
Phase 01 · Clarify
A structured diagnostic to define the partner landscape, archetypes, value exchange model, and a prioritized shortlist. For companies entering a new line of business, standing up a partner function, or needing clarity on where to concentrate.
Partnership Strategy Design
6–10 weeks · fixed fee
Phases 01 → 02
Translate a diagnosed landscape into operating strategy: partner motions, deal structures, commercial templates, org design, and a first-90-days plan for execution. Typically follows a diagnostic.
Fractional Partnerships Leadership
Ongoing · monthly retainer
Phase 03 · Operate
Embedded senior BD leadership for teams not yet ready for a full-time hire. Deal leadership, pipeline development, and stakeholder management — with a clear exit criterion to a permanent hire.
Advisor-to-Hire
3–6 months · monthly retainer
Phase 03 · Operate
For companies who know they need a partnerships leader but aren't sure how to scope, source, or evaluate one. We run it in the interim, define the role from the work, and help assess and onboard the hire.
Exploratory call
30 minutes, no charge
A scoping conversation to understand the work, assess fit, and decide how to proceed together.
Fixed-fee engagements
Scoped to outcomes
Phase-based pricing with defined deliverables and timelines. No hourly invoices, no scope drift.
Retainer models
For ongoing work
Fractional leadership and advisor-to-hire engagements on monthly retainer. Clear exit criteria from day one.
§04 · Principal
Raza Syed
Principal · Partner Foundry
Eighteen years leading business development and partnerships at platform-scale companies including Google, Indeed, and most recently LinkedIn, where Raza serves as Senior Director of Trust Partnerships.
The work has consistently sat at the intersection of strategy and operating. Landing partnerships, not just diagramming them. From bringing new Google API products to market, to building Indeed's expansion across the hiring value chain, to architecting the partner ecosystem behind LinkedIn Learning, to standing up LinkedIn Verified as a 0-to-1 trust business.
Across these, the throughline is the same: clarify the ecosystem, design the value exchange, operate the partnerships that move the business.
§05 · Contact
Start a conversation.
Tell me about what you're working on. I read everything that comes through here and respond within two business days.