Every B2B company in e-commerce cut partnerships because they couldn't track it.
By Stephanie Khalikyar · November 11, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Every B2B company in e-commerce cut partnerships because they couldn't track it. Now that pipeline isn't looking so hot.
My perspective on what happened.
Partnerships used to be part of every ecommerce company. Events, logos on websites, sponsorships. Easy to come by.
Then someone decided that if a relationship can't be tracked directly in dollar amounts, it doesn't matter and must not be working. Headcount cut.
Four years later, we're drowning in bots, agents, MCPs and the wild west of social commerce. That pipeline is thin, the businesses your after have tighter margins and a robot that tells them everything their doing is right, your outbound gets ignored, and suddenly those "un-trackable" relationships are worth more than every channel you kept.
That's why IRL activations are back. Flip phones are back. The people with real human social capital are holding all the cards, because they own the one thing you can't buy or automate: loyalty and street cred.
So now you want partnerships to save you. Fair enough... Here's how to avoid stalling it's growth.
Give the partnership hire real tools and a real timeline:
- Event budgets (not outrageous, but enough to be IRL)
- Marketing support (emails, blogs, content, design)
- The freedom to create new systems and break old ones
- Sales and customer success backing the partnerships vertical
- Open communication (As a founder, share who you've spoken to and what was said)
- 6 to 12 months before revenue fully shows up
- A business with proven market demand and a clear USP & ICP
Expect the foundation to get stronger before you see new partners or new revenue. That's the work. If you want a win in 30 days, you don't want partnerships. You want social ads.
Partnerships = gasoline. It either amplifies a great operational structure or exposes all your weaknesses 100 fold.
🚀 And a note on hiring.
A seasoned partnership leader will want to know how your company actually operates before they put their reputation on the line. They'll ask about your product, your sales handoffs, your customer success. If your hire doesn't care about any of that, they're not as experienced as their AI-generated resume made them look.
Real partnership people protect their name. Do you have a business that needs some partnership TLC?