

Ask HN: Amazon AWS / Microsoft / Oracle / $company Partner programs worth it? - jman1

I would like to look into starting a business and  cant really think of any products to start off with.  I feel offering businesses implement solutions can be a start as I am using my technical and business skills and then if I can see a need for a product I could eventually develop it. Worse case just continue running a solutions business. To that effect how good are the partner programs that big companies have ? If I wanted to become a AWS partner  and turn that into a successful business what are the big risks and how easy or hard is it to find clients purely using the partner program ( Say I dont have that many contacts in personal network) ? Would this kind of venture be a good idea for a technologist who current full time job is that of a solution architect?
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PaulHoule
If you like the Microsoft ecosystem, an MSDN subscription can be a really idea
because it gives you a lot of software licenses for the money.

As a marketing channel I'd be skeptical of a partner program. If you've got a
contract that has some kind of exclusivity or otherwise gives you a special
edge, that's worth something, but being in a program that thousands of other
organizations are in just makes you a face in the crowd.

A partner program might be helpful if you've already got something to
distinguish yourselves from competitors, but until then I'd avoid it.

~~~
jman1
Good point. Your comment about being face in the crowd is similar to the gut
feeling I had. I guess the question now becomes how does one really start a
professional services business (read I'd like to have a business where I can
help other businesses migrate to the cloud, which I think can be a viable
service business)

~~~
PaulHoule
That's a big question.

There are two marketing strategies I find useful for it services.

(1) Flagpole marketing, defined by consultant M.K. Bergman

<http://www.mkbergman.com/969/of-flagpoles-and-fishes/>

The idea here is to create visible accomplishments that distinguish yourself
from others. This could be a web site or something open source or it could be,
"I did X for Company Y and it increased their revenue by Z".

People in business like action, so prove that you can do things.

Flagpole marketing, fully developed, can bring leads to you, hot leads that
are already deeply interested and who you can quickly close sales with.

(2) Fishing. Here you build a list of prospects, contact them, work them and
turn them into customers.

There are many ways to make a list. If you're looking for businesses in your
area, read the newspaper and note any news about companies you haven't heard
about. Go to the commercial park and write down the name of companies you see
on the plaques. If you cold call somebody who won't be a customer, try to get
a referral to somebody who could be.

It's hard work and you can reasonably expect to spend 1/3 of your time doing
it.

It's why salespeople get paid.

