War-game a channel partner deal before exclusivity, margin, and brand terms lock you into a motion you cannot quietly unwind.
Channel deals fail when the partner's ICP is not yours, when pipeline math assumes brand halo you have not earned, when support load lands on your team, and when exit terms leave you with stranded inventory or co-brand debt. A LOI with a famous logo is not evidence.
The deal under fire
Freeze the partner, the motion (resell, referral, co-sell, OEM), territory and exclusivity, economics, support ownership, brand rules, and the kill or renewal criteria. Attach pipeline history if any, partner capacity notes, conflict accounts, and the support cost you expect in the first two quarters. If sales, partnerships, and finance tell different ROI stories, reconcile before the review.
Name the decision you will make if the war game finds nothing new, and the walk-away line on exclusivity, margin, and data sharing.
Hostile chairs
- Finance. Margin after discounts, payment timing, and clawbacks.
- Sales. Channel conflict, account ownership, and quota credit fights.
- Customer. Support quality, brand trust, and who they call when things break.
- Legal. Exclusivity traps, data rights, and exit friction.
- Competitor-through-partner. How this partner could favor a rival next quarter.
Give every seat the same pack. Secret economics for one chair creates fake consensus.
Include the conflict-account list and the named owners for override disputes. Without that list, the first big logo creates a private exception culture the day after launch.
Private pass
Run the package in Pingpong. First pass steelmans the deal. Later passes attack from the chairs above. Final pass turns surviving objections into term edits, pilot scope, or a no. Keep objections that still lack exhibits.
If the deal leans on exclusivity, force a twelve-month downside: what you cannot sell, which partners you forfeit, and how you exit if the partner under-delivers. Write those answers into the term sheet before signature theater begins.
Separate partner-sourced pipeline from co-sell assists in the model. If quota credit and override math disagree, sales will invent a shadow process after signature. Write credit rules, conflict resolution, and the escalation owner into the package, then ask the sales and finance seats to attack those rules.
Pair with war-game a partnership, before you partner, war-game a vendor selection, pretend you are the buyer, and the war-game decisions hub. See how to run a Pingpong.