A data-driven analysis of 68 public SaaS companies reveals that partner programs scale with company size, but don’t improve efficiency
It’s budget season, and your Head of Partnerships wants to double the partner team. The pitch sounds logical: “We’re at $2.5B in revenue now. We need 500+ partners to compete. Give me 10 more partner managers and $5M in co-marketing budget, and we’ll drive 30% of our revenue through partners.”
But here’s what the data actually shows.
We analyzed 68 public SaaS companies and found a striking pattern: partner count strongly correlates with company revenue (R²=0.50). As companies scale from $1B to $5B, their partner programs grow proportionally—from roughly 150 partners to 500+. This seems natural. Bigger companies need more distribution, right?
Wrong.
When we tested whether partner count correlates with GTM efficiency, we found essentially zero relationship (R²=0.04). Companies with 1,000 partners perform no better than those with 100. More partners doesn’t mean lower S&M spend, faster growth, or better efficiency. It just means more complexity.
This is the Partner Bloat Trap. Companies systematically scale their partner programs as they grow, but those programs don’t deliver proportional returns. Mid-size companies ($1.5-4B revenue) are hit hardest—they have 2.3x more partners than smaller companies but are actually 10% less efficient (0.47 vs. 0.52 efficiency score).
Why does this happen? During the scale-up phase, companies recruit partners aggressively. “We need channel coverage!” becomes the rallying cry. Partner teams grow from 5 to 25 people. Co-marketing budgets balloon. The partner directory swells to 600+ companies.
But nobody prunes. Of those 600 partners, typically only 10-20 drive meaningful revenue. The other 580 just consume resources—partner manager time, co-marketing dollars, enablement programs. The cost: $10-50M annually in wasted spend.
Meanwhile, the 10% of companies that manage partners effectively don’t focus on count. They measure partner revenue percentage. They build deep integrations with 50-100 strategic partners rather than superficial relationships with 500. They co-sell with Big Four consulting firms rather than listing hundreds of small resellers who never close deals.
For PE firms conducting 2025 budget reviews, here’s the question to ask your portcos: What percentage of revenue came through partners last year? If the answer is less than 10% but you have 300+ partners, you’re in the bloat trap. Cut the program by 70%, keep the productive partners, and redeploy those resources. Expected savings: $10-30M annually, with maintained or improved revenue.The takeaway? Partner count is a vanity metric. Partner revenue is what matters. Fix the quality problem before scaling the quantity.
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