Strong partnerships have become one of the biggest growth drivers in SaaS. But how do you build a partner ecosystem from scratch? How do you stand out when every company is competing for the same strategic relationships? And how can AI help partnership teams achieve more with fewer people? In the latest Nobel Podcast, Nicoline Brett, Senior Partnership Manager at Ingrid, shares the lessons she’s learned from building partnerships across the Netherlands, the UK and the Nordics.
Watch the video below:
Why partnerships deserve a seat at the revenue table
After successful partnership roles at Mollie and Riverty, Nicoline joined Swedish delivery intelligence platform Ingrid with a clear mission: establish and scale the company’s partnership function in new markets. Rather than treating partnerships as a side project, Ingrid positions them as an essential part of its revenue strategy. The partnerships team works closely with sales, marketing and customer success to create sustainable growth through strategic collaborations. According to Nicoline, the real opportunity isn’t simply signing more partners; it’s building an ecosystem. Instead of asking “Who can sell our product?”, partnership teams should ask “Which technologies, agencies and logistics providers already surround our ideal customer?” Understanding that ecosystem helps companies identify the right integrations, create stronger credibility in the market and accelerate customer acquisition.
Warm introductions beat cold outreach
One of Nicoline’s strongest pieces of advice is surprisingly simple. Don’t rely on cold outreach. When Ingrid entered the Dutch market, very few people knew the brand. Instead of sending hundreds of partnership emails, Nicoline leveraged existing relationships and asked trusted partners for introductions. Those referrals opened doors that cold emails never could. As she explains during the episode, a recommendation from an existing partner immediately creates credibility and significantly increases the chance of starting meaningful conversations.
Partnerships and sales should never compete
Another interesting takeaway is Ingrid’s approach to targets. Unlike many organisations where partnership managers have individual quotas, Ingrid focuses heavily on team objectives. Success in one region contributes to the broader company goals, encouraging collaboration rather than internal competition. This creates a culture where partner managers actively help each other instead of protecting “their” accounts. Nicoline believes this mindset also strengthens the relationship between partnerships and sales. Weekly meetings, shared pipeline reviews and identifying partner opportunities together ensure both teams work toward the same objective: helping customers succeed.
AI is transforming partnership management
Perhaps one of the most practical parts of the conversation is Nicoline’s use of AI. Her team uses Notion as a central knowledge platform where every partner conversation, meeting and discussion is transcribed and documented. Instead of manually searching through notes or CRM systems, AI instantly retrieves previous conversations, customer intelligence and follow-up actions. For partnership managers juggling dozens of relationships every week, this dramatically improves productivity while allowing a relatively small team to operate like a much larger organisation.
The future belongs to ecosystem thinking
Whether you’re building your first partnership programme or looking to scale an existing one, Nicoline’s advice is clear: focus on relationships, understand your customers’ ecosystem, collaborate closely with sales and embrace AI as a productivity multiplier. It’s an insightful episode packed with practical strategies for anyone working in SaaS partnerships, revenue growth or business development.
Follow Nicoline Bredt on LinkedIn.
Listen to this episode on Spotify.
