When people think about scaling a SaaS company, they often focus on sales, marketing, or product development. Yet some of the fastest-growing technology companies generate a significant portion of their revenue through partnerships. In many cases, partnerships are not simply a supporting function but a major commercial growth engine.
In a recent episode of The Nobel Podcast, we sat down with Bart Hendriksz, Lead Technology Partnerships at Mollie, to discuss the role partnerships play in scaling a business, building high-performing teams, and creating sustainable revenue growth. With responsibility for a technology partnerships team spread across Europe, Bart shared valuable insights into how successful partnership ecosystems are built and why they have become increasingly important in modern SaaS organizations.
Watch the episode below:
Why Partnerships Have Become a Critical Revenue Driver
One of the most surprising insights from the conversation was the scale of partnerships within Mollie’s business model. According to Bart, approximately 75 percent of Mollie’s revenue is generated through partnerships. For many companies, partnerships are often viewed as a secondary channel that supports sales efforts. At Mollie, however, partnerships sit at the heart of the growth strategy. From payment providers and ecommerce platforms to software vendors in industries such as hospitality, health, sports, and ticketing, the partner ecosystem plays a central role in customer acquisition and revenue generation. This highlights a broader trend in SaaS. As markets become increasingly competitive, companies are recognizing that strategic partnerships can create distribution channels that are often more scalable and cost-effective than traditional outbound sales alone.
Building Structure Without Losing Startup Agility
Before joining Mollie, Bart built and led teams within startup environments. One of the reasons he was attracted to Mollie was the opportunity to combine startup energy with the resources of a larger scale-up. When he joined, many of the building blocks required for successful technology partnerships already existed. The product was strong and the integrations were available, but the go-to-market strategy, partner proposition, and internal processes still needed refinement. For Bart, scaling partnerships meant creating structure without losing flexibility. Processes were introduced to support growth, while maintaining the entrepreneurial mindset needed to build new opportunities. This balance between structure and agility is often one of the biggest challenges companies face as they move from startup to scale-up phase.
The Difference Between Selling and Enabling Partners
One of the most valuable lessons shared during the episode was that signing a partner agreement is only the beginning. Many companies focus heavily on acquiring new partners but underestimate the work required after the partnership is signed. Bart explained that a successful partner must be able to understand, position, and ultimately resell your solution to their own customers. In the payments industry, this is particularly challenging because payments involve far more complexity than many people initially realize. Compliance, chargebacks, regulations, risk management, and technical integrations all create questions that partners need to answer confidently. Mollie learned that partner enablement is just as important as partner acquisition. By investing in training, education, onboarding, and ongoing support, partners become better equipped to sell and support the solution successfully. Without that investment, even the strongest partnership can struggle to reach its full potential.
Why Partnership Teams Should Own Revenue
A common challenge within many organizations is determining how partnerships should interact with sales. Bart believes partnerships should not be treated as a support function. Instead, partnership managers should be directly accountable for revenue generation. Within Mollie, partnership managers carry revenue targets and are responsible for driving commercial outcomes together with their partners. At the same time, the partnership organization also contributes leads to the direct sales team, creating a strong connection between both departments. This approach creates shared accountability and ensures partnerships remain focused on measurable business impact rather than relationship management alone. Successful partnerships are not built on activity metrics. They are built on revenue outcomes.
Not Every Partner Deserves the Same Attention
Managing hundreds of partnerships creates an obvious challenge: time. With more than 850 partnerships across the ecosystem, Mollie uses a tiered partner strategy to determine where resources should be invested. High-performing strategic partners receive dedicated partner managers and extensive support, while smaller partners are supported through scalable processes and specialized support teams. This model allows the company to focus attention where it creates the greatest return while still delivering a strong experience across the broader ecosystem. The lesson applies far beyond partnerships. Whether managing customers, prospects, or strategic relationships, prioritization is essential for sustainable growth.
The Qualities of Great Partnership Managers
When hiring new team members, Bart focuses less on industry knowledge and more on mindset. Technical knowledge can be taught. Product expertise can be learned. What is much harder to develop is the proactive attitude required to build and grow relationships independently. Because his team operates across multiple countries, partnership managers must be self-starters who take ownership of challenges, proactively seek opportunities, and know when to ask for support. Remote environments demand a high level of personal responsibility, making initiative one of the most valuable qualities a candidate can possess. To assess these characteristics, Bart relies heavily on situational interview questions and real-world examples that reveal how candidates approach challenges and decision-making.
Partnerships Require Long-Term Thinking
Another important takeaway from the conversation is that partnerships should never be viewed as quick wins. Unlike traditional sales, where success can often be measured through closed deals, partnerships require patience, enablement, alignment, and ongoing collaboration. Revenue growth typically comes as a result of building trust, creating mutual value, and helping partners succeed in their own markets. The most successful partnership programs are built on long-term commitment rather than short-term transactions. Companies that invest in partner success often see significantly stronger results over time than those that focus solely on acquiring new partnerships.
Final Thoughts
Bart Hendriksz’s experience at Mollie offers an important reminder that partnerships have evolved into one of the most powerful growth levers available to modern SaaS companies.
Successful partnership ecosystems are not built by signing agreements alone. They require clear processes, strong enablement, commercial accountability, and a team capable of building long-term value on both sides of the relationship.
For companies looking to scale efficiently, partnerships can become far more than an additional sales channel. When executed well, they can become a core driver of sustainable revenue growth and market expansion.
Follow Bart on LinkedIn.
Listen to this episode on Spotify.
