New section: 'When to Partner Commercially: The Partnership Doctrine'
Addresses the practical reality of a 5-person consultancy growing to
15-20: where open-source wins, where commercial wins, and the decision
framework for choosing between them.
Partnership Decision Framework:
- Capability (24/7 eyes-on-glass = partner)
- Compliance (audit demands vendor logo = partner)
- Scale (>5,000 endpoints = partner)
- Time to value (<30 days = partner)
- Margin (recurring revenue without proportional labour = partner)
- Differentiation (partner makes us generic = refuse)
Tier 1 Strategic Partnerships (deeply integrated):
- Huntress: Managed EDR for 24/7 coverage we cannot staff
- Thinkst Canary: Enterprise deception, high margin, low touch
- Tenable: Compliance-auditable VM for regulated clients
Tier 2 Situational Partnerships (deploy as needed):
- Delinea (PAM), KnowBe4 (awareness), Veeam (backup),
Proofpoint/Mimecast (email gateway)
Tier 3 Consultant Productivity (not resold):
- Burp Suite Pro, Cobalt Strike/Sliver, training
Also documents what we REFUSE to partner with (all-in-one platforms,
generic SIEM, opaque AI startups, M365 management competitors) and
provides a Year 1 vs Year 3 partnership portfolio roadmap.