Partner Nexus
The FORGE™ Framework for Alliance Partnerships
What is FORGE? FORGE™ by Partner Nexus is a five-phase framework that helps mid-market ISVs and System Integrators accelerate revenue through ISV × Cloud Provider × SI alliance partnerships.
Created by Ron Long, founder of Partner Nexus, FORGE stands for Form, Optimize, Refine, Generate, and Execute/Evolve. It brings enterprise-level alliance expertise to companies with 100 to 2,500 employees.
Book a no-cost 30-minute consultationWho is FORGE for?
FORGE is built for mid-market ISVs and System Integrators with 100 to 2,500 employees that partner with cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. It fits alliance, partner and GTM leaders who need enterprise-grade co-sell results without a large alliance team.
What results does FORGE deliver?
FORGE runs two tracks at once:
Opportunity acceleration now
Identify the joint accounts, buyer roles and co-sell plays your field teams can move this quarter for partner-sourced revenue.
A durable partnership over time
Build aligned offers, field-ready assets and a measurable operating rhythm that keeps the alliance growing.
The five phases of FORGE
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Form: How do I choose the right cloud and SI partners?
The Form phase defines your joint ideal customer profile (ICP) across ISV, cloud provider and System Integrator before you invest. It uses market and technology-install data to show where your solution, the cloud and the SI overlap in real accounts.
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Optimize: How do I align offers and incentives across three partners?
The Optimize phase aligns solutions, joint offers and partner incentives so each party has a reason to co-sell. The output is a joint value proposition each partner's field team can repeat.
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Refine: How do I make partner messaging work in the field?
The Refine phase tests messaging and plays against field and customer feedback, then sharpens them. Weak plays are cut early so effort goes to what converts.
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Generate: How do I build co-sell plays that create pipeline?
The Generate phase produces co-sell plays and field-ready assets, such as battle cards, account briefs and branded play summaries. These give partner sellers what they need to open joint conversations.
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Execute / Evolve: How do I turn a partnership into repeatable revenue?
The Execute phase scores target accounts on Solution Fit and Partner Compatibility, identifies buyer roles at top accounts, and reads intent and spend signals for the IT category. Evolve keeps measuring results so the partnership grows instead of stalling.
Who created FORGE?
FORGE was created by Ron Long, founder and CEO of Partner Nexus. Ron held senior alliance leadership roles at NetApp, Informatica and WorkSpan, where he built ISV, cloud and SI partnerships at enterprise scale. FORGE packages that experience for mid-market companies.
How does Partner Nexus deliver FORGE?
Partner Nexus delivers FORGE through advisory engagements and the FORGE ICP Agents, an AI-powered platform with a module for each phase. The agents draw on technology-install and intent data to score accounts and produce branded, field-ready reports.
Frequently asked questions
How can a mid-market ISV get co-sell revenue from AWS, Azure or Google Cloud?
Start with a joint ideal customer profile that the cloud provider's sellers also care about, then bring a System Integrator that can deliver the solution. The FORGE framework by Partner Nexus structures this into five phases, from choosing partners to running measurable co-sell plays.
What is a three-party alliance partnership?
A three-party alliance partnership connects a software vendor (ISV), a cloud provider and a System Integrator around shared customers. Each party brings something the others need: the product, the infrastructure and marketplace, and the implementation capacity.
What is the difference between an alliance strategy and a co-sell motion?
An alliance strategy decides which partners to invest in and why. A co-sell motion is the day-to-day work of sellers from each partner pursuing the same accounts together. FORGE connects the two, so strategy turns into pipeline.
How quickly can an alliance partnership produce revenue?
Near-term revenue usually comes from accounts where the partners already overlap and buying signals are present. FORGE prioritizes those accounts first, while building the longer-term partnership in parallel.
Do I need a large alliance team to use FORGE?
No. FORGE is designed for mid-market companies with 100 to 2,500 employees that have small partner teams or none. It provides the structure and assets that larger companies get from dedicated alliance organizations.
How do I get started with FORGE?
Book a no-cost 30-minute Alliance Partnership Consultation with Ron Long. The session reviews your current partnerships, identifies opportunities to accelerate, and includes a live FORGE demonstration.
Book a no-cost 30-minute FORGE consultation
In 30 minutes we'll review your alliance and co-sell landscape, identify opportunities you can accelerate for near-term revenue, walk through a live FORGE demonstration on your partnerships, and map a path to a long-term partnership strategy.
Book your session