Hey!

I took a week off before entering in Q4. I was in Auvergne, in France, if you know it.

And it feels great 😌

Reconnecting with nature, resting, jacuzzi… Everything I love!

Here is me hiking and exhausted 👇

In today’s email we’re going to talk about:

• Partnerships platform’s waitlist soon!

• Shopify App Growth Blueprint: Doing app partnerships

• How I found and chose my co-founder

Let’s go! 🔥

Partnerships platform’s waitlist soon!

It’s coming! 👀

We’ll soon launch the first landing page for my new SaaS product.

If you don’t know it, I will build the best platform to partner with other Shopify Apps.

The goal is simple:

• Find apps based on criteria (app size, number of users, co-marketing activities, technical integration)

• Contact them directly on the platform

• Sign NDA with them within the platform

• Auto follow-up to keep the partnership going

And better than a description, our landing page 👇

You probably noticed the “…only 100 spots left,” and you read it right.

For the first version, I will work closely with only 100 apps.

They will help me build the platform of their dreams.

What do they want to see inside?

What app do they want to partner with?

What features they want?

With additional benefits such as direct contact with me or a discount when launching.

And this platform won’t have only small apps…

I can tell you that some apps like Pagefly or even Judge Me are interested 👀

I’ll launch the platform soon so I’ll probably send you an extra email (perhaps this week!)

Shopify App Growth Blueprint: Doing App Partnerships

That’s funny.

In my current steps for the series “Shopify App Growth Blueprint” we have to talk about app partnerships

It’s funny because it’s exactly what I want to help you with when I release my new platform.

Let’s say for the moment that it doesn’t exist.

How do you do app partnerships? And does it even work?

Second question: Yes it works!

Why do you think soooo many apps do partnerships? Even the biggest ones!

And I’d say even more: partnerships and technical integration.

The difference is simple: technical integration is better than just co-marketing activities.

Because it gives a reason to do it:

“We integrate together, you can now use this other app!”

And Shopify merchants love when 2 apps work and integrate perfectly together. It makes their life easier.

Sometimes they install multiple apps and have to contact support of both Apps because it doesn’t work

Okay, now we’ll see a few points:

• How to decide which apps to partner with

• How to find apps to partner with

• How to contact apps to partner with

• What do you offer them

• How do you create the partnerships

Here’s how you can build successful app partnerships:

1. How to Decide Which Apps to Partner With

Alright, first off, you gotta find apps that fit with yours.

Think about what your customers are already using and what would make their life easier.

Like, if you’ve got an email marketing app, maybe partner with a CRM or review tool. Makes sense, right?

The goal is simple: find apps that, together, make your users’ experience better.

2. How to Find Apps to Partner With

Go hit up the Shopify App Store.

Check out which apps are killing it. Look at their reviews, ratings—all that stuff.

But don’t stop there! Jump into forums, online communities, or even go to industry events. You can easily meet people and see which apps could be a fit for your partnership.

3. How to Contact Apps to Partner With

Once you’ve got your list of potential partners, it’s time to reach out.

Here’s what you do:

• Find them on LinkedIn: Look for someone in charge of partnerships or business development. Send them a message that’s super clear. Show that you know their app, why it makes sense for both of you, and what the benefits are. Keep it real, keep it short.

• Hit up their support: Send a quick message like, “Hey, I’m the founder of X, and I want to do a partnership with your app because some of my users are also using yours.” Throw in some social proof, like how many users you’ve got or other partnerships that worked. Get right to the point.

Make it easy for them to say, “Yeah, let’s do it!”

4. What Do You Offer Them

Here’s what I personally offer when I’m working out a deal:

• Newsletter: I’ll throw it in my newsletter that goes out to all my users.

• One-shot email: I can blast a dedicated email just for this partnership, showing off what we’ve got going.

• In-app integration page: I’ll make sure the integration is front and center inside the app, so users can easily find and use it.

• Facebook group announcement: I’ll drop a post in my Facebook group. It’s super active, so that’s great for visibility.

• Social media: I’ll promote it on all my social platforms to spread the word.

• Video: And hey, I can even make a quick video showing off how both apps work together and how it’ll make life easier for merchants.

It’s all about getting as much exposure as possible. The more places it shows up, the better!

5. How to Create the Partnerships

Once they’re in, start with the tech side—get your teams working together to make sure the integration is seamless.

Then, push it out. Do the co-marketing, promote it to your users, and keep the excitement going.

And seriously—stay in touch. Communication is key to keeping these partnerships strong.

That’s it!

How I found and chose my Co-founder

Let me share the process I followed to find a co-founder for my new SaaS business for Shopify App Founders.

Because I think many people are interested.

First of all, I wanted someone to complement me. Not to do the same thing.

Forget about the 2 technical co-founders. The best combo I already told you is: 1 dev + 1 marketer

And that’s what I did.

I’ll be the marketer on that project, so I wanted to work with a developer.

There are a few points I’m trying to look at when working with a co-founder

• Skills (are they good at what they’re doing?)

• Vision (do they want to go to the same destination as me?)

• Personality (Do I see myself working with that person?)

• Work methods (Do they work the same way as me?)

If you can validate all these points, then you found someone you can work with.

The only thing that is complicated to know is work methods and skills.

Because work methods you usually see it when you actually start working with them (even if you can discover some points before)

And skills, it’s a bit subjective and also hard to determine.

So, the first thing I did was create a Google Form asking many questions.

I ask 18 questions to answer the different points above.

It can be a lot but:

1. People who are not actually interested in it won’t take the time to do it

2. You don’t lose time doing interviews with everyone

These questions are mostly for skills and a bit for work methods.

You find out about skills by asking them:

• About what they know

• About their experience

If someone shares his experience but doesn’t add details at all, then there is a problem.

And same thing, you can ask questions regarding their work methods that matter for you.

For example for me:

• Do they prefer video calls or text?

• Do they work on weekends?

Stuff like that. Because working with someone who doesn’t share your methods can be complicated.

Then during the call you go deeper into their work methods with more details.

But what’s interesting is Vision and Personality.

They’re both subjective.

Does your vision align with theirs?

If you want to build the best product, grow it like crazy, hire a lot, and never sell, but your co-founder wants to make a cool cashflow business… Well, you have a problem!

If one person prefers to work as little as possible, but the other prefers working every day on it, you also have a problem!

You get it.

And for the personality, it’s pretty easy. Just talk about stuff you like. Get to know that person.

And instead of checking boxes like “This person loves X”. Go with your feelings.

Do you see yourself with that person for years?

It can be hard to know, but trust me, when you talk to someone for 30 minutes, you already know if you will like the person or not… We’re human!

And finally, with fewer people, we have another call to discuss the financial deal.

Before starting together, you need to agree on actual terms.

Thanks for reading this email. Feel free to share it with a friend, a partner, or a customer.

So see you in the next email!

Mat 😁