It’s hard to align your interest with those of a reseller or integrator. An integrator just wants to sell services and close contracts. They would seriously not care if they sold your hardware or the product of your competitor as long as they make and close the contract. So think about before you start a partnership. Do you really need this party to grow faster?
Resellers are also not aligned with your interests. Just ask them this single questions: Are they going to push your product into the faces of all their EXISTING customers? And after that one, ask them this: Are they going to shove your product in front of the faces of all their NEW contacts and NEW CUSTOMERS. IF that is not the case, then you shouldn’t waste your time on them.
So from now on, I’m not wasting any time on potential resellers. I’m just going to ask them straight up. Are you going to tell all your existing customers about our product? Final answer. If they can’t answer it or if they can’t answer straight, don’t waste your time.
Additionally, you need to be able to hold them accountable. How will you measure success? Are they bringing in the bacon? Drop them fast when things are not going the way you want it to go. This should be written up in a contract where you can back out of the deal once the reseller does not stick to projections or promises.
So to sum it all up: 1) integrators don’t care about you, they just want to close the customer. They don’t care if it’s with your product or with the product of your competitor, as long as they get the contract, and; 2) you need to be dead straight with your resellers. Ask them if they will put your product in front of the faces of all their customers and how will they prove this to you.
Good luck out there. Building and scaling a company is the best thing in the world. It’s what I will be doing for the rest of my life.