{{first_name|Hey}} -
Everyone has heard of the 80/20 rule.
You know, 80% of your results come from 20% of your effort.
But in partnerships, that math is broken.
I found a different rule applies: The 95/5 Rule.
Here’s what it means: 95% of your total partnership revenue will come from just 5% of your top partners.
Early on at beehiiv, we thought more partners meant more revenue. We were focused on hitting big numbers of sign-ups, and we did. We had thousands of partners. The list kept growing.
But when we looked at the data, we discovered something interesting.
A handful of smaller creators and agencies were driving almost all our partner sales. These top 5% were our “Whale Partners.”
They have deep trust with their audience, a strong vision, and they treat your product like their own. They aren’t just a transaction; they are a relationship built on shared value and a long-term vision.
The reality is simple: You can either spend your time chasing a hundred partners to get a few sales, or you can dedicate that energy to finding and nurturing the one or two that will change your business and drive thousands of sales.
This becomes more obvious with time.
For example, as I build out the Ship 30 partner program, we already have 90 partners on board in our first week.
My job now is to nurture and find our whale partners and double down on them over time.
The question is: are you focused on the 95%, or are you hunting the 5%?
Keep stacking 🧱
TG