01
One architecture, not separate programs
One funnel, one set of tiers and one attribution model across every partner type. Separate programs compete for the same partners. One engine compounds.
Open to speaking and podcast guesting
Building AI-native growth partnership engines for B2B SaaS.
Partnerships that show up wherever buyers look. Affiliate and referral for revenue. Creator and offsite AEO for reach and authority.
Morning! Here's what moved overnight.
#partner-engine
Overnight report · 06:00
Recruit 12 high-authority partners shortlisted. 4 need your call.
Activate 3 partners went quiet. Check-ins drafted.
Citations 2 partner pages newly cited in AI answers.
Revenue Partner-sourced revenue on pace against KPI.
Commission 1 partner hit a bonus tier. Payout queued for approval.
2 waiting for a human
Over 6 months at HubSpot
76%
of partner content cited in AI answers, against an industry average of 30 to 40%
300K+
citations and mentions in AI responses
146K
Reddit citations, up from 178
The case I've spent years making
Revenue and authority. Same team, same partners, same channel.
Partnerships drives revenue and authority at the same time, and programs that split them leave most of the value on the table.
The partners who convert and the partners who get cited are increasingly the same people. The best partnership programs aren't wired into the growth motion after the fact. They're built early, built right, and treated as core.
The Partner Contribution Model
Every partner mapped on two axes, so revenue and authority get managed together.
Citation presence
Invest and develop
Citations are working, revenue hasn't caught up. Front their costs. They're building your funnel.
Protect
Strong on both. Don't touch what's working, and make sure you can see why it works.
Cut or restructure
Low on both. Change the brief or exit, and reinvest in the top two.
Watch
Revenue is there, citations are weak. Exposed to the next algorithm update.
Revenue contribution
How I operate
I don't run programs. I build engines.
Partner strategy, commission and attribution design, and the agent-run systems that keep it all moving.
02
Quality over volume
High-trust, high-expertise partners beat a long list of inactive ones. I pay them on hybrid commissions designed around ROAS and partner LTV.
03
Revenue, not clicks
Every program starts with the business's own KPIs. Onboarding, enablement, tiering and reporting are built to connect partner activity to revenue.
04
Agents run the work, people make the calls
Recruitment, activation and reporting shouldn't wait for a gap in someone's calendar. Agent-run workflows keep a program moving around the clock, with every decision logged and open to review.
05
Relationships, prioritised
Partner relationships, contracts and data belong to the brand, on the brand's own platform. Whoever runs the program brings the method. The results stay with you.
06
High performance without the human cost
I don't think high performance has to cost people their well-being. I build teams where failing fast is survivable, because that's the only way anyone innovates.
Track record
Built from scratch. Built at scale. Building it now.
2026 to now
Instantly.ai
Head of Growth Partnerships
Building an already growing function into an AI-native growth engine.
- affiliate
- referral
- creator
- agency
- offsite-aeo
- A unified architecture: one funnel, one set of tiers and one attribution model.
- An agency motion for the firms already running Instantly for their clients, with enablement built to the standard we'd want if we were the agency.
- Offsite AEO run as a partnership channel.
2022 to 2026
HubSpot
Head of Global Growth Partnerships
Four years taking the affiliate program from a relaunch to a global growth partnerships team of eight.
- 50%+ year-on-year revenue growth, moving from volume partners to high E-E-A-T partners on hybrid commission models built around ROAS.
- 316% increase in AI citations in four months, from pivoting partnerships toward authority and high-DR placements.
- 10,000+ positive brand mentions across Reddit and equivalent forums through a champion contributor program.
- A nano and micro creator strategy that opened up new communities for brand building and customer acquisition.
2019 to 2022
Teamwork
Partner Marketing
Built the affiliate program from nothing.
- Designed and launched the program, and brought in PartnerStack to run it.
- 65% partner revenue growth in the first six months, growing to 400 active partners.
- Activation rate up 70% in the first month of a new partner activation plan.
2017 to 2020
Nudge Marketing
Founder
My own agency, delivering referral and affiliate programs for B2B SaaS clients.
- Set up the agency to grow client revenue and brand through partnership programs in B2B SaaS markets.
- Managed a portfolio of eight clients at a time, in countries around the world.
- Ran the proposals, plans and budgets for every project against KPI and ROI targets.
About
Results and people. I've got the receipts on both.
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2024
Partnerships Leader of the Year
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HubSpot
Top people leader
For driving results while creating psychological safety.
I've been building partner programs for B2B SaaS since 2017: in my own agency, from scratch at Teamwork, at scale at HubSpot and now at Instantly.
A proud Limerick woman based in Cork. Dogs, anything with an engine, and fierce advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights and for diversity and belonging in every room I'm in.
Writing and speaking
Where I share what's working.
Speaker at
FAQ
Questions I get asked
What is offsite AEO?
Answer Engine Optimisation is the work of getting your brand cited when buyers ask ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google's AI answers for a recommendation. Offsite means earning those citations on other people's pages: partner content, review sites, forums and creators. Answer engines lean heavily on third-party sources, which makes it a partnerships job.
Why run affiliate and AEO as one program?
Because the partners who convert and the partners who get cited are increasingly the same people. Split them into two programs and you pay twice, negotiate twice and measure twice. One partner base, one set of terms and one attribution model gets you revenue and authority from the same relationships.
What is a hybrid commission model?
A flat fee, a revenue share and a performance bonus in one deal. It pays partners for the authority they bring as well as the customers they send, and it rewards the ones who outperform. I design them around ROAS and partner LTV rather than volume.
When should a SaaS company start a partner program?
Earlier than most do. The best partnership programs aren't wired into the growth motion after the fact. They're built early, built right, and treated as core.
Building partnerships properly? Let's talk.
Open to podcast guesting, speaking, and conversations with SaaS teams building partnerships properly. DMs are open.
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