Partnerships Don't Fail.
They Go Unmanaged.
Announced ≠ operationalised. We help technology vendors move from MOU to customer-validated integration in 90 days — without endless steering committees.
Partnerships are everywhere. Results are rare.
- — Announced, but not operationalised.
- — Goals vague or misaligned.
- — Ownership unclear.
- — Innovation stuck in slides.
- — Relationships drift instead of growing.
of strategic alliances fail to achieve their intended outcomes.
of senior leaders expect ecosystems to align to enterprise strategies.
1 BCG, "Nonequity Alliances Need Smart Governance", 2025. 2 KPMG, "Build value with the right partner ecosystem", 2024.
A structured approach.
A 90-day, workshop-led method. We build first, then govern the proven thing.
Align
Weeks 1–3. A clear picture of which partnership is worth operationalising. Alpha customer named. Board-ready business case.
Activate
Weeks 4–7. Joint customer in the room. Anchor system agreed. A named integration you can describe to your buyer.
Deliver
Weeks 8–11. Customer-validated prototype. Commercial terms both vendors will sign. Reference-architecture positioning before the next RFP.
Scale
Handover. Repeatable playbook. Next two partnerships sequenced. Optional 6-month advisory.
Hyperscale data centres
Fragmented planning across competing software vendors was costing DPR hundreds of man-hours per hyperscale project. We brought DPR and its technology vendors into one room on a live site.
01 Align
DPR and vendors in one room on a live hyperscale site.
02 Activate
Crawl-Walk-Run opportunity categorisation across scheduling and visualisation tools.
03 Deliver
Vendors aligned on their strengths. Integration plan agreed for DPR's workflows.
04 Scale
Building the data discipline to reclaim hours and underpin future AI.
Selling the vision
A bridge build prototype between a global infrastructure vendor and its enterprise software partner won VP backing and opened two high-growth infrastructure sectors.
The partnership had no compelling story for senior stakeholders. The previous attempt was a clickable demo that moved data between the two systems but never showed why it mattered to clients.
Without a business narrative, the partnership was at risk of being shelved.
01 Align
The PX team interviewed product leaders at both firms and external construction experts. The future tech vision was translated into a narrated video, bringing it to life for a hypothetical bridge construction. The prototype opened pipeline conversations in two high-growth infrastructure sectors that neither company could have credibly entered alone.
Co-designing the product
Bentley Systems had a powerful 4D construction-planning product, SYNCHRO 4D+, built by engineers, for engineers. To take it to the next level, they needed its actual users — alongside partners and other tech providers — in the room.
The PX team designed and ran a programme of innovation days and hackathons: one internal event followed by two external ones, co-designing a minimum lovable product with the people who would use it.
01 Discover
Lean problem discovery: tool and workflow review, stakeholder and user interviews, journey mapping and pain-point sketching.
02 Design
Designed each event end to end: workshop flow, facilitator guides, success criteria and participant briefings.
03 Facilitate
Led full-day live facilitation, managing team dynamics through design-thinking exercises.
04 Synthesise
Structured synthesis reports with patterns, insights and actionable next steps for the product roadmap.
"Without this we would have gotten here eventually, but it would have taken 3–5x longer."
Joe Castner
Oracle
VP Ecosystems
"Doing things smarter, not harder."
Hannu Lindberg
DPR Construction
Technology Leader
"Partnerships frequently can be a slideware story [...] But with the hackathon and the innovation day, we have clarity."
Morgan Hays
Bentley Systems
Product Director
"It's just opening up more business opportunities for the future."
Nicolas Leclercq
Bentley Systems
Head of UX & Research
What we deliver.
Partnership Facilitation
- check_circle Stakeholder conversations across vendor, customer, and partner
- check_circle Decision-forcing workshops
- check_circle Commitments register with named owners
- check_circle Strategic memo and reference-architecture positioning map
Innovation Activation
- check_circle Co-innovation labs
- check_circle Hackathons
- check_circle Proof-of-value programmes
- check_circle Pilot design and delivery
Ecosystem Development
- check_circle Multi-party partnerships
- check_circle Partner events and innovation days
- check_circle Ongoing engagement programmes
- check_circle Start-up scanning
What good looks like.
Shipping.
Not slideware.
From MOU to customer-validated integration in 90 days.
An integration.
Not a logo.
Named, specific, recognisable to your buyer.
In it.
Not chasing the RFP.
Reference-architecture positioning before the spec lands.
A pipeline.
Not one good deal.
Repeatable playbook. The first partnership teaches the next two.
Who we are.
Three people in the room.
David Ayeni
Commercial strategy and industry depth
Engineer. Dot-connector. Built Partner Experience at Bentley Systems before founding Vistergy. 20 years across LNG, nuclear, data centres and digital construction — Technip, Bechtel, Bentley. Turns aligned partnerships into commercial outcomes.
Helen Dawson
Strategic narrative and programme delivery
Engineer. Writer. 25 years on both sides of the table — at Shell, ExxonMobil, IBM and KPMG. Translates the work into language your CFO funds and your CEO defends.
Simon Williams
Workshop design and facilitation
Designer. Facilitator. Service-design specialist with deep experience running decision-forcing workshops — most recently consulting on AI-enabled service design for utilities. Designs the room that turns partnership talk into commitment.