Partner Qualification Rubric

Why this exists

What a partner is here

A partner is distribution, not a buyer. The Acquisition Engine puts it this way: one agency with thirty clients is worth more than a hundred cold records. Playbook 02 calls the Partner Engine the highest-leverage programme we have, because our biggest weakness is no audience, and the fastest fix is to borrow twenty.

Founder time10%of working hours, per the Engine

First partnerDay 42three signed by day 60

Target20signed partners by month 6

Criteria3scored 0 to 5, weighted to 100

Category	Who it is	Why they matter to us
Agencies	Marketing agencies, lead-generation agencies and web studios serving UAE owners	They create the enquiries. When the client answers slowly, the agency gets the blame.
Niche consultants	Advisers the owner already trusts: accountants, trainers, set-up firms, sector coaches	They see the numbers or train the team, and they do not sell marketing.
Industry suppliers	Firms that sell to our buyers: showrooms with a designer programme, property photographers, stagers	Their customer list is our prospect list, and they need reasons to stay in touch with it.
Event producers	Bodies that put our buyers in one room: business groups, associations, referral networks	One invitation reaches twenty owners at once, with the host's trust attached.

Step 1 · pass or fail

Five gates

A candidate that fails any gate is not scored. This stops a strong-looking name from carrying a problem into the list.

#	Gate	How to check	A real fail from this round
G1	Serves owners in Dubai or Abu Dhabi	A UAE office, or a client list that is mostly UAE businesses	A rendering studio whose only base is London
G2	Its main offer does not compete	Its headline product is not its own CRM, chatbot or AI answering product	A real estate agency whose lead offer is its own CRM with an AI assistant and WhatsApp inbox
G3	Its clients can sign for themselves	The client base is not only enterprise or government. This mirrors the Engine's Drop rule for chains.	An Abu Dhabi agency whose named clients are government departments
G4	Reachable	A published business email, office line or contact form, or a founder knows someone there	A business council with no email, phone or form on its site
G5	Real and active	The site loads, names real people or clients, and shows something dated in the last two years	An interior design association whose site is now a content blog with no members or events

The audience floor

Audience overlap must score 3 or more. A partner with a great reputation and the wrong audience is a pleasant relationship, not distribution. Candidates under the floor go to Hold whatever their total.

Step 2 · three criteria

Scoring

Each criterion is scored 0 to 5 against written anchors, then weighted. Audience carries the most weight because it is the reason to partner at all. Score only what you read on a page. If something could not be found, it does not count.

A · Audience overlap x 8 · up to 40 points

Are their clients our buyers? Our buyer is an owner-run service business in the UAE with 3 to 50 staff that already pays for enquiries. The niche in play now is real estate brokerages, interior design studios and fit-out firms.

Score	What you see
5	Most of their visible clients or members are the niche in play, with named examples.
4	The niche in play is a clear, named part of their base: a dedicated practice or programme, or three or more named examples.
3	Owner-run UAE service businesses in general. The niche in play is not shown, or their customers are individuals in the niche and not the owners.
2	Mixed. Some small firms, but mostly developers, corporates, consumers or individuals.
1	Mostly enterprise, government, consumers or clients outside the UAE.
0	No overlap.

B · Operational reputation x 6 · up to 30 points

When they introduce us, we borrow their name. Count the kinds of proof on their pages. Their own headline numbers ("500+ clients") do not count as proof.

Four kinds of proof

Age: five or more years of trading, stated.
Names: named clients, named members or named testimonials.
Standing: a licence, accreditation, brand authorisation, partner badge or award that names who issued it.
Outside view: a rating shown with its review count, or a page about them on someone else's site that we read.

Score	Kinds of proof
5	All four, with 10+ years or official standing
4	Three
3	Two
2	One
1	None

Take one point off for each credibility flag, up to two: their own pages contradict each other on numbers or dates, or a badge does not check out.

C · Co-marketing capacity x 6 · up to 30 points

Do they have a room or a channel, and the habit of using it? Count the working assets.

Four working assets

An active channel: a blog, podcast or video series with something published in the last 90 days.
A mailing: a newsletter or member mailing. It only counts alongside an active channel.
A room: recurring events, workshops, seminars or member meetings.
A programme: a trade, member, partner or referral programme that people sign up to.

Score	What you see
5	Three or more working assets, including a room
4	Two working assets
3	One working asset
2	Assets exist but are stale, undated or open only to paying sponsors
1	Nothing visible

Step 3

Adjustments

Adjustment	Points	When it applies	What follows
Adjacent service	-10	They set up messaging or automation tools as one service among many (for example WhatsApp API integration).	Agree in writing who owns which accounts before the first introduction.
Competing service	-25	They market an AI agent, chatbot or call-back service that answers enquiries for the client.	Usually drops them out of the 20. If they stay, treat them as a possible delivery partner, not a referrer.
Warm route	+10	A founder knows someone there personally. Playbook 02 asks for partners "you already know personally".	Ahmed adds this. No candidate has it yet, because it cannot be seen from outside.
Linked organisations	count once	Two candidates share an owner or partner.	Keep the higher score in the list and use the other as a route in.

Step 4

Bands, parking, and how the 20 are chosen

Band	Score	What they get
Priority	70+	A founder approaches within two weeks, in person or by phone where possible. Any client audit is run first.
Qualified	55 to 69	Approached once the Priority group has been contacted. Same method.
Hold	40 to 54	Kept on the map. Re-scored in 90 days, or sooner if something changes.
Out	under 40, or a failed gate	Not contacted.

Parking: a good candidate at the wrong time

Later niche only. Their audience is a niche we have not opened. Parked until it opens, because the strategy runs one niche at a time.
Paid routes only. The only ways in are a stand, a sponsorship or a table. Parked until month 8, when Playbook 02 allows event spend.
Access not confirmed. A member-only body whose rules we may not meet. Parked until a member can bring us in.

The selection rule

Remove anything that failed a gate, is under the audience floor, or is parked.
Rank what is left by total score. Only 55 and above can enter.
Break ties by audience, then reputation, then co-marketing.
Take the top 20, with no more than 8 from one category.
The next name down is the reserve.

Tool

Score a new candidate

Pick a value for each line. Nothing here is saved or sent anywhere.

Audience overlap

Operational reputation

Co-marketing capacity

Conflict

Warm route

Blank scorecard

Partner scorecard
Name:
Category: Agency / Niche consultant / Industry supplier / Event producer
Gates, all must be yes: serves owners in Dubai or Abu Dhabi / main offer does not compete / its clients can sign for themselves / reachable / real and active
Audience overlap (0-5): __ x 8 = __
Operational reputation (0-5): __ x 6 = __
Co-marketing capacity (0-5): __ x 6 = __
Adjustments: conflict (0, -10 or -25) / warm route (+10)
Total: __   Band: Priority 70+ / Qualified 55-69 / Hold 40-54 / Out under 40
Parked? later niche / paid routes only / access not confirmed
Collaboration angle:
First move:
Scored by and date:

Paste into a contact note in Kyntlo, or into a message to Ahmed.

From this round

Three worked examples

All 61 scored candidates are on the candidate map. These three show how the parts combine.

Candidate	Category	Audience	Reputation	Co-marketing	Adj.	Total	What decided it
BPMG	Event producer	5 x 8 = 40	4 x 6 = 24	4 x 6 = 24	0	88	Members are brokers and property managers, so audience scores 5. Chamber listing, named founding members and its Chamber status give three kinds of proof. Workshops and associate membership are two working assets. Priority.
Above Digital	Agency	4 x 8 = 32	3 x 6 = 18	5 x 6 = 30	-10	70	The strongest co-marketing score in the round: podcast, newsletter and a masterclass. It loses 10 for listing WhatsApp Automation as a service, and still lands in Priority.
Leads Dubai	Agency	4 x 8 = 32	4 x 6 = 24	4 x 6 = 24	-25	55	Scores 80 before adjustment, then loses 25 because it markets its own AI calling service that answers enquiries. It ends at 55 and becomes the reserve.

Once someone qualifies

Rules for the first conversation

From Playbook 02 (partner conversations) and the Engine's partner track. Partners are a conversation, not a cadence: one direct approach, one audit, one call.

Do

Open with their problem. For an agency: "Do you get blamed when the leads you deliver don't convert?"
Give before you ask. Bring the reply times of their own clients and let them keep the results.
Explain what we do second and the money third.
Offer to join their first three client calls.
Agree in writing who owns which accounts before the first introduction.
End every partner call with "who else should be doing this?"

Don't

Never lead with the commission rate. It makes the relationship a transaction from the first minute.
Never name the system underneath. Kyntlo is Kyntlo, for partners too.
Never quote terms before the partner agreement is signed off. That is a separate task in the 90-Day OS.
Never claim a client result we do not have. The proof is their own clients' timestamps.

Shape	How it works	Best when
Referral	They introduce. We deliver and look after the client. They earn a share.	They want income without extra work.
Under their brand	They keep the client relationship and sell it as their own service. We run delivery.	They already have clients on retainer and want to offer more.
Co-teach	They bring the room or the channel. We teach something useful, with no pitch. No money changes hands at first.	Suppliers, institutes and member bodies.
Member seat	We join their network as a member and earn referrals the way every member does.	Referral networks.

Current partner terms in Playbook 02, section 19, as changed on 15 September: 30% of the first payment for subscribers 1 to 9, 40% from 10 to 24, 50% from 25, plus 10% recurring for twelve months. The partner keeps any fee they charge their own client.

Read before relying on a score

What the scores can and can't tell you

They come from public pages read on 5 October 2026. Each organisation's own site was read, and the 20 selected were checked a second time by a separate pass. Figures such as client counts are the organisations' own.

Some things can't be seen from outside. Google ratings were only counted where the organisation shows them with a review count. Team size and real client numbers are often missing. A low reputation score can mean "little published", not "poor".

No warm-route points are applied. Ahmed knows who the founders know. Adding 10 points to the right names will change the order.

Open decision. What a partner who sells under their own brand is told about how Kyntlo is built. The Engine says to decide this in advance, not in the moment.