Partner in Tech Consulting - what does success look like?

[Blown2CV]

i became a partner in a consulting firm in July last year. This is my first partner role, and i was recruited into it, which i think is fairly unusual - most are promoted.

I'd like to get an idea from those who know - what does success in this type of role look like, in your opinion?

Obviously sales is a key part, but there is so much besides. Can you be successful if you only focus on the sales part? How does someone get better at things like new business and new logo sales?

The reason i am asking is that I am getting pretty much no support from the company despite being a new partner AND a new hire, which makes it extra difficult to embed and hit all the metrics. Maybe there is no support to be expected, but this is why i am asking.

cheers

[TownIdiot]

What does the job title actually mean?

Are you entitled to a share of the profit and any capital in the event of a sale or is it a salary plus bonus position?

[Doofus]

As above. I can't believe you were recruited into an equity position, so is it a job title "Business Partner" or somesuch?

What does your job description say?

[Countdown]

if it's equity partner then I would suggest

Generating income to cover at least your own costs as well as company overheads
Client acquistion
Client retention
Strategic business development
Building and developing your own team

ETA if you were an outside hire did they not give you an idea of what USP they needed that you offered ?

[Blown2CV]

TownIdiot said:

What does the job title actually mean?

Are you entitled to a share of the profit and any capital in the event of a sale or is it a salary plus bonus position?

it's not an equity partner role no

[Blown2CV]

Doofus said:

As above. I can't believe you were recruited into an equity position, so is it a job title "Business Partner" or somesuch?

What does your job description say?

i jointly run a business that is a subsidiary of a wider group

[Countdown]

Blown2CV said:

Doofus said:

As above. I can't believe you were recruited into an equity position, so is it a job title "Business Partner" or somesuch?

What does your job description say?

i jointly run a business that is a subsidiary of a wider group

In that case I would ask the person that you report to what they're expecting from you.

[fat80b]

Blown2CV said:

Doofus said:

What does your job description say?

i jointly run a business that is a subsidiary of a wider group

This seems a bt of an odd thread to me - You jointly run a subsidiary business as part of a tech consultancy, but you don't really know how that's measured / what success looks like and you've been in that role for nearly a year.

Having worked with (and for) tech consultancies, this seems a little unusual (unless I'm misunderstanding something). Most tech consultants would relish the opportunity to have a free hand in building / growing their own bit of the business...

That said, if it was me, I'd start by defining what the business (and therefore my own) success looks like whether that is revenue growth, contracts signed, hours booked, or whatever.

I'd then write a strategy doc that describes it so that others can see what success looks like / get the oppotunity to tell you it's something else. Once agreed, I'd then go and deliver on it.....

[jonsp]

Blown2CV said:

Doofus said:

As above. I can't believe you were recruited into an equity position, so is it a job title "Business Partner" or somesuch?

What does your job description say?

i jointly run a business that is a subsidiary of a wider group

So in effect you're a joint MD/CEO with (presumably) one other guy?

[SteveDubia]

Blown2CV said:

Doofus said:

As above. I can't believe you were recruited into an equity position, so is it a job title "Business Partner" or somesuch?

What does your job description say?

i jointly run a business that is a subsidiary of a wider group

What do you mean “jointly run”? It’s the kind of thing that looks great on LinkedIn, but does your job entail?
From your description it sounds more like a sales role.

[fyfe]

I think you'll need to be clearer as to the setup here - what you mean by a tech consultancy and what Partner means in this specific context. Definitions of both vary.

Where I am we are driven by sales, project execution, intellectual property generation and team (aka pyramid). There's lower level considerations in all of this - sales we look for a consistent pipeline, strong and senior (C level) client relationships, repeat business etc; project execution is delivery above and beyond that lines us up for follow-on work; IP generation is your standard thought leadership stuff focused on practice area and getting our name in the market; team is about building a strong function behind you that grows in size and seniority over time (i.e. career growth for the people). Those are the hard focus areas but the softer ones, internal networking, building alliances to go-to market together etc are also critical.