Founders often treat go-to-market as a choice between paid acquisition and organic growth. That overlooks a channel sitting in plain sight: partnerships.
Partnerships can be one of the strongest growth levers available to a startup, yet most companies either never build a real strategy around them or treat them as an afterthought once other channels start to plateau. If done well, partnerships can unlock distribution, credibility, and customers you couldn't reach on your own.
In this session, you'll hear how partnership leaders at some of Berlin's most exciting startups have used partnerships as an acquisition strategy, what's realistic to pursue at your stage, and how to actually start building a partnership motion that works.
About The Delta GTM Series
The Delta GTM Series brings together operators who've built real go-to-market engines to share how they've used a specific channel, from partnerships to events to community, to grow. Each session delivers hands-on insight founders and revenue leaders can immediately apply to their own go-to-market strategy.
This Session: Partnerships as a GTM Strategy
Facilitated by Elisabeth Sabeditsch, partner at The Delta, who advises early-stage founders and corporates on venture building and growth strategy.
Featuring a panel of partnership leaders from some of Berlin's most exciting startups (panelists to be confirmed), sharing firsthand how they've built partnerships into their growth strategy.
Panelists:
Susanna Schmidt — Principal Partner Development Manager & GTM Strategy, Parloa
Susanna joined Parloa early and helped build its partnership ecosystem as the company scaled from startup to a $3B-valued unicorn. She now focuses on global partnerships, including the company's BPO ecosystem with players like Concentrix, bringing AI-driven customer experience to enterprises. She's also an active voice in Berlin's tech community through the Berlin Women ERG network.
Idil Serifoglu — Strategic Partnerships, Impact Hub Berlin
Idil leads strategic partnerships at Impact Hub Berlin, working across investor networks, startup accelerators, and ecosystem programs like the Climate Action Accelerator. She's shifted the org's investor engagement toward fewer, more intentional relationships built on trust and shared values. She also produces a podcast, Creative Auslaender, spotlighting immigrant creatives in Berlin.
Christine Dargert — Director Partnerships DACH, Base.com
Christine leads DACH partnerships at Base.com (BaseLinker), building out the company's partner ecosystem for e-commerce and marketplace integrations. She actively represents Base.com at major e-commerce events like K5 Future Retail, MultichannelDay.de, and LogiMAT, recently giving her first-ever conference talk on multichannel strategy. She's also been involved in Base's partnership work behind OTTO's marketplace internationalization for cross-border sellers.
Dorian G. Lohmann — Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager, Qonto
Dorian is a Senior Strategic Partnerships Manager at Qonto, the Berlin-based fintech scale-up, working on strategic partnerships that support the company's growth. He studied at the University of California, Berkeley, before moving into partnerships in European fintech and SaaS. He's based in Berlin and part of the city's broader GTM and partnerships network.
Annika Jostmeier — Head of Marketing, POMA AI
Annika is Head of Marketing at POMA AI, a startup building document-ingestion and context infrastructure for AI agents. She held Head of GTM, Growth, and Commercial Operations roles, giving her a cross-functional view of marketing, product, and revenue. She writes and speaks regularly on product-led growth, AI-native marketing, and the gap between AI hype and real usage.
Agenda
🕖 18:30 – 19:00 | Arrival and Check-Ins
🗣 19:00 – 19:05 | Welcome
🔥 19:05 – 20:00 | Panel
❓ 20:00 – 20:30 | Q&A
🥂 20:30 – 21:30 | Networking & Soft Drinks
What You'll Walk Away With
✅ A clearer view of how partnerships can fit into your go-to-market strategy
✅ Real examples from partnership leaders at fast-growing Berlin startups
✅ Direct answers to your partnership questions from people building these programs today
✅ A practical sense of when partnerships start to matter for your stage, and how to start building one
Who It's For
✅ Founders exploring partnerships as a new growth channel
✅ Partnership managers looking to sharpen their strategy and learn from peers
✅ Revenue leaders evaluating partnerships as part of their go-to-market mix
⚠️ This session is for founders, partnership managers, and revenue leaders building their own go-to-market strategy. It's not a pitching or networking opportunity for agencies or freelancers offering partnership, growth, or marketing services. We kindly ask agencies and freelancers not to apply.
