Within the insurance industry, companies of all sizes—from legacy carriers to emerging insurtechs—can benefit from forming a strategic alliance or ecosystem. These partnerships, which range from technology integrations to startup accelerators, can help insurance-focused businesses complete their offerings, grow their operations—and ultimately help their clients solve problems. But before launching one of these arrangements, it—s important to consider the following tips.

1. Don’t pursue a strategic alliance too early in your insurance technology business lifecycle.

Many insurtechs and other growing businesses are eager to partner with established companies in the insurance ecosystem. But these strategic alliances typically are most successful when pursued at the right stage of growth.

Ideally, startups and other emerging insurance organizations should wait until they have a working product and five to 10 clients. This track record helps to demonstrate your value to a prospective partner, and client contacts can speak on your behalf, detailing how your offering helped their operations.

2. Know your prospective partner’s insurance business and market before you discuss a strategic alliance.

It’s a common mistake for an insurance startup’s founders to admit they are pursuing an alliance because they want that partner’s endorsement or because it would help to display the established company’s logo on its website. But your prospective partner knows they can help you. What they want to discuss is how you can help them.

So before any alliance or ecosystem conversation, learn about your prospective partner’s business. Who are their target clients? Are they trying to grow? Are they missing out on opportunities? Determine how your company can help the other firm achieve its goals. A strategic alliance won’t get off the ground unless the relationship is mutually beneficial.

3. Prepare your company’s insurance-focused collateral before launching a strategic alliance or ecosystem.

When you establish a strategic partnership or alliance, you’re essentially leveraging another distribution channel within the insurance ecosystem. While this expands your access to new clients and revenue, it requires delegating your sales pitch to another sales team, which can be more challenging than training your own internal staff.

Honing your message about your insurance-focused business and fine-tuning your marketing collateral sets the process up for success. After the strategic alliance or partnership is cemented, make sure everyone selling on your behalf knows how to talk about your business. Everyone should be able to identify your ideal clients and their needs, and how your product addresses them. This advance preparation helps to pave the way to a successful relationship that benefits both parties.