When to Partner with a Startup? When it's time for them to Scale Up

Strategic Investors want to Partner

Strategic investors usually see a way to benefit from investing in a startup. However, they usually ask for this benefit prematurely, over-estimating the mutual capacity to work together.
Conditional investments don't work in the short run, but they do work in the long run.

When to try to Partner is the question

Startups don't have the manpower to Partner.

Startups are often painfully small teams, even when they seem to have a lot of traction.

Conversations beyond hypothetical futures are a waste of time