Framework library · M&A and corporate strategy
Partnership go / no-go decision record
A partnership is easy to announce and hard to leave. The decision record puts eight tests to the deal, from who owns the customer to whether your walk-away was written down before talks began. It rates the evidence behind each test and records the decision, with what would have to change for it to be revisited. The score measures how well evidenced the partnership is, not how good it is.
Use it when
- You are being asked to sign a satellite, direct-to-device, neutral-host or wholesale network partnership, and the announcement is ahead of the evidence.
- Your side of the deal depends on an asset the counterparty controls, such as spectrum, sites, a network or a concession, and you need to know how secure that control is.
- A board or investment committee wants a written record of why the partnership was approved and what would reopen the decision.
- Negotiations are about to start and nobody has written down the terms at which you would walk away.
Avoid it when
- You have not chosen how to structure the partnership. Compare the structures first with joint ventures and strategic alliances.
- You are buying the counterparty rather than partnering with it. Use M&A due diligence, which covers far more ground.
- You are comparing several candidate partners. Score them side by side with a weighted decision matrix, then use this record for the one you choose.
How to run it
Write the question and who decides
Name the counterparty, the decision being made, the decision owner and anyone else who must agree, with today's date and a review date.
Write your walk-away first
The price, the term and the conditions at which you would decline, before talks begin. If it is not written down beforehand, it will be discovered during the negotiation.
Rate each test on its evidence
Strong when you can point to a filing, an order, a contract clause or a published figure; adequate when part of it is the counterparty's account; weak when it is asserted only; fails when the evidence points the other way or the term is absent.
Leave unknowns as not yet assessed
An unassessed test scores zero, so the score stays low until the work is done, and the record says it is not ready for a decision.
Read the gate before the score
A single failed test on who owns the customer, who controls the critical asset or the dates is not made safe by a high average. Name the mitigation as a condition, or decline.
Record the decision and what would change it
Proceed, proceed with conditions, decline, or defer pending evidence; what you are giving up; and the evidence that would reopen the decision.
Work through it
Answer the questions below, or load the worked example to see a finished one. The drawing updates as you type. Export the result as a PowerPoint deck, a Word document, an Excel workbook, a PDF or plain text.
What you type stays in this browser, so you can close the page and come back to it. It is not sent to Blue Prysm or anyone else, and the exports are made here, on your device. Privacy policy.
Mistakes to avoid
- Rating a test Strong with nothing in the evidence column. That is the failure the record exists to prevent.
- Changing the weights after seeing the score. They are editable, but change them before you rate, not after.
- Reading the score as the quality of the deal. A well-evidenced bad deal scores highly; the score measures evidence.
- Signing an exclusivity that outlasts the counterparty's rights to the asset underneath it, which leaves you bound to a partner who can no longer deliver.
- Pricing a permission that has been applied for but not yet granted. If it is refused, the price paid bought nothing.
Where it comes from
Blue Prysm, 2026, published as a free decision record (XLSX) for satellite, direct-to-device and neutral-host partnerships. Six of its eight tests come from what the public record showed in Blue Prysm's seven-part analysis of direct-to-device services. Here the tests are stated generally, for any partnership that depends on an asset the counterparty controls. Source.
Use it with
Work through it with us
The frameworks here are free to use as they stand. If you would rather work through the question behind this one with us, these are the ways an engagement starts.