FTAPI Diaries: Meet our Partner Manager dual student Tom
Who are the people behind FTAPI? What drives them, and what do they particularly enjoy about their work at FTAPI?
Get to know the team! We’re introducing the faces behind FTAPI and showcasing the individuals who contribute daily with passion and dedication to the company's success.
Tom has been with FTAPI for just over a year. He started as a working student in Inbound Sales Development and is now a Partner Manager, combining his role with a dual study programme in Business Informatics at FTAPI.
What does a typical week look like for you?
I’ve been with FTAPI for a little over a year now. I started as a working student in Inbound Sales Development, and I’m now a Partner Manager while pursuing a dual degree in Business Informatics with FTAPI.
I chose to do a dual study programme at FTAPI because it gives me the opportunity to rotate through several departments that are relevant to my future, gaining experience in a young, dynamic, and fast-growing company. Additionally, the flexibility at FTAPI is a huge advantage – the ability to combine remote work with studying works perfectly for me.
What do you enjoy most about your role as a partner manager?
As a Partner Manager, our job is to acquire, nurture, and expand partnerships to create multipliers for our sales efforts. Our primary goal is to generate potential customers for our Account Executives or deliver ready-to-use product orders.
What I enjoy most is that we’re responsible for building honest, long-term relationships with our partners.
Ultimately, I believe sales is a people business where empathy and understanding lead to shared success. When you truly understand what challenges your partners face daily and how you can make their lives easier, success isn’t far off.
However, these insights usually don’t come from virtual meetings on Teams or Zoom but from in-person interactions, whether at trade shows, over coffee, or even a beer. In my experience, face-to-face communication always wins in the end.
How does the partner team collaborate with other teams?
As a Partner Manager, you have the privilege of working closely with all teams.
We are part of the Sales department, so naturally, we have the most touchpoints here. From Sales Development to the Full-Cycle team with the Account Executives, we regularly discuss open processes, framework agreements, and more with all our colleagues.
Since our partners also look after existing customers, we interact just as often with the Customer Success, Growth, and Helpdesk teams.
Our partners are frequently the first to provide feedback on our FTAPI products. Therefore, we collaborate closely with the Product, Development, and Marketing teams, ensuring that feedback is relayed and suggestions are implemented wherever possible.
Image: Tom at the it-sa trade fair in Nuremberg
What has been your best moment at FTAPI?
Whether it’s scheduling your first client meeting and celebrating it in the office, securing your first deal with cheers echoing around, or marking the milestone of 1 million MRR together – the best moments are always shared ones.
Image: Q3 GTM Kick-off at the FTAPI Office
How do you balance your work at FTAPI with your studies?
Discipline, coffee, and my girlfriend! Getting kicked out of bed at 6 am gives me the whole morning for productivity 😉