What Digicon builds, what the partner builds, and why we need them.
The partner extracts data from client platforms and pushes it to Digicon's API. Digicon's transformation engine normalizes, validates, and routes the data into AMS internals. Neither side touches the other's systems directly.
Digicon keeps control of what matters most: the data model, quality rules, and transformation logic. This is core IP. If the data enters AMS wrong, every downstream system (scripts, video pipeline, analytics) breaks.
The partner does what they're good at: building connectors to dozens of platforms, managing OAuth flows, handling API rate limits, and extracting data reliably. This is commodity engineering — valuable but not differentiating for Digicon.
Everything from the API endpoint inward. Digicon owns the contract (schema), the intelligence (transformation), and the destination (AMS internals).
Everything from the client's platform to the Digicon API. The partner owns extraction, connection management, and delivery orchestration. They never touch AMS internals.
These items sit at the boundary between Digicon and the partner. Both sides must collaborate on them, with clear ownership of each sub-task.
What happens if Digicon tries to build everything in-house — and why the partner accelerates us.
| Component | Without Partner | With Partner | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform connectors (HubSpot, Salesforce, Shopify, etc.) |
Digicon builds each connector from scratch. Each platform has unique APIs, auth flows, pagination, and rate limits.
Digicon: 3-4 weeks per platform |
Partner has existing connector frameworks or iPaaS experience. Builds connectors in parallel.
Partner: 1-2 weeks per platform |
With 4 Phase 1 platforms, the partner saves 8-12 weeks of Digicon engineering time. |
| OAuth management (Token storage, refresh, revocation) |
Digicon must build secure OAuth for each platform — each with different grant types, scopes, and refresh mechanisms. | Partner specializes in this. Handles credential lifecycle. Digicon never touches client platform tokens. | Security separation. Digicon never stores third-party credentials. Reduces attack surface. |
| Connection UI (Client-facing connect/disconnect) |
Digicon builds a client-facing frontend — outside current core competency (backend + AI pipeline). | Partner builds the UI. It can be whitelabeled or embedded into Digicon's onboarding flow. | Digicon stays focused on the transformation engine and AMS pipeline — the actual IP. |
| Platform expertise (API quirks, edge cases, rate limits) |
Learning curve for every new platform. Undocumented behaviors, pagination bugs, breaking API changes. | Partner already knows these platforms. Has handled edge cases before. | Risk reduction. Fewer surprises in production. Faster debugging. |
| Scaling to new platforms (Phase 2, 3, and beyond) |
Each new platform is a new project. Digicon's product team is bottlenecked. | Partner adds platforms without blocking Digicon. "Add Mailchimp support" is a partner work order, not a Digicon sprint item. | Scalability. Digicon grows platform coverage without growing headcount. |
The core risk of NOT having a partner: Digicon spends 60-70% of engineering time on connector plumbing instead of the transformation engine, auto-provisioning, and AI pipeline — which is where the product value lives. The partner handles the undifferentiated heavy lifting so Digicon can focus on its actual competitive advantage.
What "done" looks like for Phase 1: a new client connects their platform, and AMS self-configures with their product catalog data.
A new client connects their HubSpot (or Salesforce, Shopify, WooCommerce) account. Within minutes, their product catalog is synced into AMS. An Airtable base is provisioned, Drive folders are created, and the AMS pipeline is ready to generate content for that client — with zero manual setup by Digicon.
Minimum requirements when evaluating partner candidates.