The question every VAD founder asks. The answer is more complicated than it looks.
"Main naya OEM kaise dhoondhoon?"
Every VAD founder has asked this question at some point.
Usually when an existing OEM starts showing signs of going direct. Or when margins on current products start compressing. Or when a competing VAD signs up an OEM that suddenly everyone wants.
The instinct is to find something new. Something unique. Something the market has not seen yet.
That instinct is right. But the execution is where most VADs get stuck.
The three tensions that come at you as a VAD founder
Finding a new OEM is not just about the product. It involves navigating three uncomfortable realities that exist in every VAD, OEM and channel partner conversation.
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Tension 1: The VAD side. Not every OEM wants a real VAD relationship. Some OEMs come to India looking for a local billing entity. They close directly with enterprise clients, cut partners out of the conversation and then route the transaction through the VAD purely to keep the paperwork clean. Everyone in the ecosystem knows this happens. Nobody says it in a meeting. The VAD who signs up for this arrangement thinking it is a strategic partnership discovers the reality only after investing time, money and people into onboarding the OEM.
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Tension 2: The partner side. Not every new OEM will find takers in the partner community. Deployment complexity, unfamiliar technology, lack of trained resources and long sales cycles make many partners hesitant to invest in something new. Especially when their existing OEM relationships are already keeping them busy. A VAD can bring in the most innovative product in the market. If the deployment requires six months of training and the client ROI takes two years to show, most partners will nod politely and go back to what they know.
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Tension 3: The OEM side. Some OEMs underestimate what it actually takes to build a channel in India. They expect the VAD to do everything:
• Build partner awareness
• Train the sales team
• Generate demand. Close deals
• Handle post sales
And do all of this while the OEM's own team is still figuring out their India pricing strategy. The VAD ends up carrying all the weight of market development with none of the decision making authority.
What makes a new OEM worth betting on
Before a VAD signs up any new OEM, five questions need honest answers:
1
Is this OEM looking for a billing entity or a business partner? The answer is usually visible in how they structure the first conversation. Billing entities talk about transaction volumes. Business partners talk about market development.
2
Does the partner community have the appetite and the resources to sell and deploy this product? A great product with a six month deployment cycle needs a very different partner profile than a plug and play solution.
3
What is the OEM's genuine commitment to the Indian market? Are they investing in local presales support, marketing funds and technical resources? Or are they expecting the VAD to fund the entire India go to market?
4
Is the margin structure sustainable for both the VAD and the partner? A product that looks attractive at the OEM level but leaves nothing for the partner will never get traction in the channel.
5
Is there a clear problem this product solves that Indian enterprise clients are actively trying to fix right now? Timing matters. The best product launched at the wrong time fails. The right product for a problem that is burning right now sells itself.
What OEMs must do differently
If an OEM genuinely wants VAD commitment and not just a billing address, three things need to change:
01
Stop treating the VAD as a last mile logistics operation: Involve them in product roadmap conversations, pricing decisions and market strategy. A VAD who feels like a partner will go to war for you. A VAD who feels like a courier will do the minimum.
02
Fund the market development properly: MDF is not a favour. It is an investment in your own growth. OEMs who underfund India market development and then wonder why adoption is slow are solving the wrong problem.
03
Respect the partner ecosystem: Going direct might look efficient in the short term. It destroys the trust that took years to build. And trust, once broken in the Indian channel community, travels fast.
What the partner community needs
When a VAD brings in a new OEM, partners need three things to give it a genuine chance:
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A clear answer to what problem this solves for their existing clients. Not a product pitch. A problem statement.
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Easy access to presales and demo support without having to navigate the OEM directly. The VAD should be the single window for everything in the early stages.
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A realistic picture of the sales cycle, deployment complexity and margin potential. Partners who go in with wrong expectations become the loudest critics when reality hits.
The ecosystem works when all three show up together
The VAD who finds the right OEM, onboards them properly and enables the partner community will always have an edge.
But that edge requires all three sides to show up with intent. Not just paperwork.
"Naya OEM dhoondhna" is not just a sourcing problem.
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It is a relationship problem
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A communication problem
Solve those first and the right OEM will find you as much as you find them.
