Mendix ISV Partner Program FAQs

What is the ISV partner program?

The Mendix ISV program is for partners looking to expand their business and monetize their domain expertise by selling unique customer-centric solutions. The Mendix ISV Program provides an ideal set of benefits to enable established companies, existing Mendix partners, and startups to successfully develop, bring to market, sell, and deploy software solutions built on Mendix’s leading low-code development platform. The economic model of the Mendix ISV program is based on a revenue sharing agreement that enables you to establish a profitable and predictable business model with a reduction in initial investment.

Do I qualify as an ISV?

If you want to develop, market and sell your software solution or application, you are considered an independent software vendor (ISV). ISVs come in all shapes and sizes — from startups with a great idea to an established IT solution-provider. Solutions could be specific to an industry and/or a domain.

ISVs have the following criteria:

  • A monetizable idea to solve a business problem
  • Ability to develop a repeatable software solution
  • Ability to market, sell and support a software solution

What are the benefits of becoming a Mendix ISV partner?

The benefits of joining the Mendix ISV program include the following:

  • Ability to accelerate your Go To Market using Mendix
  • Access to free development licenses for Mendix
  • Ability to sell the solution to your customers (SaaS cloud, private cloud, or on-premises) without the need for them to necessarily purchase a Mendix platform license
  • Accessibility to promote your solution at conferences such as Mendix World and Siemens Realize LIVE, and through the Mendix Solutions Gallery
  • Access to the Mendix Marketplace allowing you to sell your solution to a global audience
  • Access to a partner relationship manager and technical teams

What is the ISV partner journey?

The program is straightforward. With a few simple steps, you can easily become an ISV partner:

  • Prepare: Generate an idea that solves a business problem
  • Develop: Transform that idea into a solution by building on Mendix
  • Sell and Support: Sell and support the solution

We are there to assist you in every step of the journey.

What is the ISV program journey

 

Are Startups eligible for the ISV program?

Of course! At Mendix, we want to support people with big ideas and their drive to build something innovative from the ground up. As a former startup, we want to provide other startups with the resources they need to get their products to their customers faster. The Startup program is exactly the same as the ISV program with the additional benefit of one year free monetization of your solution built on Mendix. This gives you a head start in the early stage, which hopefully enables you to better build and expand your business. After the first year, you will be starting the standard ISV terms as described in the Program.

To be eligible to enter the ISV Startup Program, you must:

  • officially be incorporated and in business for less than one year
  • have a team of at least two co-founders
  • be a standalone company and not a subsidiary or affiliate of a larger corporation
  • have a clear use case and business plan

Prepare

What can I build with Mendix?

With Mendix, you can build a wide range of transactional, event-driven, and adjacent applications for all kinds of industries, regardless of complexity, performance, or scale. The Mendix Solutions Gallery showcases all kinds of applications built using Mendix. These applications are there to showcase key solutions from our ISV partners and other examples of the art of the possible.

Also see the Mendix evaluation guide for more information on what types of projects are good fits for Mendix.

What kind of solutions are right for the Mendix ISV program?

The Mendix ISV program enables companies to monetize on their domain expertise. It allows organizations, including startups, with an innovative, disruptive idea to develop and sell a software solution built on Mendix.

So, when considering which solutions are best for the Mendix ISV program, the answer is straightforward – solutions that solve a customer’s business problem are the “right” solutions.

For OOTB software solutions, most configurations should be built into the application itself so that they do not require the Mendix Modeler to configure. Configuration via the Mendix Modeler is generally part of a Mendix implementation. However, this should remain limited to encourage repeatability and low cost of maintenance. Integrations, if required by the application, are an exception to this and are generally ok to configure in the Mendix Modeler.

Any application that is not repeatable and/or requires significant customization outside of general integration would not be suitable as an ISV solution and for this program. Extension of the base solution beyond the original scope of the solution is possible. However, such extension would require the end-customer to purchase the Mendix platform in addition to the solution.

What is the business and economic model?

The economic model of the Mendix ISV program is based on a revenue sharing agreement that enables you to establish a profitable and predictable business model with a reduction in initial investment.

For your business case and economic model, you can package and license the solution in the best way that fits your target industry and business scope. We support a wide range of licensing models that allow you to properly compete with your solution built on the Mendix low-code development platform. Examples of valid license models are: by named user, by usage, by asset, by volume of data, or by click. We are ready to support your packaging and business decisions and provide guidance in the process.

Once the solution is ready and approved, you can start to sell it to your customers without the need for them to necessarily purchase a license for the Mendix low-code development platform (provided it will not exceed the scope of the initial repeatable solution). The Mendix platform can always be offered additionally for solution extensibility or offering as a managed service. For the approval, there are certain standards, design, security and quality gates each solution must meet. Guidance on best practices will be part of our process to assist you along the way.

The key elements to consider while you establish the business case are the following:

Revenue:

  • Revenue from recurring solution subscription(s)
  • Revenue generated from service related inquiries

Your Expenses:

  • Revenue share from the sale of the solution
  • Hosting fees associated with Mendix Cloud and/or third-party technologies
  • All other costs related to running a software business (e.g., R&D, Sales & Marketing, Customer Onboarding & Support, etc.).

I am interested in joining the ISV program. Where can I apply?

You can apply for the Mendix ISV partner program through the contact form. After leaving your information in the contact form, you will receive a confirmation email with a link to our partner intake app that will ask you to provide some high-level information on your company and solution. After having received your formal application through the partner intake app we will reach out to schedule an introduction call.

What do I need to do to get my project reviewed and accepted?

As part of the application process, we ask you to fill out a standard simple four-pager. This document tells us about the business problem you are solving, the solution you’re building, the technical overview of the solution, dependencies, and GTM details. This allows us to review and provide advice on best practices for launching a software product. It also helps us to verify that you meet our ethics and integrity standards. Mendix must be able to review and approve the business case before you can enter the Mendix ISV program. The four-pager template will be shown and explained during the first introduction call and will be shared after the meeting. In the subsequent meeting(s), we will discuss your application in more depth on the basis of the four-pager.

What is the process for the legal contract?

After the application process has been finalized through approval of the four-pager, we will share details regarding the Mendix ISV legal contract. In order to participate in the program, you must agree to and accept the policies illustrated in the Mendix ISV partner contract.

What happens after I have signed the agreement?

First of all, we are happy to have you officially joining the ISV program, and we are looking forward to continue working together. Following the signing of the legal agreement, there will be a joint communication on the partnership. Keep in mind, only once you have a agreement signed, you are considered a formal Mendix ISV partner. Therefore there should be no communication regarding the partnership before the agreement has been signed.

Next up: the development phase of your solution.

Develop

What Mendix licenses will I receive?

As part of the initial participation in the Mendix ISV program, you will be provided with a Mendix ISV partner license to develop, test, and demonstrate your solution. This license will not be usable for a paid production instance but will support all activities needed to develop and market a Mendix based solution.

The Mendix ISV partner license provides access to the Mendix development ecosystem and to a plethora of enablement tools for the Mendix low-code development platform. Before you receive access to the Mendix ISV partner license, you can also use the free Mendix sandbox license to prove out early parts of your ideas.

How do I start developing my solution?

The Mendix ISV partner program is open to all, from experienced Mendix partners as well as those just starting out. For those that are just starting out, we provide the Mendix Academy as a way to learn about building applications on Mendix. You can leverage the free and paid training to quickly get up to speed. Additionally, if you are a more “hands-on” learner, the free Mendix sandbox license can enable you to test out your ideas.

Where can I get additional help?

Mendix has a vibrant community of hundreds of thousands users and active contributors. On the Mendix Community site, the community comes together for all the tools and information they need. On the Mendix Forum, over 150k community members help provide support and advice to the rest of the community, and 70% of questions get answered within a 30 minute response time.

On the Mendix Community site, you can also find out about updates on the Mendix Marketplace, product releases, webinars, meetups, new blog posts, new Academy content, and documentation.

What checks need to be done when I am ready with my solution?

Once the solution is ready, it must clear the Go To Market readiness check before its Marketplace launch. This is a general checkpoint to ensure that the solution meets our quality standards and is ready to be released as a sellable ISV solution.

Some areas of focus for the readiness check include:

  • Quality and scalability
  • Security
  • Support readiness
  • UX

What quality and scalability checks will I need?

We all want you to deliver a quality solution, and we will work together to assess that you have the right quality processes in place. The solution should meet the following general criteria for quality:

  • A demonstrable QA plan
  • Meets software quality ISO standards such as modularity, reusability, modifiability
  • Solution contains no major scalability issues
  • Mendix best practices for application development

What security checks will I need?

Cybersecurity threats of all kinds, ranging from software security vulnerabilities to stolen personal information, are at the forefront of our minds. As an ISV partner, you have the advantage of leveraging a fully certified Mendix low-code development platform according to ISO standards. View a listing of the Mendix certifications.

In addition to using the secure Mendix low-code development platform, we will be doing some additional checks on your solution to ensure that it meets certain minimum security standards. Some of the checks include:

  • Adherence to Mendix best practice for entity access model implementation
  • Automated scans to detect security vulnerabilities in the implemented solution

While you are ultimately responsible for the security of your application, it is important for us to make sure that these minimum standards are met.

Sell

How do I market my solution?

There are many channels to market a solution, ranging from traditional outlets (e.g., conferences, advertising) to the latest social media campaigns. You are responsible for creating and executing a marketing plan that works best for your solution.

To support lead generation, your solution will be listed in the Mendix Marketplace and highlighted in the Mendix Solution Gallery as part of the ISV program. You will also have access to conferences such as Mendix World and Siemens Realize LIVE to promote your solution.

How do I sell my solution?

As is the case with marketing, you are responsible for selling the solution. You will have to make use of your available sales channels to drive the sale of the solution. It is important to plan as if your available sales channels will be the key to drive your success. Some sales channels that would be internal to a partner should be, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Sales organization of partner
  • Digital sales (online through marketplace or website)
  • Channel partners (leverage your fellow partners)

Note:

  • Driving sales is the responsibility of the ISV partner.
  • Please consider the legal aspect of selling a solution. While the market is often global, there are legal differences in each region and country, and it’s important to understand the legal obligations for each territory. A good example is compliance with data privacy regulations, a highly regulated topic (e.g., GDPR).

Can the Mendix sales team sell my solution?

ISV partner solutions will not be a principal focus for the Mendix or Siemens sales channel. Additionally, as mentioned, the Mendix Marketplace will be available to support your sales effort. For access to our Siemens and Mendix sales channels, we have a different and very selective partner program, the OEM partner program. For additional details about the OEM program, contact us via the ISV program application.

What about the Mendix Marketplace?

The Mendix Marketplace will be a key channel to market and sell your solution. The new Mendix Marketplace will be a site where developers can find everything from simple widgets to full industry solutions. As part of the marketplace, we will offer you the ability to have the administrative processes – billing, metering, and usage metrics – handled by the Marketplace. You will be able to monetize your solutions in an efficient way and spend more time on optimizing your business and conquering new challenges.

Support

What support is necessary for a Mendix app?

Solution support is a key responsibility of the ISV partner. You will be expected to handle Level 1, 2, and 3 customer support for your solution. If the solution is served by the Mendix Cloud, then you will be able to leverage Mendix support for both platform issues and the cloud environment. You will have access to the Mendix contacts for the platform and cloud environment support. However, the direct customer interactions will be handled by you.

As a summary, there are two types of support:

  • The Mendix low-code development platform support is provided to the ISV partner by Mendix and is regulated by the Mendix Service Level Agreement (SLA).
  • The solution support is provided to the customer by you and regulated by a service level agreement (SLA), also provided by you. The SLA establishes the level of service expected by your customers with the metrics by which that service is measured, as well as any remedies or penalties.

When can I start the ISV journey?

Right now! You can fill out your contact information, and you will receive an e-mail with instructions. We look forward to discussing your solutions!

Additional information

What if I want to become a Mendix reseller?

For resellers of Mendix low-code development platform licenses, we have a separate program. Please go to Become a Mendix reseller to discover the benefits of the Mendix Reseller Program.