The Kong Partner Champions program is designed for Kong partners who have demonstrated strong technical expertise or sales and marketing excellence with Kong’s products. These individuals are actively engaged in joint customer campaigns and engagements, showing a proven commitment to driving success with Kong. They bring a passion for innovation, staying ahead of industry trends around APIs and AI and consistently look for ways to apply those insights to their work. Just as importantly, they have the ability and desire to share their knowledge both internally within their organizations and externally across the ecosystem, serving as trusted voices and ambassadors for Kong in the partner community.

• Professional Development: Show off your expertise and build your brand through created content, webinars & user calls, and speaking opportunities, like at our API Summit.

• First Look: Get early access to new product features and be the first to share your feedback. You’ll have the chance to shape the future of our Kong products.

• Connect with the Partner Ecosystem: Meet your fellow Kong enthusiasts from around the world to share your story and offerings. Attend exclusive Kong Partner Champion-only events curated specifically for this group.

And yes, there will also be extra-special swag!

Partner Champions are encouraged to actively contribute to the growth and visibility of our solutions within the ecosystem through a variety of activities. These may include publishing blog posts or whitepapers that showcase Kong and partner integrations or highlight customer success stories. Champions might also co-host webinars, workshops, or customer-facing presentations that bring joint solutions to life. In addition, they provide valuable feedback on roadmap features particularly Kong’s APIs Platform. Champions often serve as customer references for case studies, mentor or help onboard other partner teams new to Kong, and play a key role in co-marketing by amplifying Kong content, sharing updates on social media, and representing Kong in joint initiatives.

Get special access to Kong’s Product and Marketing teams, along with early previews of new features, beta releases and roadmaps. Partner Champions will also have opportunities for specialized training and certifications, as well as priority support and partner success assistance. Recognition will play a big role, with Partner Champions featured in Kong’s marketing channels such as newsletters, social media, events, and the website. Additional incentives include exclusive partner-only swag, and invitations to private gatherings such as meetups, retreats that foster deeper collaboration and community.