What are some recommended ways to generate leads and establish B2B strategic partnerships to drive sales for early growth?

For forming strategic partnerships, we've gotten the best results by doing favors for other companies without expectation of a return favor. Sometimes there isn't a return favor, which is fine. Other times, the favor is a catalyst for a conversation that leads to a great partnership.

This highly depends on your product or service. The cold calling approach could work if you have a clear value propositions that is easy to explain. However a cold call should be well researched. Who is the actual decision maker and is there a high likelihood that your service is of interest. Then is is pure math. In India a business analyst doing the research and making the calls cost 700 dollar per month. He is able to set up 10 meetings per month, of which 0.5 projects come out. This is for it services, but can give you an idea on the acquisition cost per project. If you are looking for partnerships such as joint ventures, distribution, affiliates, licensing I would always find a trustworthy door opener. Here also you must have a strong well researched concept ready to quickly show a true benefit for the partner. I have seen to many let's meet and see what we can do presentations. Best to provide clear numbers and Ideally a financial commitment from your side, this will move things for sure. For early growth and high strategic value, you could consider and equity stake for the partner with clear deliverables. Then you have to convince him about your growth story. In this event you might have a different person to talk to. Good luck