Im in the process of building out a product to help small businesses deal with inbound leads and CRM, moving them to conversion more quickly. Our products would not be "competitive" however my customers could easily become your customers. If I reviewed your product, and LIKED it, would I be willing to promote you to my customers, assuming I could offer them a discount and get a rev share?
Im suggesting you find a SAAS business to partner with, they see the value in long term recurring revenue, and introducing a stream of said revenue, without adding a lot of overhead. Assuming you do reciprocal marketing, at the end of any given month only one of you is going to be writing a check and thats to balance the books between the leads your generating for each other.
The only example that I can think of for these sorts of relationships was/is paypal and eBay (it is early and I need more coffee). Both shared a ton of customers, and had complimentary products did the whole merger/split thing because it looked great on paper, but didn't work in principal. If your eBay, can you find your paypal, and build a partnership rather than seek a merger?
