How to Assess a Strategic Partner

How did you go about assessing that kind of partnership? I see it is very similar to you're still conducting the business and you're working with a strategic partner. So when you had potential, maybe not offers, maybe not that stage, but just trying to figure out the lay of the land. What were you doing to assess it? Because I imagine, on the surface, things could look like a great alignment. But then once you get into it, and how do you do that without getting too serious? How were you kind of assessing that? Was it just like a vibe check? What sort of things were they kind of looking for in terms of the strategic partner?