Go-live path for a public integration from an ISV with under 20 employees?

We are Caretta, an AI sales-call assistant (SaaS) with paying customers and under 20 employees. We built a public integration with Docusign's MCP server; it works end to end in our demo account and the integration key shows "Ready to Submit". Since the go-live docs require Partner Program membership for public integrations, we applied, and were rejected with the stated reason that companies must have at least 20 employees.

We read the two closest threads before posting:

- https://community.docusign.com/go-live-70/go-live-eligibility-question-isv-connector-public-integration-for-a-small-isv-27321 — a small ISV asked the same thing. Developer support said a partner account is not required, then support said the opposite when a Business Pro account could not promote the key. The thread ends unresolved.
- https://community.docusign.com/go-live-70/go-live-for-a-public-integration-when-every-customer-uses-their-own-docusign-account-27596 — a Docusign employee confirmed partnership is mandatory for public integrations and suggested the Bring Your Own Key model as the alternative.

Our question: is there any path for an ISV under 20 employees to launch a public integration (an exception process, a different partner track, or a paid plan that qualifies), or is Bring Your Own Key the only supported model until we reach 20 employees?

We are ready to purchase a plan and to share company details if that helps.