SaaS Connect - SaaS Partnerships & SaaS Leaders

On this episode, Krish Ramineni , CEO at Fireflies.ai , gives his perspective on building product partnerships through integrations as a key growth driver for businesses. There is great value in integrations for both existing customers and new users. Integrations should align with the customer's workflow, enhancing their experience and creating value. Integrations can act as a strategic moat,...

On this episode, Pravin Arokyaraj , Director of Strategic Partnerships at Zoho Corporation , shares his perspectives on navigating partnerships with competitors and collaborators alike. Pravin believes in the power of cross-product partnerships. Partnerships in a multi-product landscape come with intriguing challenges. It’s vital, then, to foster alliances with competitors while also competing aga...

On this episode, Sudhir Nambiar , Co-Founder and CEO of xAmplify , talks about the prevailing discussions on effective partner programs and engagement strategies within the SaaS industry. With a rich background in partnerships, including owning a boutique analytics company, Sudhir understands the nuances partners face in their collaborative journeys. Misalignments can arise between strategies comp...

On this episode, George Kyriakis , Sr. Director Business Development and Partnerships at FreshBooks , talks about his experience in partnership-based business development over the last seven years, a time spent learning from both successes and failures. George emphasizes the importance of securing buy-in from executives for partnership strategies. His lessons in this area stem from past experience...

On this episode, Bill Lipsin , Managing Partner at The Brody Group, explains the importance of aligning with leadership. He dives into the challenges of translating great ideas into successful executions. Bill understands the familiar frustration of brilliant ideas that falter along the way. Creating a solid foundation for idea realization is important. A comprehensive business plan is a must. An...

On this episode, Nikunj Sanghvi , VP, Alliances and Business Development at Caspio , a leading low-code development platform for online database applications, talks about attracting partners to your program. It’s critically important to start with an ideal partner profile, akin to an ideal customer profile, to identify partners that align with your objectives. It’s also vital to continually refine...

On this episode, Christine Li , VP of Partnerships and Enablement at G2 , discusses the importance of reviews and social proof in the software industry. G2 is a platform that gathers social proof through customer reviews to help buyers make informed decisions. G2 has a unique role in the marketplace ecosystem. They function as a marketplace themselves, as a vendor in other marketplaces (such as Sa...

On this episode, Stu Richards , CEO at Bredin , shares valuable insights on selling SaaS solutions to SMBs. He and his team conducted a survey of SMBs focusing on the decision-making process regarding which SaaS solutions to purchase for their business. They discovered there is some variation depending on the size of the business. Very small businesses (under 20 employees) rely mostly on articles...

On this episode, Sue Fernand , Sr. Director of Business Development and Alliances at 8x8 , talks about building an ecosystem marketplace. Taking inspiration from the trailblazing success of Salesforce, Sue outlines the fundamental principles and best practices for developing a thriving ecosystem. By carefully selecting partners whose products complement and enhance the core offering, businesses ca...

On this episode, Matt Moore , Associate Manager of Product Marketing at impact.com , hosts a discussion on B2B affiliate marketing with guests Keemia Ferasat , Manager of Global Affiliate Marketing and Partnerships at Microsoft ; Tye DeGrange , CEO at Round Barn Labs ; and Zoe Mackay , Strategic Partnership Manager at Technology Advice . They explore the differences between B2B and B2C affiliate m...

On this episode, Sunir Shah , CEO at AppBind and President of Cloud Software Association , discusses high-impact partnerships and the importance of customer-centricity in partnerships. Rather than focusing on who owns the customer, it’s more crucial to understand who the customer is buying from. It is critical to have clear positioning statements in partnerships, to ensure that both parties unders...

On this episode, Kenny Browne , Founder and CEO of Partner Fleet , gives a masterclass on building an ecosystem business model. To boost revenue effectively, understanding customer ecosystems and collaborating with partners is crucial. These ecosystems are shaped by customer needs and their interactions with partners. Kenny advises businesses to join existing ecosystems, map customer behavior and...

⁠Kelsey Gernert Aina , Principal Head of Startup Growth and Partnerships-Americas at HubSpot , joins this episode to talk about the startup partnership program at HubSpot. The program offers exclusive discounts to startups through channel partners like venture capital firms, accelerators and incubators. The goal is to provide startups with access to a mature tech stack at an affordable price while...

On this episode, Rachel Collie , Director, Technology Partnerships and App Marketplace at Unanet , hosts a MasterClass on the ABCs of technology partner management. She emphasized the importance of repeatable enablement processes to scale their program. She shared her extensive experience in managing technology partner programs and highlighted the value of partnerships in finding innovative soluti...

On this episode, Sue Fernand , Sr. Director of Business Development and Alliances at 8x8 , and Ashi Aber , Head of Technology Partnerships at Gong , host a roundtable discussion to talk about tech integration marketplaces and building out an ecosystem with all key business partners. Ashi talks about opening up APIs so their customers can get more value out of them beyond just revenue, including ma...

On this episode, Rob Spee , SVP, Global Channel and Alliances at BeyondTrust , a worldwide leader in privileged access management, is joined by Lana King , who was most recently Vice President, Partner Programs, Training and Enablement at Mitel . The discussion centers on partner strategy, partner experience and customer experience. Lana recently took some time off and brings a fresh perspective t...

On this episode, Kelly Sarabyn and Desmond Russell join us to discuss the partner journey and experience. Kelly is the Platform Ecosystem Advocate at HubSpot , a company that develops software products for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service. Desmond is Chief Partnership Officer at Partner Elevate , an enablement platform to help businesses grow more investible partnerships. Desmond exp...

On this episode, Mark Brigman , CEO at PARTNERNOMICS , and Brian Hattaway , Founder & Innovation Leader at IOLITE Solutions and Owner of ProCore Resource Group , discuss growing partnerships through integrations and building efficient partnership management systems to increase revenue. The discussion centers on reference architecture (what’s needed to make partnerships work), partnering system...

On this episode, Cody Sunkel , Co-Founder & VP of Growth at Partner Fleet — a platform that powers partner marketplaces — and Katy Spalding , Product Manager, Developer Platform and Ecosystem at Clari — a revenue platform that improves efficiency, predictability and growth — talk about building an app marketplace. This is a pertinent discussion because integrations are fast becoming one of the...

On this episode, Andrew Porter , Principal — Alliances & Ecosystems at Pariveda, and Sophie Zugnoni , Senior Director — Cloud Sales at Hazelcast, talk about tips and strategies for partnering with cloud providers. Pariveda is a consulting firm that solves complex technology and business problems, while Hazelcast is a real-time stream processing platform for building applications for taking act...

On this episode, Dannielle Sakher , Executive Member at Cloud Software Association – a SaaS partnership network – and former Team Leader of Partner Management at Zapier – a platform that connects web apps for small businesses – shares how she created intentional wow partner experiences at every tier on the 4,000+ Zapier partners program. Dannielle explains the challenges she first encountered and...

On this episode, Nicolas Grenié , Developer Advocate at Typeform.com — a company that specializes in online form building and surveys — speaks about the Developer as a customer persona, and how they should be viewed by SaaS businesses. For example, for certain SaaS companies, such as Twilio, Developers — including no-coders — are the main audience. It pays to put someone in charge of Developer rel...

On this episode, Ryan Lunka , Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Blended Edge , and Cody Sunkel , Co-Founder and VP of Growth at Partner Fleet , discuss setting up the user experience to drive success in integration programs. Blended Edge is a platform that helps SaaS companies set up integrations faster, and Partner Fleet makes it easy for SaaS companies to go to market with partners and d...

On this episode, Patrick Cleary – Director of Strategic Partnerships, US at Wayflyer – a financing provider for e-commerce companies – shares how Wayflyer developed the partnerships team and won deals with companies who had been around a lot longer. Today, just two years after launch, Wayflyer gives out $150 million on a monthly basis and boasts over 500 employees. Patrick describes how the partne...

On this episode, Walla Oriqat – Director at Talkdesk AppConnect*  – shares the AppConnect partnership strategy, lessons learned and secrets of the past, present and future. The AppConnect marketplace allows Talkdesk customer center customers and sellers to connect apps with Talkdesk. Walla explains the 4 Ps of the AppConnect strategy core values, which are people, process, product and pipelin...