Bold Journeys Podcast

This week's guest is Laura Steward, an entrepreneur strategist, author, and host of the "It's All about the Questions" podcast. Laura is also a former Managed Service Provider and frequent channel speaker. Learn about diversity of thought and the channel questions we should be asking ourselves and our customers to uncover new opportunities and minimize new threats.

Learn about the evolving Master Agent business from Karin Fields, CEO of MicroCorp. Karin shares where her business is headed, how the lines between telecom agent and MSP are getting blurred, and the new opportunities for her traditional agent channel. Find out how the communications channel is transforming and what you, as a vendor or partner, can do to win in this new landscape.

What is the role of distributors in this age of Cloud and SaaS? That's the question we answer in this episode with Ryan Walsh, Chief Channel Officer and co-founder of Pax8. Ryan and his fellow co-founders took a different approach in building Pax8 to support every piece of the partner journey in buying and selling Cloud products. We talk about the role of the channel, channel incentive models, and...

This episode features Jeff Mattan, a channel veteran who has extensive experience in transitioning channel partners to the cloud and SaaS subscriptions. Jeff provides valuable tips on how to build a SaaS Partner Program that will attract the right partners to drive greater customer success and accelerate revenue growth.

After 19 episodes of Channel Journeys, I'm going solo and taking a leap back to introduce you to the show. Instead of interviewing a guest, I share my own channel journey and why I'm so passionate about the channel. Learn how I got hooked on podcasts, why I launched Channel Journeys, and what you can expect from future episodes. My short and long-term goal is to make Channel Journeys the best chan...

This episode features Bob Moore, CEO and Co-Founder of Crossbeam. Bob is on a mission to help companies who are partnered with each other bring shared data into their conversations to drive partner success. Learn how to solve the Partner Prisoner's Dilemma where vendors and partner don't want to share account information. And hear the big lesson Bob learned about product market fit and why anyone...

This episode on the SaaS Channel features Sunir Shah, founder of three SaaS organizations. The subscription model of SaaS has driven many SaaS companies to only sell direct. With a depth of SaaS business development expertise, Sunir describes why partnerships are so important for the success of SaaS companies and what he's doing to make it easier for SaaS Channel partners to buy and manage multipl...

This episode features Craig Schlagbaum, Vice President of Indirect Channels for the business solutions side of Comcast. Craig shares why the telecom agent model has been so successful, why MSPs are vital to his channel growth, and how the agent and MSP worlds are converging. Listen in to learn Craig's secret to success with tips you can leverage to take your channel business and your channel caree...

This episode features Karl Palachuk, founder of Small Biz Thoughts. Karl is on a mission to train IT consultants and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to be better at the business side of their business. He accomplishes this by writing, speaking, blogging, coaching, and consulting. And that's just his day job. We talk about the MSP community, the impact of exponential innovation, and his own secret...

This episode features Heather Margolis, CEO of Channel Maven Consulting. Heather shares how she helps IT and telecom vendors improve their channel marketing to and through their channel partners. She gives 5 valuable channel marketing tips you can start using immediately to capture greater mind-share with your partners and help them drive more leads to boost sales.

This episode features Taylor Macdonald, SVP of Channel Sales at Sage Intacct. Taylor shares how he's had tremendous success building a channel for their SaaS solutions using an alternative channel of accounting firms. Learn what many vendors are doing wrong, what a best-in-class partner program looks like, and how you can catapult your channel sales by focusing on one singular priority.

This episode features Lorna Garey, Editor-in-Chief of Channel Partners and Channel Futures. Lorna is also the producer of Channel Partners events, including the CP Expo 2019 in Vegas where the theme is Channel Disruption. Lorna shares an insider's view of the continued growth of the Channel Partners events, how the channel publication world is evolving, and how channel professionals can grow their...

This episode features Josh Lewis, Vice President of Global Channels at Alteryx. Learn how Josh is adding fuel to a hyper-growth engine by driving breakthrough channel performance. This podcast is loaded with tips on recruiting, culture, and hiring that you can use to accelerate channel performance in your own company.

This episode features Dina Moskowitz, founder and CEO of SaaSMax, a multi-tier distribution channel for SaaS vendors. Dina tells how she is solving two key problems channel chiefs face; finding partners who will provide the greatest return on investment, and enabling partners to market multiple vendors' SaaS offerings effectively and efficiently.

This episode features Laz Gonzalez, Chief Strategy Officer for Zift Solutions. Laz shares his unique channel journey that begins in Cuba and stretches across a wide variety of channel roles. Laz spices things up with a little conga drum action along the way. This episode is packed with valuable channel marketing tips. Learn how much you should budget for channel marketing and the 3 key ingredients...

This episode features Gary Lowe, CEO of Think IT Ai. Gary talks about his channel journey from learning the channel trade as a distributor to becoming a channel partner. We discuss the lessons he's learned along the way, how he handles the pressure of running the entire show, and career tips for navigating your channel journey.

This episode features Jacqui Rand, co-founder of Channeliser, the platform for finding and getting social with partners. Learn about Jacqui's channel journey, how she met Peter Norton and Bill Gates, and how she's helping vendors get more from all of their partners by going social.

This episode features Mike Kelly, founder of Channel Institute. Inspired by entrepreneurs like Richard Branson and Elon Musk, Mike loves Big Hairy Audacious Goals like scaling mountains and running marathons. Hear about Mike's most audacious goal yet; turning channel management and channel marketing into a profession.

This episode features Harry Brelsford, founder of SMB Nation, ski racer, and cycling enthusiast. Harry is a long-time advocate, consultant, and spokesperson for MSPs and is passionate about helping them succeed. Learn why now is the time for partners to Start Up or Start Over in this fun episode spanning Harry's own channel journey.

This episode features Rod Baptie, founder of Channel Focus, the world's largest community of channel professionals. Rod shares his channel journey from London to Colorado. Learn how customers are driving channel transformation – having a huge impact on vendor programs and partner business models.

This episode features channel rock star Jay McBain, a super-connector and channel analyst with Forrester Research. Jay shares his analysis, insights, and predictions on the channel, including a 3rd wave of automation that could turn Channel Chiefs into Chief Channel Officers, just as marketing automation has helped turn Marketing VPs into Chief Marketing Officers.

In this episode I talk with Matt Reaves, channel chief and long-distance swimmer, about his channel journey from horseback riding next to the pyramids of Egypt to swimming with sharks in the San Francisco bay. Matt tells how his career went from drilling for oil to being a leading value-add distributor for IBM, and we come up with a challenge for our channel journey listeners who are ready to dip...

This episode features Rich Blakeman, channel chief, consultant, and author of The Hybrid Sales Channel. Rich explains why direct sales reps are often so hesitant to work with partners, and how you can overcome channel conflict through a hybrid sales approach that maximizes the talents and strengths of both your company's sales reps and your partners so that one plus one can equal eight.

This episode features Gary Morris, founder and CEO of Successful Channels, and the creator of the 5-minute channel manager toolkit. Gary talks about the journey that led him to take the entrepreneurial leap and the mission he is on to improve channel manager performance.