Ecosystem Aces

There is always going to be inherent conflict in partnerships. After all, you don’t always share the same strategies, objectives or end goals.  But according to Amy Guarino, VP Global Alliances at Ironclad and our guest on today’s show, if you can figure out how to overcome those conflicts and find that intersection between what your partner does, what you do, and how that benefits the customer, i...

If you want true differentiation in the complex industries underpinning today’s world… You can’t go it alone. Today, I’m joined by the team at HARMAN, Brinda Robin, JK Sharma, Prakash Desai, and Keerthi Kumar, to learn how they’re crafting an ecosystem built to shape the future of our most vital industries, from healthcare to communications to manufacturing. Join us as we discuss: How HARMAN’s is...

You’ve heard of an MQL — but what about an EQL?  In a world where 30% of all trade is slated to go through ecosystems by 2025, the go-to-market exercise can no longer be thought of as simply marketing and sales.  Ecosystems are the true top of the funnel — and it’s time we acknowledge it.  Today’s guest, Allan Adler, Managing Partner at Digital Bridge Partners, is one of the few out there sounding...

Every partnership demands a unique approach because every partnership is different…  And if you want an alliance to succeed, you need to understand what makes your partnership unique.  But you can’t do that unless you know what you’re trying to achieve in the first place.  That’s how Parul Chheda, Vice President Strategic Alliances at CoreStack, approaches alliances with hyperscalers — a unique ki...

A fruitful partnership, just like any relationship, is a two-way street. Both parties need to benefit from it.  That’s why heavily investing in the success of your partners is the best way to ensure a profitable, mutually-beneficial and long-term partnership.  Kieran Krohn, Principal Channel Account Manager at Hubspot, lives by this philosophy and it has served him well in his career. With a wealt...

The three stages of creating a robust partner ecosystem are start-up, scale-up, and scale-out. A start-up is going after joint accounts, scale-up is opening the door a bit more, and scale-out is really expanding.  Which stage are you in?  In this episode, we speak with Satish Shenoy, Regional Vice President, Strategic Technology Alliances & Partnerships at Blue Prism, about building a technology p...

Helping people safely and securely access the connected world through the internet is no small feat, but one of the highest importance. To achieve this, it takes the right kind of leadership and the right partners.  Ben Goodman, Senior Vice President, Global Business and Corporate Development at ForgeRock, discusses the challenges of aligning partners, scaling, tracking the pipeline, and what’s ne...

Handling a partner ecosystem is a complex undertaking on the best of days.   Handling a partner ecosystem as your organization is experiencing hyper-growth adds even more complexity.  But the rewards for overcoming the challenges posed by this complexity are well worth the effort.  Just ask today’s guest, Ally Murtlow, National Channel Director at Dialpad, a company whose channel team has increase...

In any partnership, both parties need to trust and understand each other — and they both need to have a stake in the outcome.  But in an alliance ecosystem, there are often key stakeholders that get neglected, whose buy-in is critical to success.  And a partnership will never sail without getting every stakeholder on board.  Andrew Massad, Vice President, Alliances & Corporate Development at Leanp...

When it comes to alliances, it used to be the case that many were waiting on the technology to catch up. Now, we’re waiting for people to catch up to the technology — which means leadership needs to craft partner-centric cultures that align with these advancements. But it’s worth the effort — because a core competency in partnering is a core competency in anything. So says Mark Birgman, Author, Sp...

There are lots of different ways to inject new life into a company. One of the best is implementing a partner program. The right partners can make a 50-year-old company feel like a startup. At least, that’s what happened for today’s guest, Lisa Conway, VP of Sales Operations and Strategic alliances at Telos, where her partner program and a recent IPO has reinvigorated the  company after a half-cen...

Every business is transforming. Every company is becoming a tech company. 75% of CEOs say their businesses will be unrecognizable in 5 years. In this landscape, you can’t do it all yourself. You know you can’t survive without partnerships. But without trust, you don’t have a partnership — you have a transaction. This is one of the key insights today’s guest, Vince Menzione, Founder at Ultimate Par...

Sometimes, the best strategic alliances come from inherent partners — those who are already a key part of your business strategy. But just because these partners are the easiest to identify doesn’t mean you have to stop there. Just ask my latest guest, Bogdan Petrescu, Director of Strategic Alliances at Nylas, a company with a business model that ensures plenty of organic partnerships.  Bogdan isn...

After building successful partner programs at Cisco, Citrix, and Huawei, today Greg is creating Reliant’s ecosystem strategy to co-build, co-innovate, and co-sell optimal edge computing solutions. In this episode, Greg Fox, Director of Business Development & Strategic Alliances at Reliant, joins Ecosystem Aces and discusses how he builds a best-of-breed partner program. Greg shares: How Reliant cr...

Once, you could get by with a single product, but that’s no longer the case. We no longer live in a world where we can simply sell products — it’s all about the solution. Which means partners are more important than ever. That insight is one of the keys to Ash Vijayakanthan’s success as Vice President at Trifacta, where he’s leading strategic partnerships with big names like Google, Infosys, Accen...

The business environment is changing rapidly — how can companies not only survive but thrive through this epic shift? An expert in strategic alliances and data-driven marketing, Jack Norris is a Senior Vice President at Alteryx and this episode’s fascinating guest. Norris strongly advocates embracing a digital transformation and building lucrative partnerships through data science. In this episode...

How do you take a near non-existent partner program and grow it to driving over 45% of total revenue for the company? Today’s guest Wayne Monk, Senior Vice President, Global Alliances and Channel Sales at ASG, managed to do just that by staying focused on adding value to the business and the partner capabilities that differentiate them. In this episode, we discuss: - How to make your partner progr...

When it comes to managing alliances, there’s no easy button. Instead, it takes discipline on the execution… And skin in the game for both sides. So says my guest, Nicole Napiltonia, VP of Alliances and OEM Sales at Barracuda, who joins me in today’s episode to discuss how Barracuda are managing partners across the Big Three cloud providers: AWS, Google and Microsoft Azure. We discuss: - How Barrac...

We often talk about putting the customer at the center of everything we do — it’s an ironclad rule if you want success. And it’s just as important to your alliance ecosystem. Just ask Lara Caimi who, as Chief Customer and Partner Officer at ServiceNow, is thriving in a career at the intersection of customer and partner experiences. In today’s episode, we discuss: - How customer, employee and partn...

If you want to successfully manage strategic partnerships, you need to become an expert in every role needed to bring a joint solution to market that your partners can actually sell. In this episode, I sit down with Erik Heinrich to learn how he brings his wealth of experience across different roles in his career to his current position as Director Business Development, RUCKUS Networks at CommScop...

Most people trust that the food they buy from stores and restaurants will be safe. Yet, foodborne illnesses occur more often than you might think. Advancements in technology can drastically reduce contamination risks. But only when supported by a robust ecosystem. In this episode, I’m joined by two guests who are building that ecosystem: Susan Flake, Director of RFID Business Development, and Coli...

Being at the forefront of new technologies and driving digital transformation often requires an ecosystem to fill in the gaps in your capabilities in order to give your customers the very best solutions for their needs. That’s how Ray Octaviano, Vice President and Head of Business Development for North American Mobile Operators at IDEMIA, is tackling the company’s push to seamlessly digitally tran...

The pandemic has changed so much about our daily lives, so it should be no surprise that partnerships have been impacted, too. There are many challenges to overcome, but there are also opportunities for alliances. In this episode, I’m joined by Glenton Davis, Global Senior Business Development & Strategy Manager, Business Applications at Microsoft, to learn more about what those opportunities are....

As the tools and framework for managing alliances grow more sophisticated, more companies are realizing the power of partnerships — and they expect more from the relationship. It’s a welcome trend for Manoj Bhatia, Director Partner Business Development at Verizon, where he is seeing increased willingness to form alliances — along with larger and stronger ecosystems. He joined me on today’s show to...

Many cloud providers have funds available for their partners to drive migrations. And one of the best ways to maximize these funds? Making sure they build relationships with your customers. That’s how Sarita Janjani, Worldwide Strategic Alliances Portfolio at Brillio, is making the most of the funds she’s received through her AWS relationship. In this episode, Sarita joins me to discuss: - The wor...