Between Product and Partnerships

Pandium

Building integrations and a SaaS ecosystem requires close collaboration between product, tech partnerships, and other GTM and technical teams. We're talking to product, partnership, and engineering leaders about how to build, support, and scale integrations and SaaS ecosystems that result in happier customers and more revenue. Watch or listen on YouTube and most podcast directories.  Want to access more content on integrations, APIs, and technology partnerships? Check out our blog and resources page here: Blog - https://www.pandium.com/blogResources - https://www.pandium.com/resource-center

  1. JAN 28

    No-Code vs Code First: Why Visual Builders Often Lead to Integration Dead Ends

    Integrations look deceptively simple until they become the backbone of your business. In this episode of Between Product and Partnerships, Pandium CEO Cristina Flaschen sits down with Scott Lavery, Senior Product Manager at Arkestro. They unpack what really happens when integrations shift from a "nice to have" feature to something the company can't function without. Scott shares hard-earned lessons from a decade in B2B SaaS, covering sectors from martech to procurement. He discusses the headache of inheriting messy stacks and why iPaaS tools often hide long-term costs. The conversation also explores how integration work fundamentally changes what it means to be a product manager. Together, they dig into common failure modes and the tough tradeoffs junior PMs face when they’re "volun-told" to own integrations. Who we sat down with Scott Lavery is a Senior Product Manager at Arkestro. With over ten years of experience in B2B SaaS, he has repeatedly found himself responsible for integrations, often without ever intending to specialize in them. Scott brings expertise in: Unwinding complex iPaaS-driven environments.Designing integrations built to be "set and forget."Managing third-party dependencies alongside specific scale constraints.Advocating for pragmatic, cost-aware strategies. Key Topics Why integration PM work is fundamentally different  Integration success is defined by invisibility. Unlike standard features, value is found in reliability and trust rather than how often a user clicks a button. The hidden costs of low-code and iPaaS tools  Teams often end up writing code blocks inside "no-code" tools. We discuss how pricing models can distort architectural decisions and where velocity eventually hits a wall. What to do when you inherit a messy integration stack  Practical advice for PMs walking into undocumented systems filled with inherited workflows and vendor dependencies they can’t control. Episode Highlights 01:48 - How most PMs “fall into” owning integrations03:58 - Why integration metrics flip traditional product thinking on its head06:31 - Contextual success metrics: Why volume is not the same as value08:21 - Navigating ecosystems without becoming a domain admin11:18 - Why API docs lie and customers ignore your design intent15:37 - Warning signs of an unhealthy iPaaS environment19:05 - Silent failures and the pain of hearing about outages from customers23:45 - The code-block paradox in low-code platforms31:52 - Scott’s playbook for PMs inheriting integrations Key Takeaways Great integrations are designed to disappear  Successful integrations are rarely touched after the initial setup. In this space, reliability is a far more important metric than user engagement. Metrics are contextual, not universal A monthly sync can be just as vital as one that runs every five minutes. Frequency alone does not signal success. You can’t abstract away real-world usage  API contracts rarely reflect reality. No tool removes the need to understand how customers actually use systems like NetSuite or Salesforce. Low-code tools often trade speed for long-term pain  Teams save time early but spend years optimizing around pricing models and managing fragile logic. Inherited workflows is a scalability risk  If only one person understands the system, it is already brittle. This is a massive liability once customers are live. Silent failures erode trust fastest  Learning about outages from customers is a major failure. Proactive monitoring and clear communication are bas

    37 min

  2. JAN 7

    How Jacqueline Karlin Turns Purpose into Products at PayPal, Meta, Amazon

    How do you turn mission into products that actually work? In this episode of Between Product and Partnerships, Pandium CEO Cristina Flaschen sits down with product leader Jacqueline Karlin to unpack how mission-driven thinking translates into real-world execution across vastly different scales. From small business lending at Amazon, to global expansion on Alexa, to early conversational commerce at WhatsApp, Jacqueline shares concrete examples of how anchoring on customer problems shapes better decisions, especially when navigating new technologies like AI and agentic commerce. The conversation goes deep on how product teams move from conviction to action, turning “why” into repeatable, defensible “how.” Who we sat down with Jacqueline Karlin is a senior product leader with experience building and scaling products at Amazon (Lending & Alexa), WhatsApp, PayPal, Expedia, and more. Her work spans financial inclusion, commerce, AI-powered interfaces, and international platform expansion. Across roles, Jacqueline has focused on: Working backwards from real customer problemsLaunching and localizing products globallyBuilding trust-first experiences in regulated, high-stakes domains like payments and commerceToday, she’s deeply engaged in the evolution of agentic commerce and how AI agents are changing how consumers discover, decide, and transact. Key topics Mission-driven product building and defining “why” How Jacqueline’s personal mission shaped her career choices, and why understanding what motivates you as a product leader is critical to building products with long-term impact. Specific use cases Jacqueline has worked on Real examples from Amazon Lending, Alexa’s international expansion, and WhatsApp’s early commerce tooling, showing how different customer problems emerge at different layers of scale. Getting from “why” to “how” How strong teams translate mission into execution through hypotheses, customer conversations, localization, experimentation, and fast feedback (without chasing trends or shipping for novelty’s sake). Episode highlights 02:20 — Choosing roles based on mission, not momentum 06:36 — Learning from small business sellers and reshaping lending products 11:34 — What it really takes to launch Alexa in new countries 21:36 — Early lessons from conversational commerce on WhatsApp 22:50 — Defining agentic commerce and where it’s already showing up 25:12 — Why explainability matters when AI touches money 29:23 — Using hypotheses to move from intuition to execution Key takeaways 1. Mission creates clarity when decisions get hard Mission acts as a decision filter, helping product leaders prioritize the right problems and navigate tradeoffs with confidence. 2. Customer insight beats assumptions at every scale Direct conversations with users consistently surfaced constraints and opportunities that dashboards alone couldn’t reveal. 3. “Why” must survive contact with reality Strong teams treat ideas as hypotheses, testing and refining them quickly based on real feedback. 4. Global products are built locally Successful international launches depend on cultural relevance, local partners, and thoughtful defaults. 5. Trust is foundational in AI-driven commerce Explainability and transparency become core requirements as agents take on transactional responsibility. For more insights on partnerships, ecosystems, and integrations, visit www.pandium.com

    31 min

  3. 12/18/2025

    Leading Product Through Different Stages of Growth

    In this episode of Between Product and Partnerships, Cristina Flaschen speaks with Mike Gelber, Chief Product Officer at Impiricus, about his career path and the experiences that shaped his approach to product leadership in healthcare. Mike’s background spans finance, ad tech, and healthcare, and his move into product reflects a steady pull toward roles that combine technical depth with proximity to real users. Throughout the conversation, he shares how those experiences influenced the way he approaches product decisions, partnerships, and growth in a regulated environment. From Finance to Product Thinking Mike began his career at JP Morgan, where he quickly gravitated toward building tools that made work more efficient. Teaching himself to automate tasks introduced him to software development and revealed the leverage technology could provide. That curiosity led him into ad tech, where working closely with customers helped him connect system design with real usage. Over time, product became the natural intersection between building technology and understanding how people actually work. Why Founding a Company Accelerated His Growth Starting a company brought Mike closer to customers and everyday decision-making. Choices carried immediate consequences, which sharpened his sense of focus and sequencing. The experience also exposed him to areas of the business that are often distant from product roles, shaping a broader understanding of how products are built, sold, and sustained over time. Lessons from Building and Exiting Lasso Mike reflects on building Lasso and guiding it through growth before its acquisition by IQVIA. A defining lesson from that journey was the importance of validating demand early. Proving value through direct execution helped guide product direction and informed how he now thinks about product-market fit. That experience reinforced the importance of grounding decisions in real usage rather than assumptions. Joining Impiricus After the acquisition, Mike joined Impiricus as Chief Product Officer. He initially questioned whether SMS could be an effective channel in healthcare. Spending time with the product in real-world settings changed that perspective, particularly as he observed how clinicians interacted with it during day-to-day work. Those experiences helped clarify the product’s role in supporting healthcare providers. Defining Success in Healthcare Product Mike describes success at Impiricus through outcomes and experience. Pharmaceutical partners measure impact through prescribing behavior, while healthcare providers encounter fewer barriers when supporting patients. The most meaningful signals come from moments where the product quietly fits into existing workflows and reduces friction without drawing attention to itself. Timing, Integration, and Relevance The conversation returns often to timing. Mike explains how Impiricus uses data and integrations to engage healthcare providers when support is most relevant. This approach allows the product to fit naturally into clinical workflows, which is critical in environments where attention is limited. Looking Ahead Mike shares what’s next for Impiricus, including the launch of a new product called Ascend and continued momentum following recognition on Deloitte’s Fast 500 list. As the company grows, the focus remains on staying close to healthcare providers and maintaining the product principles that shaped its early success. Cristina closes the episode by reflecting on how Mike’s journey illustrates how product leadership evolves inside regulated industries.

    29 min

  4. 12/02/2025

    Why Your Data Is Failing You, and the Architecture That Finally Fixes It

    In this episode of Between Product and Partnerships, Cristina Flaschen sits down with Michael Kowalchik, Founder and CEO of Matterbeam, to unpack why so many companies still feel stuck when working with their data. Drawing on years of experience in machine learning and large-scale product architecture, Michael shares what he learned at Pluralsight when he was asked to help overhaul the company’s data systems during a period of rapid growth. Cristina and Michael explore why traditional approaches often fall short once a business reaches a certain level of complexity. Pipelines designed for one purpose end up stretched far beyond their limits, and central repositories rarely reflect the day-to-day realities of how different teams actually operate. Michael explains how a shift toward immutable logs and replayable data streams created a more predictable, trustworthy foundation inside Pluralsight, and how that experience eventually led to the formation of Matterbeam. They also examine the current wave of AI adoption and discuss why many organizations assume AI can cover foundational issues that still need real architectural attention. Michael describes the importance of building systems that make it possible to trace what happened, reproduce it, and understand how data moves through each step. He and Cristina talk about how this clarity becomes even more important as more software depends on automated decision making. If you’ve struggled with disconnected systems, slow access to information, or constant rework caused by shifting definitions, this conversation offers a grounded perspective on how to rebuild your data layer in a way that actually supports the work your teams are trying to do. For more insights on partnerships, ecosystems, and integrations, visit www.pandium.com To learn more about Matterbeam, visit www.matterbeam.com To sign up for Matterbeam's upcoming webinar, visit www.matterbeam.com/webinar

    30 min

  5. 11/19/2025

    The System Behind Successful SaaS Product Launches

    In this episode of Between Product and Partnerships, Cristina Flaschen speaks with Therese Stowell, VP of Product Launch at Anaplan, about what it takes to design scalable, repeatable product launch systems inside fast-moving SaaS organizations. Therese shares her nonlinear career journey, from Microsoft engineer, to artist, to product leader, and how that diverse background shaped her systems-driven, people-centric approach to orchestrating product launches across a complex enterprise. A Systems Approach to Product Launch Earlier in her career, Therese was asked to fix a recurring challenge familiar to many SaaS companies - products that didn’t generate meaningful revenue, features stuck in beta, and launches that left go-to-market teams scrambling. Working with a technical program manager, she developed an Alpha - Beta - GA framework that introduced clear milestones, stronger decision-making, and alignment across product, marketing, sales, enablement, support, and services. That experience led her to Anaplan, where the sheer volume of innovation required a dedicated function to “tune the revenue engine.” As Therese describes it, product launch isn’t just about getting a feature out the door, it’s about coordinating every part of the organization so the product lands with clarity and customer value. Cross-Functional Alignment and the Real Work of Launching Therese outlines two parallel tracks that determine whether a launch succeeds: Go-to-market readiness. Translating product insights into pitch decks, messaging, and enablementTechnical readiness. Ensuring presales, professional services, and support teams understand how the product works under the hoodBecause these streams mature at different times, communication and cross-functional orchestration become essential. Therese also shares how introducing a new “production release” milestone (separate from GA) helped set better customer expectations and create a more reliable internal rhythm. A Framework for Better Launches Therese breaks down her repeatable approach to designing and improving launch processes: Discovery. Understand engineering’s release lifecycle and gather cross-functional requirementsDesign. Translate a long list of tasks into a coherent, sequenced plan with defined decision pointsBuild & Iterate. Start small, gather feedback, and refine continuously instead of waiting for a perfect processScaling Launch at Anaplan Anaplan’s rapid innovation pace required Therese to expand the product launch function, adopt proper project management tooling, and build reporting that helped each department manage its workload. With 30+ concurrent launches, her team introduced efficiency practices, such as agenda-based meeting participation, to reduce thrash and ensure alignment without unnecessary meetings. Looking Ahead Therese’s advice? While process and tooling matter, at least half of a successful launch comes down to people. Transparent communication, early involvement, collaboration, and guiding teams through behavioral change are what allow launch processes to take root and scale across an organization. For more insights on partnerships, ecosystems, and integrations, visit www.pandium.com To learn more about Anaplan and their product innovation, visit www.anaplan.com

    32 min

  6. 11/05/2025

    Why the Best Product Leaders Think Beyond Delivery

    In this episode of Between Product and Partnerships, Cristina Flaschen talks with Francesca Smedberg, VP of Product at Rillion. Together they explore how product management has changed over the past two decades, what it takes to move from shipping features to achieving outcomes, and how curiosity and collaboration can transform a team. A Career Built on Curiosity and Experience Francesca began her career in market research and spent years helping companies test products and pricing strategies. When she joined a startup in 2009, she started as an analyst and quickly became deeply involved in how products were built. She worked alongside engineers to digitize traditional market research processes, replacing surveys and reports with virtual environments and interactive tools. She was often building tools to solve her own problems, creating workflows that would save time and improve insight for customers. Without realizing it, she was already doing product management. Over time she led analytics, digital production, and eventually the tech and product teams. That broad mix of data, customer, and technical work shaped her leadership style and gave her a deep understanding of how products come together from the inside out. Seeing Product Management Mature Francesca and Cristina discuss how product management has become more defined as a discipline. Early in her career, most of the focus was on delivery. Teams worried about whether they could build something, not necessarily whether they should. Today the focus is different. Good product management connects discovery, delivery, and business context. It asks questions before committing resources and pushes teams to understand problems before defining solutions.  Turning a Feature Factory into an Outcome-Driven Team When Francesca joined Rillion, the company had a long history and a complex platform shaped by mergers and acquisitions. Teams were busy, but their work often felt reactive. She saw an opportunity to help them move from feature volume to measurable impact. Her approach was practical. She encouraged clear priorities and learning through action. Instead of asking what to build next, her teams began by asking why. They defined goals tied to company strategy and measured their success by what changed, not by what shipped. Building Cross Functional Teams Francesca describes how she and her engineering leaders restructured the organization to support this new mindset. They built smaller, cross functional teams with clear missions and room to make decisions.  This structure encouraged focus and accountability. It reduced the friction of silos and helped people think less about whose job something was and more about what needed to be solved. Mixing people with deep institutional knowledge and those new to the company also brought balance.  Lessons for Aspiring Product Managers Francesca offers advice for people who want to move into product. She suggests learning from established voices in the product community, studying examples from real companies, and finding mentors who can share their own experiences. She encourages people to start within their current organization if possible. Moving internally allows them to learn the product deeply while building trust across teams.   For more insights on partnerships, integrations, and SaaS ecosystems, visit pandium.com To learn more about Rillion, go to rillion.com

    36 min

  7. 10/22/2025

    When AI Meets Security: Managing Risk in Connected Systems

    In this episode of Between Product and Partnerships, Cristina Flaschen, CEO of Pandium, speaks with Nate Lee, Founder of Cloudsec.ai, about the evolving challenges of security in SaaS ecosystems, AI, and integrations. Their conversation explores lessons from real-world incidents, risk management in fast-moving environments, and the emerging landscape of AI agents. Nate’s Background and Security Perspective With over a decade of experience as a Chief Information Security Officer, Nate has helped scale-ups build security programs focused on AI-native startups and cloud environments. His approach is grounded in pragmatism, meaning prevention is important, but effective detection, response, and transparency are what define resilience when incidents occur. Lessons from Real-World Incidents Reflecting on recent industry breaches such as the SalesLoft incident, Nate illustrates how small misconfigurations across systems like GitHub or AWS can trigger cascading risks. Even organizations with robust security teams remain vulnerable. He emphasizes the importance of continuous monitoring, anomaly detection, and disciplined response planning as part of a company’s operating DNA. Mitigation, Communication, and Runbooks For smaller teams, Nate and Cristina highlight the value of preparation and clarity when managing incidents. Segregating responsibilities allows engineers to focus on resolving issues while communications are handled transparently and calmly by others. Tabletop exercises (simulations of potential breaches) help teams respond confidently when real situations arise. Above all, Nate underscores the need for transparent communication with customers and stakeholders. Clear, factual updates that explain what happened, its impact, and next steps build far more trust than spin or silence. Having ready-made messaging frameworks also helps reduce the stress of decision-making during high-pressure moments. AI Agents and Emerging Risks The conversation then turns to the rapidly expanding role of AI agents in modern workflows. Nate explains that while these systems deliver tremendous efficiency gains, they also introduce new and unpredictable risks. Unlike traditional deterministic workflows, AI agents can act in unexpected ways, sometimes interpreting instructions beyond what developers intend. Threats such as prompt injection and the rise of unmonitored AI tools (or “shadow IT”) add layers of complexity. As adoption accelerates, maintaining visibility and control becomes critical. Despite these challenges, Nate remains optimistic about AI’s potential. He advocates for mindful adoption (understanding the risks, their likelihood, and the potential business impact) while ensuring that innovation and productivity continue to advance responsibly. Building Trust and Future-Proofing Security For Nate, trust is the foundation of security. Whether developing integrations, deploying AI tools, or managing internal systems, organizations must design processes that foster transparency, encourage safe experimentation, and promote continuous learning. Building a culture of accountability and openness not only reduces risk but also strengthens long-term relationships with customers and partners. Looking Ahead Nate is currently launching Trustmind, a platform that automates security due diligence and streamlines third-party risk management for organizations working with multiple vendors and integrations. For more insights on partnerships, ecosystems and integrations, visit www.pandium.com To learn more about Cloudsec., go to https://cloudsec.ai/

    39 min

  8. 10/10/2025

    Powering Ecosystems with Partnerships Services and AI

    In this episode, Cristina Flaschen speaks with Chris Samila, Co-Founder of Partnership Leaders, about what makes ecosystems thrive, how services and partnerships intersect, and how AI is reshaping the partner landscape. Chris’s Journey to Partnership Leaders Chris has spent most of his career in partnerships, moving from the clean tech space into SaaS with roles at Optimizely, FullStory and Crossbeam where he built partner programs from the ground up. About four years ago he co-founded Partnership Leaders, a global community dedicated to advancing the partnerships profession. Today he leads events that bring together thousands of partnership professionals worldwide. What Sets Ecosystem Leaders Apart Chris emphasizes that the difference between companies that activate their ecosystems well and those that don’t starts with executive support. Too often partnerships are siloed as a “channel” function. Modern ecosystem-driven organizations weave partnerships into product strategy, customer success and services delivery. Success is less about company size and more about clarity. Knowing which partners to prioritize, when to engage them and how to align that with company goals is critical. Services as a Growth Lever Historically SaaS companies avoided services, preferring a pure self-serve model. Many leading AI companies are now leaning heavily on services partners to drive adoption. Blending internal services with boutique partners creates a flywheel effect. Partners make money around the product which fuels ecosystem growth. The key is setting guardrails so services enable the ecosystem rather than compete with it. Compensation and Career Pathways Chris identifies trends in pay and career growth that reflect the increasing recognition of partnerships as a strategic function. He highlights partner operations as a growing specialization and the rise of Chief Partnerships Officers in mid-market and enterprise companies, signaling a broader shift toward embedding partnerships into core business strategy. Chris also advises job seekers to explore opportunities at high-growth AI companies that have yet to build partner programs, as these can offer significant career impact and growth potential. Outsourcing Partnerships and AI A surprising trend is the rise of outsourced partnership teams used by large companies to scale quickly. While relationship depth is always key, some firms have embedded outsourced managers for years blending seamlessly with internal teams. AI is reshaping this space. As AI reduces admin work, partner managers will spend more time on relationships and strategy. AI Trends in Partnerships Partnership Leaders recently completed a six-month research project on AI in partnerships developing a maturity model that shows how AI can support individuals, partner programs and company-wide motions. LLMs help partner managers with account planning.  Looking Ahead Chris and Cristina discuss upcoming Catalyst events in cities worldwide, highlighting the value of both digital and in-person experiences for networking. The conversation underscores the growing importance of building strong connections and leveraging events to strengthen partner ecosystems and professional growth. For more insights on partnerships, ecosystems and integrations, visit www.pandium.com  To learn more about Partnership Leaders and their global community, go to www.partnershipleaders.com

    39 min
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About

Building integrations and a SaaS ecosystem requires close collaboration between product, tech partnerships, and other GTM and technical teams. We're talking to product, partnership, and engineering leaders about how to build, support, and scale integrations and SaaS ecosystems that result in happier customers and more revenue. Watch or listen on YouTube and most podcast directories.  Want to access more content on integrations, APIs, and technology partnerships? Check out our blog and resources page here: Blog - https://www.pandium.com/blogResources - https://www.pandium.com/resource-center

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