The Collaborative Business Podcast

Peter Simoons
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Conversations with experts in the field of alliances & partnerships and with business owners and entrepreneurs who have built their businesses thanks to collaborations. The show aims to be an inspirational source for the listeners to provide useful insights to the best ways of working together in business-to-business collaboration. petersimoons.substack.com

  1. 1D AGO

    From IT to Alliances: Joost Allard on Mindset, Maturity and Lean Collaboration

    Collaborative business is no longer confined to a handful of industries or a niche professional discipline. In this episode from 2014 in the Collaborative Business Podcast, I speak with Joost Allard, a Dutch-born alliance professional who built his career in the United States and has witnessed the evolution of alliances from the late 1990s to today’s cross sector collaborations. Joost’s journey into alliances began in the technology world. After moving to the US and working in IT roles, he was invited to join a team exploring collaboration between the organisation operating NASDAQ and a European stock exchange. The ambition was bold: to explore the feasibility of a 24 hour trading platform. Although the initiative did not result in a lasting partnership, the experience proved formative. The failure was not technical but strategic. The parties entered with different long term objectives. That insight became Joost’s first deep lesson in alliances: alignment of intent matters more than operational detail. From there, alliances became his professional focus. What stands out in our conversation is his broad and evolving definition of a strategic alliance. For Joost, it is no longer limited to corporate partnerships. Alliances now span public private initiatives, smart cities, clean technology, automotive ecosystems and beyond. At their core, they involve two or more organisations discovering a shared purpose and choosing to collaborate rather than compete. We also explore the growing relevance of structured methodology. While mature organisations tend to formalise alliance processes, newcomers often operate with lower levels of formality. Joost frames this through the lens of capability maturity. Discipline is essential, but so is creativity. Alliances require both a robust process and the flexibility to adapt when opportunity emerges. A particularly forward looking part of our discussion centres on applying lean startup principles to alliance development. Joost argues that alliances should validate assumptions early, test business models collaboratively and reduce financial and reputational risk. Rather than building solutions in isolation, organisations can engage partners and customers in shaping and refining ideas before scaling them. He closes with three practical recommendations: cultivate trust based relationships, combine disciplined process with creative exploration, and start thinking about partnering earlier than feels necessary. In a world where innovation increasingly happens across organisational boundaries, partnering is no longer optional. It is integral to the business model itself. This conversation offers both strategic reflection and practical guidance for anyone navigating the expanding landscape of collaborative business. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit petersimoons.substack.com

    37 min

  2. FEB 11

    When Collaboration Changes You: Rethinking What a Strategic Alliance Really Is

    In this episode of the Collaborative Business Podcast, I am bringing back a conversation with Dave Luvison, a seasoned alliance professional whose career spans across practice, academia and consulting. Dave brings a rare dual lens to the conversation: practitioner realism combined with academic depth. What unfolds is not a textbook discussion of alliances, but a thoughtful exploration of what truly differentiates them from channels, partner programmes and ecosystems. Dave offers a definition of strategic alliances that goes beyond contracts and collaboration. For him, an alliance is not simply two organisations working together under a formal agreement. It is a relationship in which both parties must fundamentally change something about how they operate. Whether that involves adapting products, reconfiguring processes or altering service delivery, alliances require mutual organisational adjustment. That necessity to “break” something internally in order to create joint value is, in Dave’s view, what makes alliances both powerful and difficult. This distinction becomes particularly sharp when compared to channels. In a channel model, one organisation standardises and scales. It cannot adapt to hundreds or thousands of partners. In a true alliance, however, adaptation runs in both directions. That bilateral change creates opportunity for synergy, but it also introduces operational strain and cultural tension. Our discussion also moves into ecosystems. If alliances are hard to manage, ecosystems are nearly impossible to control. Dave argues that organisations cannot manage ecosystems in the traditional sense. Instead, they must shape conditions, define cultural orientations and create processes that make collaboration easier across a portfolio of relationships. The focus shifts from managing individual relationships to building collaborative capability. Perhaps most compelling is Dave’s emphasis on organisational behaviour and culture. Alliances do not fail because the strategy is flawed. They struggle because organisations are not naturally designed to collaborate across boundaries. Silos, identity dynamics and rigid internal processes often undermine good intentions. Leaders who declare alliances strategic must also recognise the operational and cultural adjustments required to support them. For organisations entering alliances for the first time, Dave offers a simple but demanding starting point: articulate your partner’s objectives as clearly and convincingly as your own. Step into their position. If you cannot describe what success looks like for them, the alliance begins on unstable ground. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit petersimoons.substack.com

    43 min

  3. FEB 4

    Strategic Alliances at Scale: Lessons from Philips on Ecosystems, Impact and Stamina

    Business collaborations come in many shapes and sizes, but few environments test the discipline of alliance management as rigorously as a multinational organisation. In this episode of the Collaborative Business Podcast, recorded in 2014, I sit down with Cees Bijl, who at the time headed Strategic Alliances and Emerging Business Areas at Royal Philips. The conversation offers a rare inside view of how alliances are designed, governed and sustained inside a global corporation where partnerships are not a side activity, but a core driver of innovation and growth. Philips, headquartered in Amsterdam, has long been known for bringing innovation to market through collaboration. From iconic consumer products such as Senseo to less visible but equally strategic business-to-business alliances, partnerships played a central role in delivering on the brand promise of improving people’s lives through meaningful innovation. As Cees explains, this importance has only increased as Philips moved deeper into healthcare and professional lighting, sectors that evolve rapidly and increasingly depend on ecosystems rather than stand-alone products. A key theme in the discussion is the shift from bilateral alliances to complex, multi-party ecosystems. In lighting and healthcare, Philips must collaborate with software providers, platform players, municipalities and a wide range of non-traditional partners to deliver complete solutions. This requires new skills, new governance models and, above all, a clear strategic anchor. Alliances, Cees argues, should never start from opportunism alone. They must be rooted in strategy and subjected to the same level of rigour as acquisitions, with clear expectations around top and bottom line impact. The episode also dives into how Philips organised its alliance capability. A small, central group-level team working closely with sector-specific professionals, supported by a growing network of trained alliance managers across the business. Formal processes, training programmes and regular reviews ensured that alliances remained relevant, or are deliberately and respectfully dismantled when their strategic rationale no longer holds. One particularly instructive example is the long-standing alliance between Philips Lighting and Somfy. What made this case compelling is not only the complementary technologies, artificial and natural light control, but the patience and stamina required to bring the partnership to life. It took years to align visions, prove commercial value and establish a shared go-to-market approach. The lesson is clear. Successful alliances are people-intensive, take time, and only gain real traction when they deliver tangible commercial results. This conversation with Cees Bijl remains highly relevant today. It challenges the idea that alliances are vague or secondary and shows instead how, when managed with discipline and intent, they become a powerful strategic instrument. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit petersimoons.substack.com

    33 min

  4. JAN 29

    Why Channel Is Not for Everybody and What It Really Takes to Make It Work

    In this episode of the Collaborative Business Podcast, I sit down with Dede Haas, a channel sales strategist who has been living and breathing “the channel” since 1985. If you have ever wondered what it really means to scale revenue through partners, or why some partner programmes never get traction despite great intentions, this conversation will give you both clarity and a few uncomfortable truths. We start with a practical definition. For Dede, business collaboration in the channel world is fundamentally about two companies working together to make money by selling something, often hardware, software, or services, with the vendor selling through a partner. That partner might be a value added reseller, a systems integrator, or another solution provider that bundles products and services into outcomes customers will actually buy. But the discussion quickly moves beyond the simplistic “sell-through only” framing. Dede also pulls in scenarios alliance professionals will recognise, such as independent software vendors building modules that extend a vendor product, or OEM arrangements where your capability becomes embedded in someone else’s offer. In other words, channel and alliances overlap more often than many people assume, even if the language differs by industry or company. A theme that comes back repeatedly is that channel is not for everybody. Dede works with many organisations that decide to “do channel” because direct sales has become costly, then expect revenue in a matter of months. She explains why that rarely happens and what has to change first: the company must be honest about whether its offer is suitable for a channel motion at all, and if so, which type of channel fits best. “Why channel?” is not a rhetorical question, it is the starting gate. From there, Dede goes straight into the operational reality: channel enablement is not an optional extra. If you want partners to sell your product, you are signing up to help them build their business selling your stuff. That requires patience, field-level support, and a mindset shift for leaders who quietly assume the partner should do all the work. Dede’s Intel story makes the point vivid. She describes how consistency and hands-on help built trust with partners who had seen too much turnover. Once that trust was real, partners opened doors, shared customer access, and the territory moved from almost no new revenue to around $2 million in two quarters. Trust, in the end, is not a value statement. It is a growth lever. We close with two practical nudges: watch out for channel conflict when you run direct and indirect sales in parallel, and do not build a channel programme with people who have never done it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit petersimoons.substack.com

    36 min

  5. JAN 22

    The Legal Foundations of Successful Alliances

    Today I’m bringing back an episode of the Collaborative Business Podcast where I explore a perspective on alliances that is often underestimated, and sometimes even resisted, until it is too late. The legal perspective. My guest is Luuk van der Laan, a lawyer specialised in strategic alliances, and someone who has spent much of his career at the intersection of collaboration, technology, and long-term business development. At first glance, the combination of law and collaborative business may feel uncomfortable to some. Law is still too often associated with control, protection, and worst-case scenarios, while alliances are associated with ambition, growth, and opportunity. One of the reasons I wanted to have Luuk on the podcast is precisely because he challenges that false contrast. In our conversation, it becomes clear that good legal thinking does not constrain collaboration. It enables it. Luuk brings a rare mix of experience to the table. After more than two decades as a lawyer, including eight years at Philips working directly on large-scale alliances such as Senseo, he understands alliances not only as contractual structures but as living systems. Systems that span R&D, production, marketing, governance, and executive decision making. His work today ranges from start-ups to global corporates, and from bilateral partnerships to complex European technology platforms involving dozens of parties. One of the central themes in our conversation is clarity of objectives. Luuk explains why making alliance objectives explicit, and even contractual, dramatically increases the chance of success. Not because objectives must be identical, but because hidden agendas almost always erode trust. This insight alone challenges a common assumption that contracts should remain deliberately vague to preserve flexibility. According to Luuk, ambiguity rarely creates flexibility. It creates friction. We also dive into governance, executive sponsorship, exit clauses, and intellectual property. Topics that many alliance teams prefer to postpone, but which often determine whether an alliance scales or stalls. Luuk shares concrete lessons from real alliances, including why negotiating the exit while everyone is still enthusiastic is one of the most pragmatic moves partners can make. What I particularly appreciate in this conversation is that it reframes the role of legal professionals in alliances. Not as deal closers at the end of the process, but as alliance architects who help partners think through how they want to work together before complexity sets in. If you are involved in building, managing, or advising strategic alliances, this episode offers a grounded and refreshingly practical view on how legal design can strengthen collaboration rather than suffocate it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit petersimoons.substack.com

    31 min

  6. JAN 15

    Collaboration as a Business Model: Six Factors That Make Partnerships Work

    In this episode of the Collaborative Business Podcast, recorded in 2014, I am in conversation with Francine Allaire, someone who brings both depth and pragmatism to the topic of collaboration. This is one of those conversations where experience speaks louder than theory. Francine has spent most of her career in sales, partner development, and ecosystem building, primarily in the IT and consulting industry, including senior roles at Oracle, as well as CSC, Sun Microsystems, and KPMG. What makes this episode particularly valuable is the way Francine connects collaboration to real business outcomes. She does not present collaboration as a soft concept or a fashionable slogan, but as a core business capability. In a world where organisations are constantly asked to do more with fewer resources, she makes a compelling case that no company, regardless of size, can afford to go it alone. Collaboration, in her view, is no longer optional. It is becoming the dominant business model for sustainable performance and growth. A central part of our discussion revolves around the six critical success factors Francine uses to assess and build partnerships. These factors may sound familiar at first glance, but her strength lies in how she groups and explains them in a way that makes them immediately applicable. She speaks about chemistry and compatibility, about complementarity rather than overlap, about shared vision and expectations, and about trust and communication as non negotiable foundations. What stands out is her insistence that whenever these factors are compromised, partnerships almost inevitably underperform. We also explore the organisational reality behind alliances. Francine is refreshingly honest about the fact that many companies like the results of collaboration more than they like the effort required to make it work. She talks openly about culture, incentives, and compensation, and how these often undermine collaborative behaviour despite good intentions. This leads to a thoughtful reflection on the role of alliance and partner professionals, who must act not only as business developers, but also as diplomats, mediators, and ambassadors inside their own organisations. Towards the end of the conversation, Francine shares a powerful personal example from her career that illustrates how collaboration can dramatically change outcomes under extreme pressure. Her key message is simple but profound. Think relationship first, business second. Companies do not partner with companies. People partner with people. This episode offers practical insight, grounded experience, and a clear reminder that strong relationships remain at the heart of successful alliances. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit petersimoons.substack.com

    36 min

  7. JAN 8

    The Invisible Glue of Alliances: Relationships That Actually Work

    In this episode of the Collaborative Business Podcast, I have the pleasure of welcoming back Anoop Nathwani. He was my very first guest on the podcast, and he is also the first to return. That alone already says something about the depth and relevance of our conversations. This episode was sparked by a short exchange we had after I wrote a newsletter inspired by a very practical weekend experience. I tried to fix a leaking tap myself and quickly realised that plumbing is a profession for a reason. Doing it yourself without the right expertise does not just fail to solve the problem, it often makes it worse. That reflection led me to draw a parallel with alliances. Alliance management is also a profession, yet it is still treated far too often as something people can simply do on the side. Anoop replied to my newsletter with a simple but powerful observation. At the end of the day, alliances are about relationships. That response was the starting point for this conversation. Together, we explore why the relationship aspect of alliances is so frequently underestimated or even ignored. Many organisations talk enthusiastically about alliances, but what they really mean is sales. They build contracts, define targets, and expect results to appear almost automatically. The relationship is assumed to be in place once the agreement is signed. Anoop and I strongly challenge that assumption. Relationships are not an on off switch. They are a continuum that requires constant attention, care, and professional skill. We discuss why alliance failure rates remain so high, often exceeding sixty percent, and why the root cause is rarely the contract or the value proposition. More often than not, it is the quality of the relationship. Alliance managers, as Anoop puts it, are the glue. When they do their job well, they are almost invisible. When they are missing, everything starts to fall apart. Another theme we unpack is the misconception that alliances are a magic wand for immediate sales. Sales do matter, but they are a lagging indicator. Sustainable results are the outcome of trust, communication, and shared intent, built over time. Expecting instant revenue from an alliance is like treating a marathon as a sprint. It also requires different skills and often different people from those who excel in sales roles. We also dive into how you can measure what many consider intangible. Trust, relationship quality, and collaboration can be assessed through access to senior stakeholders, willingness to innovate together, openness in sharing roadmaps, and the depth of dialogue between partners. Communication plays a central role here, not just in sending messages, but in listening, understanding context, and showing empathy. This episode is reflective, candid, and grounded in real experience. If you work with alliances or partnerships and want to understand why relationships are not a soft topic but the core of collaboration, this conversation is for you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit petersimoons.substack.com

    27 min
  8. The Real Work of Alliance Marketing: Internal Alignment, Joint Storytelling and Trust

    12/18/2025

    The Real Work of Alliance Marketing: Internal Alignment, Joint Storytelling and Trust

    Alliance marketing is often treated as a supporting act in the world of partnerships, a function that sits somewhere between communications, sales enablement, and brand. Yet in practice it shapes how partnerships are understood internally, how value is expressed externally, and how the entire organisation develops the muscle memory needed for collaboration at scale. In today’s episode, recorded in 2014, I am speaking with someone who has lived that evolution from the inside. Kim Tremblay has been working in alliance and partner marketing since the early 2000s, long before social platforms, community-driven content, and rapid digital amplification changed the rules of engagement. Kim’s modesty belies the depth and breadth of her experience. Across two decades, primarily within Schneider Electric, she has helped shape alliances that span continents, business units, and complex technical ecosystems. Her definition of an alliance is anchored not in branding or messaging but in tangible commitments. Dedicated teams, investment in research and development, joint solution design, and the operational discipline required to activate a partnership across more than 130 countries. In her world, alliances are not slogans, they are enterprise level endeavours with measurable impact. In our conversation, Kim explains how Schneider Electric organises its alliances and how alliance marketing fits into that structure. It is a distributed model, intentionally woven through business units and supported by both strategy and global marketing. Her team’s remit is two sided. Internally, they cultivate what she calls alliance DNA through communication, storytelling, and relentless alignment work. Externally, they shape joint narratives with partners, guide solution launches, and act as the connective tissue between global strategy and country level execution. We also explore how social media changed alliance marketing. For Kim, it reduced friction, accelerated communication, and opened space for authentic, real time interaction between brands. Yet it also introduced a new layer of cultural nuance. Not every partner embraces speed, informality, or decentralised voices, so her team calibrates their approach partner by partner. Throughout the discussion, Kim offers pragmatic guidance drawn from experience. The value of securing true executive sponsorship. The importance of mapping decision makers early. The reality that internal alignment often consumes more time than external coordination. And the usefulness of a simple principle that many alliance professionals rediscover the hard way: under promise and over deliver. This episode is a rich look at the often invisible work that enables alliances to succeed. I hope you enjoy it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit petersimoons.substack.com

    30 min
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Conversations with experts in the field of alliances & partnerships and with business owners and entrepreneurs who have built their businesses thanks to collaborations. The show aims to be an inspirational source for the listeners to provide useful insights to the best ways of working together in business-to-business collaboration. petersimoons.substack.com

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