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. 5d ago

    Planning Next Year’s SaaS Channel Strategy? Do the Math First

    Heading into planning season with a channel goal on the list? Cheryl Stookes has sat on both sides of the table, building partner programs at vendors and deciding which vendors to back as a partner. She unpacks how partners weigh where to spend their time, and what SaaS companies need in place before that calculation tips in their favor. -- Connect with Cheryl (guest) at www.linkedin.com/in/cherylstookes/ Connect with Cristina (host) at www.linkedin.com/in/cristina-flaschen/ Read Cheryl's article "It's not you, it's math": www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7510316885184245760/ -- This podcast is hosted by Pandium, the only embedded integration platform that facilitates faster code-first development of integrations, allowing B2B SaaS companies to launch integrations at scale without sacrificing customization and control. Learn more about Pandium at https://www.pandium.com/ To access more resources and content on technology partnerships, integrations, and APIs, check out our blog at https://www.pandium.com/blog and our resources page at https://www.pandium.com/ebooks

  2. Sep 25

    Why Partner Programs Stall and How to Fix Them

    Why do so many partner programs fail to bring in revenue? KaraLynn Lewis, founder of Partnership Advisory, has built programs from scratch and now helps companies fix the ones that stall. She and Cristina Flaschen talk through the most common mistakes and how to avoid them. -- Connect with Cristina at www.linkedin.com/in/cristina-flaschen/ Connect with KaraLynn at www.linkedin.com/in/karalynnlewis/ Learn more about Partnership Advisory at www.partnershipadvisory.com -- This podcast is hosted by Pandium, the only embedded integration platform that facilitates faster code-first development of integrations, allowing B2B SaaS companies to launch integrations at scale without sacrificing customization and control. Learn more about Pandium at https://www.pandium.com/ To access more resources and content on technology partnerships, integrations, and APIs, check out our blog at https://www.pandium.com/blog and our resources page at https://www.pandium.com/ebooks

  3. Jul 30

    Moving from Product Partnerships to Revenue: Jira Cooley on Owning the Number

    In this episode of Between Product and Partnerships, Cristina Flaschen sits down with Jira Cooley, Snowflake Partner Lead at GrowthLoop, to discuss his journey through product and technology partnerships and his decision to move closer to the revenue side of the business. Along the way, they explore what it takes to build technical fluency without an engineering background, why asking better questions is often more valuable than having all the answers

  4. Jul 9

    How to Price Your SaaS Product in the Age of AI

    For years, SaaS pricing was relatively simple. Build the product, sell seats, and scale. AI is changing that equation. In this episode of Between Product and Partnerships, Cristina Flaschen sits down with Roee Hartuv, Sr. Pricing Advisor & Head of GTM Expertise at Willingness to Pay, to discuss why AI is forcing software companies to rethink pricing from the ground up. As AI introduces real marginal costs, unpredictable usage patterns, and new customer expectations, many of the pricing models that defined SaaS are no longer enough.

  5. Jun 22

    The Vibe Coding Phenomenon: What Happens When Everyone Becomes a Developer?

    AI models let anyone "vibe code" an integration from 0 to 90% overnight, but scaling that final 10% is where most projects hit a wall. In this episode, former Knak VP of Product Rod Moshfeghi joins Cristina Flaschen to break down why the rise of the citizen developer actually makes rigorous systems design and long-term maintenance more critical than ever.

  6. May 28

    Beyond Handshakes: How to Structure Partner Programs for Success

    In this episode of Between Product and Partnerships, Cristina Flaschen talks with Martin Scholz, founder of CEG Consult, about why most partnership initiatives miss the mark, and what actually separates transactional deals from true, strategic relationships. Drawing on more than 20 years of partnership experience across startups, scale-ups, and enterprises, Martin cuts through the noise to explain why partnerships fail when they lack clear alignment, why "giving to get" can create toxic dynamics, and how to identify which partners actually deserve your resources. For more insights on partnerships, ecosystems, and integrations, visit www.pandium.com

  7. Apr 15

    Why Partnerships Fail (and How to Fix Them): Insights from Jenn Steele, SoundGTM

    In this episode of Between Product and Partnerships, Cristina Flaschen sits down with Jenn Steele, CEO of SoundGTM, to pull back the curtain on why most SaaS partnerships collapse. Jenn draws on her experience as a former CMO to explain the internal perspective of leaders asked to support partnership launches without proper lead time. The conversation dives into the common pitfalls of "pre-launching" integrations that aren't ready. It also covers the dangers of concentration risk with large platform partners as traditional outbound sales models struggle. Throughout the episode, Jenn emphasizes a consistent theme: Partnerships are built on human relationships, but they survive on operational clarity and consistent enablement. ‍Key topics The Resource Gap: Why Marketing and Partners Clash‍Partnership teams often operate in a silo and call on marketing for last-minute press releases without providing dedicated budget. Jenn explains why this misalignment leads to internal frustration. The Disconnect Between Revenue Goals and Budget‍Many companies expect a significant percentage of their pipeline to come from partnerships without allocating a corresponding percentage of their go-to-market budget. Jenn warns against expecting outsized gains from minimal resource investment. The 80/20 Rule of Partner Portfolios‍Most partner programs are top-heavy. Jenn discusses how to audit a portfolio to find the 20% of partners producing value while moving on from the rest. Operationalizing the "Shiny Object"‍Partnership leaders are often "people people" who are great at starting relationships but may struggle with the administrative details of ops. Jenn highlights the need for systems that keep partners engaged long after the initial announcement. Concentration Risk and "Big Guy" Partnerships‍Hitching a small startup’s wagon to a giant like Salesforce or HubSpot is a high-stakes game. Jenn explains why being at the mercy of a larger partner’s API can leave a small company vulnerable to sudden changes. ‍Episode highlights ‍00:40 — Jenn’s journey from "Early HubSpot" to CEO 2:19 — The friction between marketing leaders and partner teams 04:02 — Where should partnerships live? (Sales vs. Marketing) 06:35 — The reality of technical dependencies and API downtime 08:40 — The cautionary tale of the two-year "pre-launched" integration 12:15 — Primary failure modes including goals and internal resources 16:23 — Why everyone is focused on partnerships right now 18:36 — Managing expectations for partner-sourced revenue 22:31 — How to keep partners excited through consistent enablement 28:40 — The danger of concentration risk for small companies -- For more insights on partnerships, ecosystems, and integrations, visit www.pandium.com

  8. Mar 25

    Why AI Doesn’t Replace Product Thinking: Insights from Stephanie Neill, Stripe

    In this episode of Between Product and Partnerships, Cristina Flaschen sits down with Stephanie Neill, Head of Product at Stripe, to explore what’s actually changing in product development in the age of AI, and what isn’t. Stephanie draws on experience across government, Twitch, and Stripe to explain why the pressure to “just use AI” often leads teams in the wrong direction. Instead, she makes the case for grounding every decision in the problem to be solved, not the technology being used. The conversation dives into where AI is genuinely useful today, where it still falls short, and how teams can use it to move faster without compromising quality or trust. They also explore the operational realities behind the hype, from messy, unreliable data to the risks of deploying AI in high-stakes environments like payments and tax. Throughout, Stephanie emphasizes a consistent theme: AI can accelerate good product thinking, but it cannot replace it. Who we sat down with Stephanie Neill is Head of Product at Stripe, where she leads teams focused on payments infrastructure and tax-related products. Her career spans e-commerce, public sector innovation with the United States Digital Service, and creator monetization at Twitch. Stephanie brings expertise in:  Applying product thinking in high-stakes environments like government and financial systems  Building platforms that enable businesses and creators to earn revenue  Scaling product teams across complex, data-dependent domains  Navigating emerging technologies like AI within regulated, trust-sensitive systems Key topics Why “use AI” is the wrong starting pointTeams are often pushed to adopt AI without a clear problem in mind. The right approach is unchanged: start with the user problem, then evaluate whether AI meaningfully improves the outcome. Where AI actually works todayAI is most effective in accelerating discovery and iteration, helping teams research faster, test ideas, and explore solution spaces without heavy upfront investment. AI as a tool for reducing product riskProduct development is fundamentally about reducing risk. AI increases the number of iterations teams can run, allowing them to be wrong more often and converge on better solutions faster. The reality of data as a limiting factorEven the most advanced models are constrained by messy, incomplete, or externally controlled data. In domains like tax, poor data quality becomes a major blocker to reliable AI systems. Why human judgment still defines production readinessDespite rapid progress, AI outputs still require careful review. Especially in financial systems, the cost of being wrong is too high to remove humans from the loop. Episode highlights  11:00 — The industry-wide pressure to “just use AI”  13:30 — AI’s role in product discovery and rapid iteration  16:20 — Automating repetitive work with internal tools at Stripe  19:00 — What happens to entry-level roles in an AI-driven world  22:30 — Why data quality is the biggest limiter for AI systems  25:10 — The gap between AI hype and production reality  32:00 — How Stripe evaluates risk before shipping AI-powered features  35:10 — Staying grounded by continuously redefining the problem -- For more insights on partnerships, ecosystems, and integrations, visit www.pandium.com

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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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