Partnerships Unraveled

Partnerships Unraveled
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The weekly podcast where we unravel the mysteries of partnerships and channel to help you become more successful.

  1. 9h ago

    Danielle Simon - The Foundations for unlocking partner potential

    Send us Fan Mail Danielle Simon, Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at Actian In this episode of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Danielle Simon, Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at Actian, to talk about what it means to build a partner ecosystem from nothing. With more than 15 years in strategic partnerships and alliances, the last decade focused on data, Danielle describes herself simply as a builder. Most of Danielle's career has been spent inside startups and scale-ups, where building a partner ecosystem means starting from an ideal customer profile and finding early partners willing to build market demand together, before that demand even exists. Her opening question to a prospective partner is simple: will you get in the market with me, and how can we help each other from day one? She has also become skilled at distilling a joint value proposition into a single sentence, spelling out exactly why two companies are stronger together and precisely when a salesperson should bring that partner into a deal. As data infrastructure has become the foundation for AI, Danielle has watched the market rationalize after an initial frenzy, landing on a simple idea: AI is the engine, but governed, secure data is the fuel. That shift has blurred what partners actually do, with resellers picking up services work and independent software vendors selling their own products, so she leans on regular cadence and a clear read on each partner's strengths, whether that is a particular cloud platform or a specific AI use case, to know exactly which partner to bring into which conversation. Danielle's advice echoes her own path: partnerships is a high-friction job most never fully understand, so find your community and keep learning from it, whether that's a program built around cocktails instead of tiers, or a global network like Women in Alliances. Key Takeaways A Career-Long Builder Thrives on Starting From Zero. Danielle spent over 15 years across marketing, public relations, and now strategic partnerships, with the last decade focused on data infrastructure and AI. She describes herself as a builder who is most energized inside startups and scale-ups, where a partner ecosystem has to be created from scratch.Early Partnerships Start With Mutual Market Entry. Instead of asking a new partner to open their book of business right away, Danielle opens with a simpler question: will you get in the market with me? That approach builds trust quickly while still solving a real problem neither company could solve alone.A One-Sentence Value Proposition Speeds Up Sales. Danielle has trained herself to distill why a partnership works into a single sentence her sales team can repeat, naming the partner's strength and exactly when to bring them into a deal. If she cannot explain it that simply, she treats it as a sign the partnership needs more work.AI Runs on Governed, Secure Data. Danielle sees AI as the engine and governed, secure data as the fuel, which means the most interesting opportunity for partners right now is helping companies apply AI to their own business, not the AI technology itself. She calls the current environment a consultants market, since most companies are still early in that journey.Partner Roles Are Shifting as AI Blurs Lines. Resellers are picking up service work and software vendors are selling their own products, so Danielle keeps a regular cadence with partners and tracks each one's specific strengths. That knowledge is what lets her team know exactly which partner to call for a given customer situation._________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext  #channelmarketing   #channelpartners

  2. Sep 22

    Pax8 Roadshow Special: Jeannine Edwards, Cynet

    Send us Fan Mail Pax8 Beyond '26 Special – Jeannine Edwards, Sr. Director, Marketing at Cynet In this Pax8 Beyond '26 special edition of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Jeannine Edwards, Sr. Director, Marketing at Cynet, to talk about building community in the channel and staying ahead of a threat landscape that moves faster every year. Jeannine spent roughly a decade at ConnectWise helping originate the idea of channel community, and she brings that same instinct to Cynet's partner ecosystem today. At ConnectWise, Jeannine was among the first people in the channel to hold a title built around community, running IT Nation in its early years and creating the company's invent program over roughly a decade there. She describes the real work of community as facilitation: connecting dots and building feedback loops that run both from partner to vendor and back again. At Cynet, an emerging vendor still early in its community journey, she recently helped stand up the company's first Partner Advisory Council, built to be actionable, not a showcase, so partner input can genuinely shift the roadmap. That community instinct meets a genuine urgency in Cynet's core pitch. Modern attacks rarely stay in one place, moving through an organization in fast, chaotic paths the moment a single click goes wrong, while adversaries increasingly use AI of their own to move even faster. Cynet's answer is a unified platform paired with a managed detection and response (MDR) team built from its own people, sharing the same context and intelligence as the technology itself, so it functions as an extension of a managed service provider's (MSP's) team, not a commodity add-on. Her closing advice is simple: don't let AI and security buzzwords wash over you. Understand what a vendor's claims actually mean for your business, lead with the customer's real pain point, and let that clarity be the differentiator. Key Takeaways She Helped Originate Community as a Channel Discipline. During roughly a decade at ConnectWise, Jeannine was among the first in the channel to hold a role built specifically around community, running IT Nation in its early years and creating the company's invent program. That early work shaped how she approaches partner engagement today.Community Only Works When It Is Actionable. Jeannine treats community as facilitation: connecting dots and building feedback loops between partners and the vendor, not simply gathering people for a good dinner. Cynet's first Partner Advisory Council was built around that same principle, giving partners real influence over the roadmap.Channel-Only Growth Is a Three-Legged Race. Going channel-only and MSP first gives Cynet reach it could never build with a direct sales force alone, but it only works if the partner is fully in sync. If either side falls behind on enablement, Jeannine says, the whole motion trips.Modern Attacks Move as Fast, Chaotic Paths. Jeannine describes today's threats as multi-vector paths that cascade through an organization within moments of a single mistake, especially now that adversaries use AI to move even faster. Cynet's response pairs a unified platform with a human-staffed MDR team that shares the same context as the technology itself.Cutting Noise Protects Both Margins and Trust. Jeannine points to a statistic that stuck with her: roughly 60 percent of security alerts get ignored simply because there are too many of them. Reducing that noise protects the two biggest cost centers for an MSP, tools and people, while keeping technicians focused on what actually matters._________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext  #channelmarketing   #channelpartners

  3. Sep 15

    Ep. 251 - A new approach to bridging the vendor-partner gap

    Send us Fan Mail Ep. 251 – Larry Walsh, CEO & Chief Analyst at Channelnomics In this episode of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Larry Walsh, CEO and Chief Analyst at Channelnomics. After three decades studying how vendors and partners work together, Larry brings a data-driven, refreshingly clear-eyed view of what actually makes channel relationships thrive, and where the real opportunity for growth is hiding. Larry opens with a distinction that reframes the whole vendor-partner relationship: vendors tend to operate on narrative economics, describing value in ways people can believe, while most of the channel runs on vibe economics, things partners feel but can't always articulate. That gap is where misalignment creeps in. Larry shares an example of a vendor struggling with partner engagement, only to discover they were playing defense, protecting margin so tightly that the benefits weren't worth the effort. The fix isn't about equal treatment, it's about equilibrium: creating conditions where partners make money with a vendor, not on them. The conversation turns to friction in the go-to-market process, and Larry points to Channelnomics' own research on quoting: some partners wait three to five weeks for a quote, at a moment when customers expect Amazon-level speed. He also describes how partner programs accumulate like sedimentary layers, with policies piling up long after anyone remembers why they exist. His approach isn't chasing perfection, since that's expensive and never fully reachable, but building a continuous habit of asking whether a rule or process still earns its place, and removing what only adds drag for partners. Looking ahead, Larry sees the channel's role only deepening: less about moving boxes, more about becoming the connective tissue between vendor promises and customer outcomes, helping partners go further, faster, and with less risk. Key Takeaways: Equitable Outcomes Drive Partner Engagement  Larry points out that vendors and partners tend to run on two different kinds of economics: vendors describe value in narrative terms, while partners operate more on feel, things they sense but can't always put into words. When those two are out of sync, engagement suffers. He shares a real example of a vendor whose partners weren't engaging, only to find the vendor was "playing defense," making it too hard to capture even modest benefits, and the fix was building genuine equilibrium rather than identical treatment. Partners Earn Only When They Perform  Larry breaks down why channel economics work the way they do: a direct salesperson has to be paid, trained, and supported whether or not they close deals, while a partner only earns when they deliver. He notes that a channel sale runs roughly 10 to 15% more economically than a direct one, largely because partners are mining the white space already sitting inside their own install base. Quoting Speed Decides the Sale  Drawing on Channelnomics' own research, Larry shares that a third of partners are waiting three to five weeks for a quote, at a time when customers, conditioned by Amazon-style buying, expect answers instantly. He points to vendors managing a quarter million SKUs or custom-built hardware as examples of how quickly complexity can turn a quoting process into a lost sale. Probability Models Replace Guesswork With Strategy  Larry describes a recent project where a global vendor was deciding how to restructure a regional partnership, and Channelnomics ran the options through a probability model that scored four different configurations by likelihood of success, one coming in at 85%. Rather than replacing judgment, the model gave the vendor a clearer set of trade-offs to weigh, which lined up with their budget and capabilities. The Channel Keeps Evolving Into Trusted Advisors  Larry pushes back on "save the channel" narratives, pointing to a partner ecosystem that's larger than ever, with more than 600,000 partners in Microsoft's network alone and roughly 1.2 million worldwide. His view is that the channel's role keeps shifting, from selling boxes to clouds to now selling outcomes, with partners becoming the connective tissue between what vendors promise and what customers actually experience. _________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext  #channelmarketing   #channelpartners

  4. Sep 8

    Dorian Kominek - Riding the Partner Rainbow

    Send us Fan Mail In this special 250th episode of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Dorian Kominek, Channel Leader for the Zapier Solution Partner Program. After a decade as an entrepreneur and years building partner programs across services and SaaS, Dorian brings a refreshingly grounded view of what channel work actually is, and why humility might be its most overlooked skill. Dorian traces his path from a decade as an entrepreneur through partner programs in appliances and food service, and into the two years he has spent building Zapier's Solution Partner Program, a network of agencies that help customers automate their workflows. Along the way he picked up a philosophy he now leads with: human first, living close to the surface of who you are, with less pretense and more willingness to be vulnerable. Looking back at his years in traditional channel roles, he points to something tech could stand to learn: humility, and the discipline to get down to brass tacks and keep things simple. That same directness carries into how Dorian sees tech's partner ecosystem. Because SaaS products are intangible, lines of code rather than physical goods, companies have been free to get creative, building service partners, integration partners, and resellers across every hue of what he calls the partner rainbow. Bringing that kind of program into a company that grew through product-led growth took a different kind of case-making. Dorian frames building a channel function as an act of entrepreneurship, one that thrives when it rides alongside senior leadership's broader strategy from day one. With Zapier's own product evolving fast alongside AI, Dorian's approach is to stay iterative: lean on partners as eyes and ears, take small steps, and let the relationships, not the roadmap, lead the way. Key Takeaways: Human First, Not Just a Tagline Dorian's LinkedIn line, human first, describes people who live close to the surface of who they are, without the layers of pretense picked up over a career. He admits that living this way makes you more vulnerable, but says it feels more authentic and makes it easier to build things together with partners. Traditional Channel's Underrated Edge: Humility Before tech, Dorian ran distributor relationships at Miele and channel marketing at Compass Group, work he says keeps things refreshingly simple: a customer's dishwasher breaks, and the job is to offer real options. He believes tech does its best work when it carries that same directness forward, since the underlying job is still just one-to-many relationships built on people helping people. Every Hue on the Partner Rainbow Because software is intangible, just lines of code rather than a physical product, Dorian sees tech partnerships as far more inventive than the traditional distributor-and-installer model. Instead of a handful of fixed categories, companies can build service partners, integration partners, and resellers across, in his words, every hue of the rainbow, giving the episode its title. Treat Channel Building Like a Venture Dorian frames standing up a channel function as an act of entrepreneurship: small bets, fast iteration, and a willingness to take risks before the data fully proves the case. He notes that mature companies naturally lean managerial and protective of what they've built, so the programs that succeed are the ones that align closely with senior leadership's broader strategy. Staying Iterative When the Product Won't Sit Still With Zapier's product shifting quickly alongside AI, Dorian has learned to let go of trying to control every outcome. His approach now is to lean on partners as eyes and ears, take small steps, and build as the picture changes, without over-constructing a plan for a moment that may not last. _________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext  #channelmarketing   #channelpartners

  5. Sep 1

    Pax8 Roadshow Special - Kyle Tatum

    Send us Fan Mail In this special Pax8 Beyond '26 feature of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Kyle Tatum, Senior Channel Sales Manager at NordSecurity. Kyle leads new managed service provider recruitment for Nord and has been part of the channel program since its early days, giving him a first-hand view of how Nord scaled past a thousand partners while keeping the experience personal. Kyle opens with what has made NordSecurity's channel program stand out as it has grown. Every new partner gets a free Not For Resale license to use internally, direct attention from a real person during the recruit phase, and a dedicated account manager as soon as they sell their first seat. No inbox roulette. Nord's alliance work follows the same integration-first mindset. The recent partnership with CrowdStrike started with two real integrations: an API-driven shutdown of secure access when CrowdStrike detects a threat, and a SIEM integration in progress. Marketing then follows from the actual substance. From there, the conversation turns to consumer brand equity as a channel tool. NordVPN is a globally recognized brand, and Kyle treats it as an icebreaker. Even when partners initially assume Nord is a consumer-only company, that opens the door to demonstrating what the enterprise stack actually delivers. Kyle draws a parallel to how Nike broke into skateboarding through one credible product moment. On AI, Kyle is thoughtful. Managed service provider requests are moving toward Model Context Protocol integrations that let them manage products through Claude or ChatGPT. Nord has already shipped that for Nordstellar and is bringing it to other products. Kyle closes on a piece of practical wisdom that grounds the whole conversation. Don't get caught up in the hype cycle. Vendor conversations, real integrations, and real relationships are what shape lasting channel partnerships. People buy from people they like. _________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext  #channelmarketing   #channelpartners

  6. Aug 25

    Evgenia Ostrovskaya - The unlock for navigating partner relationships

    Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Evgenia Ostrovskaya, Director of Channel Sales for EMEA Digital at Johnson Controls. With more than 25 years across software development, product, customer success, marketing, and sales, Evgenia brings a full-lifecycle view of what makes channel programs work in the smart and intelligent buildings space. Evgenia opens with a mindset she brings to every partner conversation: partners function as an extension of every process inside the vendor organization. Marketing, sales, support, delivery, training. If a team does not fully understand its own internal processes, it cannot help partners scale them either. That is why she puts so much emphasis on qualification and delivery readiness. Scaling the process means investing in quality before adding partners, and pacing yourself when the platform is still finding product-market fit. Empathy for friction, especially in the early days of any new offering, is what separates channel programs that scale from those that stall. From there, the conversation moves into how the channel for smart and intelligent buildings has evolved. The shift from product install to full lifecycle service management changes everything about how partners deliver, from initial setup to ongoing customer value and recurring revenue. Siloed systems have given way to open, interoperable platforms and ecosystems, which means partners with integration capabilities are the ones pulling ahead. Cyber security has moved from a future concern to a gating function today. Evgenia frames the strongest partners as those investing in these capabilities alongside her, building the kind of value chain that keeps end customers coming back. Evgenia closes on the formula she keeps coming back to. Companies exist to solve customer problems better than others. Channel teams exist to help partners do the same. When both sides invest in the outcomes their customers actually want, everyone wins. _________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext  #channelmarketing   #channelpartners

  7. Aug 20

    Partnerships Unraveled Ep. 248: David Turner, Nutanix

    Send us Fan Mail Ep. 248 – David Turner, Distribution Leader for EMEA at Nutanix In this episode of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with David Turner, Distribution Leader for EMEA at Nutanix. With 26 years in the industry, split between distribution and vendor roles, David brings a rare view from both sides of the channel, and a clear sense of what actually makes partnerships work. David opens with what's stayed constant across his career: channel leadership is a people business, built on trust, a clear vision, and mutual profitability. What's changed is the complexity of the landscape, as customers increasingly look for orchestrated solutions instead of straightforward fulfillment. That's where segmentation comes in. Nutanix invests deeply in its strategic partners while working closely with distributors to spot the partners on the rise, especially in emerging areas like containers and generative AI. David is equally open about how much Nutanix leans on its partners' hard-won customer relationships, describing the philosophy simply: "we're borrowing the relationship," and treating it with real care. David also explores what it takes to lead across EMEA, embracing the unique character of each market it contains. Nutanix keeps its core program and value proposition consistent everywhere, then gives each region room to shape its own mix of partner types and commercial terms, whether that means system integrators, traditional resellers, or service providers. That same philosophy of choice carries into Nutanix's go-to-market: partners can build on the hardware, hypervisor, or cloud environment their customers already prefer, and can operate as both reseller and service provider at once, so the answer to "can you support this?" is almost always yes. Looking ahead, David sees distributors moving beyond fulfillment into transformation: orchestrating partner networks, sharing data, and enabling growth at scale. It's a shift that keeps the whole ecosystem, and its trusted relationships, moving forward together. Key takeaways: Trust and Profitability Anchor Great Channel Leadership. David points to two things that never change in channel leadership: genuine trust between people, and a shared focus on mutual profitability. The strongest leaders walk the walk, standing behind what they say and staying laser focused on making sure everyone understands their role and their share of the profit pool. Borrowing the Relationship, and Protecting It Like Your Own. David describes Nutanix's channel model simply: partners bring 20 to 30 years of customer relationships to the table, and Nutanix sees itself as borrowing that trust, not owning it. That means treating every partner-held relationship with real care, since the end customer belongs to the partner, not the vendor. Segmentation Creates Room for Both Scale and Discovery. David treats segmentation as the tool that makes room for both strategic, established partners and the ones just coming into their own. Deep investment goes to the large relationships that already know Nutanix's playbook, while distributors help identify partners on the rise in newer spaces like containers and generative AI. One Program, Many Markets: Consistency Meets Local Nuance. EMEA covers a huge range of mature and high-growth markets, and David embraces just how different they are. Nutanix keeps its core program and value proposition consistent everywhere, then lets each region choose its own mix of partner types, from system integrators to service providers, and adjust commercial terms where needed. Distribution Is Moving From Fulfillment to Transformation. David sees the distributor role evolving well beyond order processing into orchestrating the wider partner network. That means putting data to work, scaling enablement and training, and helping partners pivot toward new consumption models, positioning distribution as a genuine growth engine for the next few years. _________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext  #channelmarketing   #channelpartners

  8. Aug 18

    Pax8 Roadshow Special - Gene Reich

    Send us Fan Mail In this special Pax8 Beyond '26 feature of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Gene Reich, Cofounder and CEO at Traceless. Coming from more than two decades running an Apple-focused managed service provider, Gene brings an operator's view to a conversation about human communication security, the help desk as an emerging attack surface, and a security brand that leads with positivity. Gene opens with how Traceless came to exist. Running his own MSP, he kept finding the same vulnerability. Help desk conversations, password requests, and human communication were consistently the weakest point, and no existing tool solved it well. He built a prototype, brought five managed service provider peers into an early advisory group, and iterated from there. The attack surface has kept expanding since. Threat actors have moved beyond email into ticketing systems, Teams, Slack, and now voice AI. Traceless has grown alongside that landscape, focused on giving providers and their customers protection that meets how people actually communicate today. From there, the conversation moves into how Traceless shows up in a market known for fear-based branding. Gene deliberately chose the opposite approach. Tie-dye Nike jumpsuits, colorful design, and a message centered on helping providers get healthier through better tooling, without leaning on fear tactics. The AI approach follows the same intentional line. Traceless runs its own small language model that never dials home, stays inside a container, and adds contextual analysis on top of traditional data protection. The platform flags high-risk transactions and gives providers a chance to guide the moment with clear guardrails. Gene closes on a simple reframe. The digital assets managed service providers control today are the equivalent of what banks hold. Customers should expect the same level of security from both, and the providers who deliver that will be the ones customers trust the most. _________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext  #channelmarketing   #channelpartners

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The weekly podcast where we unravel the mysteries of partnerships and channel to help you become more successful.

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  • Creator
    Partnerships Unraveled
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    258
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Partnerships Unraveled
  • Show Website
    Partnerships Unraveled

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