Inside Partnering

Chip Rodgers

Strategies behind today’s most successful partner ecosystems. Join host Chip Rodgers for candid conversations with the leaders shaping the future of ecosystems, co-selling, and go-to-market strategy. insidepartnering.substack.com

  1. Pankaj Kumar: Inside Kyndryl’s Agentic AI Strategy with AWS

    2D AGO

    Pankaj Kumar: Inside Kyndryl’s Agentic AI Strategy with AWS

    AWS re:Invent has increasingly become a signal for where enterprise technology is actually headed, not just what’s being promised. In this conversation from the show floor in Las Vegas, Pankaj Kumar, Global VP of Strategic Alliances and Head of the AWS Business Group at Kyndryl, shared a grounded perspective on what it really takes to move agentic AI from pilot projects into real production environments. Rather than focusing on abstract AI potential, the discussion centered on execution, data gravity, and the operational realities faced by Global 2000 enterprises. Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Why So Many AI Pilots Stall One of the core challenges Pankaj highlighted is something many partner leaders are seeing first-hand: an explosion of pilots with very little follow-through. “There’s a lot of money being poured into agentic AI that start with the pilot, but a very small percentage of those pilot projects actually see ROI in terms of real world executable projects.” The issue isn’t lack of tooling or ambition. It’s that most pilots don’t connect deeply enough to the systems that actually run the business. Without access to mission-critical environments and operational data, pilots remain isolated experiments. The Role of Mission-Critical Systems Kyndryl’s position in the market is unusual. The company manages complex, long-running systems for a majority of Fortune 100 enterprises, including a significant portion of the world’s managed mainframe environments. “We manage more than two to three decades of mission-critical systems for our customers. I think we have access to data which very few in the industry have.” That access becomes the foundation for making agentic AI useful. Instead of training agents on abstract datasets, Kyndryl works directly with the operational knowledge embedded in real systems, workflows, and infrastructure. The Enhanced Agentic AI Framework At re:Invent, Kyndryl highlighted its enhanced agentic AI framework, which combines several layers: * Deep operational knowledge from managed services * Proprietary platforms like Kyndryl Bridge with billions of data points * Agent builders developed by Kyndryl * Native integration with AWS services “That repository of knowledge that we have is the critical fuel that you require to make an agent AI project successful.” This approach is not positioned as a one-size-fits-all product. Instead, the framework is designed to be customized by region, industry, and customer maturity. From Assessment to Execution Another theme that surfaced repeatedly was execution discipline. Kyndryl works across the entire transformation lifecycle, from assessment and migration to modernization and operations. “We are able to translate those pilot projects into real world executable projects.” That translation is reflected in business outcomes. According to Pankaj, a meaningful portion of recent Kyndryl signings already include an agentic AI component, suggesting that customers are moving beyond experimentation. AWS as a Strategic GTM Partner The conversation also explored the depth of the AWS partnership. Kyndryl has aligned its go-to-market motion with how AWS now sells by industry rather than horizontal services. “Our sales motion and our collaboration with AWS is in tune with how AWS is going to the market, what solutions they are taking to the market.” This includes co-sell engagement across financial services, insurance, healthcare, automotive, and the public sector, where Kyndryl was a finalist for multiple AWS Partner of the Year awards. Industry-Specific Execution Matters One insight particularly relevant for partner leaders is the emphasis on regional and industry focus. “Something that works in Japan could not be the same thing that we take to continental Europe or Australia.” Rather than forcing global uniformity, Kyndryl and AWS customize plays based on local regulations, market maturity, and customer expectations, especially in regulated industries and sovereign cloud environments. Consulting as a Growth Engine Since spinning out as an independent company, Kyndryl has invested heavily in consulting capabilities to complement its managed services heritage. “Our consult business is more than $3 billion, growing at about 35 to 40% year on year.” That consulting layer allows Kyndryl to engage earlier in transformation conversations and stay involved through execution, which is essential for agentic AI initiatives that cut across infrastructure, data, and operations. A Grounded View of What Comes Next Rather than framing agentic AI as a sudden revolution, Pankaj described it as an evolution that depends on execution maturity. “This would be something where Kyndryl fills a gap in the market.” For partner leaders, the takeaway is clear: success in the agentic AI era will depend less on novelty and more on operational credibility, trusted data access, and tight collaboration with hyperscalers. 🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships. Let’s build the future of partnering - together. 📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career. Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it. 🎧 Want more conversations like this? 💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com Check out all 130+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com 🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

    13 min
  2. Kelley Lear: AI, Co-Innovation, and the Future of Supply Chain Platforms

    6D AGO

    Kelley Lear: AI, Co-Innovation, and the Future of Supply Chain Platforms

    Leading Through Supply Chain Transformation Kelley Lear stepped into her role as CVP and GM, Global Alliances for Blue Yonder just four months ago, and she arrived at Microsoft Ignite with major momentum behind her team’s work. Fresh off winning Microsoft’s Global ISV Partner of the Year award, Blue Yonder is doubling down on AI innovation, ecosystem collaboration, and a platform vision designed to transform supply chains end to end. “Ultimately we need to partner not just to partner so that we get an award. It’s really what is the value that we’re bringing to the customer.” From keynotes to side conversations with SIs and product leaders, Kelley emphasized that supply chain complexity demands deep partner expertise, global reach, and joint innovation. Blue Yonder now works with more than 300 partners - spanning tech vendors, hyperscalers, global SIs, and boutique regional firms. Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Why Supply Chain Needs a Connected Ecosystem Kelley shared that Blue Yonder is the only platform with AI embedded across the full supply chain - from planning to execution to returns. That end-to-end view has become essential as supply chains face disruptions from geopolitics, tariffs, weather, social pressures, and demand volatility. “You need complete visibility to the supply chain and the ability to plan and pivot and incorporate all the data you need to make good decisions quickly.” The partner ecosystem is central to delivering this vision. Strategic systems integrators like Accenture, Deloitte, PwC, EY, and specialized regional partners provide decades of experience within specific verticals and customer environments. Their understanding of systems, workflows, and C-suite priorities allows Blue Yonder’s platform to land with higher adoption and faster value realization. Mapping the Right Partners to the Right Customers Given the scale and complexity of a 300-partner ecosystem, Kelley described the importance of careful alignment between field teams, industry specialists, and partners. Blue Yonder has an industry advisory team that matches the right partner - by region, vertical, subvertical, and product expertise - to each opportunity. The company is also launching a new agentic AI partner scorecard, which allows sales and alliance teams to ask natural-language questions about partner capabilities. “We’re looking at things like how many accredited personnel they have, in which regions, on which products, customer sat scores, and project expertise.” The goal is not to rank partners for competition but to help internal teams and customers find the best match for each scenario. Scaling the Long Tail with Modern Partner Marketing Kelley also highlighted the importance of supporting the “long tail” of smaller partners who may not have dedicated alliance managers. Blue Yonder is rolling out scalable partner programs including updated portal content, channel calls, toolkits, and campaigns-in-a-box. “We’re getting a little more sophisticated with really professional marketing toolkits instead of just saying - you could spin up a webinar and use our name.” As Blue Yonder expands its new Azure-based platform - with deep Snowflake integration and advanced AI - the company is also ramping up global enablement to help partners stay ahead of the rapid innovation curve. Co-Innovation with Microsoft and a Shared Future Vision Blue Yonder’s Global ISV Partner of the Year recognition reflects a rapidly strengthening relationship with Microsoft. Kelley noted that the two teams are deeply aligned across co-innovation, product development, co-marketing, and field co-sell motions. “We’re collaborating with Microsoft on incorporating our AI into our product mix, and also on how others can build agents onto our platform.” Beyond technology, the joint marketing and field alignment efforts are helping both teams articulate their “better together” story - including scalability, time to value, and end-to-end security. What Comes Next for Supply Chain Leaders Kelley closed with a reminder that global supply chains are under more pressure than ever - and that only an integrated ecosystem can help companies respond in real time. “We want to disrupt the market and really transform supply chain end to end.” With AI advancing rapidly, Microsoft partnership momentum building, and a global partner network evolving around industry expertise, Blue Yonder is positioning itself as a leader in the next era of intelligent, adaptive, resilient supply chains. 🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships. Let’s build the future of partnering - together. 📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career. Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it. 🎧 Want more conversations like this? 💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com 🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

    16 min
  3. Marc Monday: Building the AI Partner Ecosystem of the Future

    12/17/2025

    Marc Monday: Building the AI Partner Ecosystem of the Future

    Introduction: A Moment of Acceleration The pace of change has become the defining characteristic of the AI era. As Marc Monday puts it, quoting Bill McDermott, “The pace of change has never been this fast and it’ll never be this slow again.” And inside ServiceNow’s rapidly expanding partner ecosystem, that accelerating change is creating unprecedented opportunity for partners. In this episode, I spoke with Marc Monday, GVP of Americas Partnerships & Channels at ServiceNow. Marc and I dive into how ServiceNow is approaching AI, why partners remain essential, and why orchestration - not infrastructure - is becoming the most critical layer in the enterprise tech stack. Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. The Partner Role in an Agentic World ServiceNow’s AI strategy is focused on meeting customers where they are. That means working with the infrastructure, data, and applications they already have - not forcing costly rip-and-replace motions. Marc emphasizes that this is exactly where partners shine. “Partners bring a deep level of specialization in customer understanding, and partners know how to move fast and meet the market where it is.” ServiceNow has five partner routes to market - consulting and implementation, resellers, service providers, hyperscaler co-selling, and tech/build partners. Increasingly, partners combine multiple motions, creating IP, offering managed services, and developing apps. Marc’s view is simple: focus on outcomes, not taxonomy. “If we fall into that legacy taxonomy, sometimes it hamstrings what the partner is providing.” Workflow Orchestration as the New Control Tower One of the big ideas Marc shares is the rise of the orchestration layer - the system that coordinates agents across the enterprise. ServiceNow sits across the data layer, application layer, and now agentic workflows, giving it a unique ability to coordinate how work actually gets done. “At the end of the day, it’s about workflow orchestration and what that control tower is going to look like.” This orchestration layer determines which agent acts first, what data it accesses, and how steps flow across systems. It’s the enterprise equivalent of air traffic control. Real Value: Pragmatic AI, Not Whiz-Bang Demos Marc shares an important reminder - the most meaningful AI value often comes from eliminating the everyday “administrivia.” “If you talk to a user, they can tell you right away… This is the administrivia that just takes the air out of my day.” Partners play a crucial role in discovering these real-world use cases, mapping processes, and turning small but painful inefficiencies into major productivity improvements. Where the Opportunities Are Emerging ServiceNow is seeing strong opportunity across four primary areas: 1. Autonomous IT Hardware management, IT service delivery, systems improvement. 2. Security AI is increasing both complexity and opportunity across the security surface. 3. CRM and Customer Experience Extending ServiceNow’s strong CSM foundation. 4. Cross-Application Interoperability Where agents, workflows, and orchestration combine. Throughout all of these, partners act as the translators connecting enterprise reality with AI-enabled execution. Co-Sell: It Depends - Because It Must When I asked Marc about co-sell motions, his answer was delightfully honest: “It depends. It really does depend what is the customer’s expectation.” ServiceNow supports store listings, deal registration, partner-led opportunities, and multi-party co-sell with hyperscalers. Marc’s team brings together the right partner and the right opportunity at the right time. The Road Ahead Marc’s final insight was about trust and flexibility - two things customers need most right now. “Customers need flexibility. Customers need partners that can meet them where they are.” As AI accelerates, orchestration becomes more important, partners become more essential, and the opportunities multiply. 🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships. Let’s build the future of partnering - together. 📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career. Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it. 🎧 Want more conversations like this? 💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com 🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

    17 min
  4. Gretchen O’Hara: Building the Next Generation Partner Ecosystem at Sage

    12/15/2025

    Gretchen O’Hara: Building the Next Generation Partner Ecosystem at Sage

    Few leaders in the industry understand ecosystem transformation like Gretchen O’Hara, the longtime Microsoft executive, former Splunk channel leader, and now Executive Vice President of Strategic Partnerships & Business Development at Sage. In this episode, Gretchen shares her early impressions of Sage, why she joined, and how she sees AI reshaping partner opportunity across the world. This conversation offers an inside look at the major announcements coming out of Sage Future for Partners in Barcelona - including Sage’s new Finance Intelligence Agent, next generation Sage X3 Cloud, and Sage AI Developer Solutions built with AWS Bedrock. Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Why Gretchen Joined Sage Gretchen has spent her career building partner ecosystems at massive scale. Yet she says Sage had something unique - a deep, community-driven network of partners rooted in finance, accounting, and operational systems. One quote from the transcript captured her motivation perfectly: “I always had an eye on Sage… I was really envious of what Sage had in terms of that deep partner commitment and this inherent community that has rallied around Sage.” She also saw something else: the finance function as one of the first places where AI will deliver real, practical value. “I knew that AI is gonna have very practical impact… and I think this is where you’re gonna see a lot of this in full production first.” Sage’s 40 years of financial data, combined with its cloud first and AI first ambitions, made the move compelling. A Complex and Growing Ecosystem Sage works with a uniquely diverse partner mix: global SIs, accounting firms, MSPs, ISVs, VARs, and developers. “There’s not one type of partner that Sage works with… we have SIs, advisors, accounting consultants, ISVs, VARs, MSPs - all building capabilities in this new cloud and AI world.” For Gretchen, the opportunity is to unify and accelerate this ecosystem - not just through programs and incentives, but through AI driven capabilities that help partners differentiate and grow. Inside Sage Future for Partners: AI Takes Center Stage Just a few weeks into the job, Gretchen was dropped straight into Sage’s global partner event in Barcelona. And Sage delivered several major announcements that will shape partner strategy for years to come. 1. Sage AI Developer Solutions (built with AWS Bedrock) This initiative lets partners build and deploy certified AI agents and workflows directly within Sage Copilot. “We announced the Sage AI for Developers program… leveraging AWS Agentic AI Marketplace to speed partners’ ability to build AI agents embedded right into Sage.” For partners, this means new revenue streams, faster innovation, and a clear place to bet in the agentic AI era. 2. Finance Intelligence Agent Sage also revealed its flagship AI Agent for CFOs and finance teams - prebuilt, trusted, and immediately usable. “We announced one of our own agents, the Finance Intelligence Agent… so partners can provide instant value without having to build anything themselves.” This agent connects Sage’s Close, AP, Assurance, and Time agents, creating a unified intelligence layer for finance operations. 3. Sage X3 Cloud A next generation cloud deployment of Sage’s manufacturing and operations platform. “We recommitted to our partner ecosystem that X3 is a big bet for Sage… partners were extremely excited about the deeper industry strategy.” Across these announcements, a consistent theme emerged: industry depth + AI agents + partner led innovation. Partner Profitability, Enablement, and Co Innovation Gretchen emphasized that partner success is not just about revenue - it is about making sure Sage partners are able to build and manage profitable, sustainable business models when working with Sage. “If you can’t have a profitable practice, then you start looking somewhere else… and I want all my partners to stay with Sage.” Sage’s strategy includes: * Helping partners build recurring ARR based businesses * Reducing implementation time with cloud and AI * Supporting partners as they expand into adjacent practices * Deepening technical and business enablement And importantly, Gretchen sees co innovation as central. “We want to co innovate with our partners… bring more value together to our mutual customers.” Measuring Success: Shared Outcomes When asked how Sage measures partner success, Gretchen cited: * Growth and co sell wins * Marketplace innovation * Partner IP * Expansion into new markets * Customer success metrics * Capacity and delivery strength But measurement itself is evolving, especially as influence, indirect impact, and AI driven services become more important. The Road Ahead Gretchen closed with a call for partners to prepare for the AI empowered future, balancing today’s opportunities with tomorrow’s shifts. “Have one step in the future so that as the market shifts, you’re there with us to support that long term.” This episode is essential listening for partners, ISVs, SIs, accountants, and anyone watching how AI is reshaping the finance and ERP ecosystem. 🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships. Let’s build the future of partnering - together. 📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career. Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it. 🎧 Want more conversations like this? 💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com 🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

    28 min
  5. Chandos Quill: Inside Epsilon’s Partner Strategy for the AI and Data Era

    12/12/2025

    Chandos Quill: Inside Epsilon’s Partner Strategy for the AI and Data Era

    Scaling a Modern Partnership Function at Epsilon At AWS re:Invent, I had the opportunity to chat with Chandos Quill, Senior Vice President of Channels and Alliances at Epsilon, for a rich discussion about building a partnership discipline inside a global data and marketing technology organization. Chandos brings deep experience across data, ad tech, and marketing platforms - and her work at Epsilon demonstrates how a focused, disciplined approach to alliances can unlock entirely new routes to market. Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Who Epsilon Serves and Why Partners Matter Chandos began with a quick overview of Epsilon’s role within Publicis Groupe. Epsilon is the data, technology, and services arm that helps brands acquire customers and deepen relationships with existing ones. As she put it, the mission is simple - bring data driven solutions to marketers that drive meaningful outcomes. But the real story comes through the evolving role of partners. Infrastructure providers, Martech platforms, ad tech channels, and specialized point solutions all play a part. “What we’ve tried to do is within each of those categories of partners, we focus on the most important thing that Epsilon can bring to add value on top of the partners’ technology or products.” Building a Partnership Function from the Ground Up When Chandos joined Epsilon a year and a half ago, partnerships existed only in pockets across the business - organic, siloed, and ad hoc. Her charter was to build a centralized function that aligned tightly with corporate direction and product strategy. “We had a few pockets of people doing partnerships, but we didn’t have a centralized partnership function.” The first year focused on talent assessment, team formation, defining strategy, and building foundational systems - including tracking, measurement, and aligning the field around partner value. Quality Over Quantity Epsilon works across several categories of partners - infrastructure players like AWS and Databricks, technology platforms like Adobe and Salesforce, ad tech channels, and point solution integrations. But Chandos emphasizes disciplined focus. “My message to all of our partners is we’re leaning in on the ones that really matter and continuing to grow and scale those versus signing up 20 or 30 new ones.” With finite resources and a mandate to prove value, prioritization is essential. The goal is not breadth - it’s depth. A Breakthrough Moment with AWS Marketplace A major milestone came recently when Epsilon transacted its first large deal through AWS Marketplace. The impact was immediate - seller excitement, internal visibility, and growing alignment with AWS. “We actually closed an extremely large deal through the Marketplace… and it’s gotten the attention of our sales people.” This opens new opportunities for Epsilon sellers accustomed to working with Marketing and Line of Business buyers, as AWS provides access to IT and procurement relationships that accelerate deal velocity. Enabling Sellers for a New GTM Motion For many sellers, partnering with AWS requires a shift in mindset. They now have the opportunity to jointly navigate enterprise accounts from two different entry points - Marketing and IT. “Some of our sellers are kind of newer to that idea of how you can use an AWS partner to help us get those relationships with IT, get those relationships with procurement, get our deals through faster.” Much of Chandos’s 2026 agenda centers on sales enablement - making these motions repeatable, predictable, and valuable for both sides. Data Privacy and the Future of Clean Rooms As a global data provider, Epsilon is deeply invested in privacy, compliance, and responsible data stewardship. This extends to partnerships as well. Chandos noted that clean rooms are becoming increasingly important as brands seek to collaborate on data without exposing sensitive information. Epsilon is integrating its clean room technology with infrastructure partners to support enterprise scale use cases. AI, Personalization, and One to One Marketing AI’s role is expanding rapidly across Publicis and Epsilon. Chandos described a future where AI helps marketers achieve the long sought ideal of true one to one engagement. AI will shape everything from audience creation, to content personalization, to cross channel orchestration. And partners play a massive role in aligning the technical stack and data foundation needed for that future. The Road Ahead Chandos is clear that the partnership journey at Epsilon is still early. The foundation is built, the internal momentum is growing, and the first Marketplace wins are creating confidence. Her focus now is steady growth, demonstrable value, and scaling the GTM with partners that matter. This is the type of transformation that reshapes how a company goes to market - and Chandos is right in the middle of it. 🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships. Let’s build the future of partnering - together. 📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career. Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it. 🎧 Want more conversations like this? 💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com 🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

    19 min
  6. Jessica Alexander: Inside the Playbook Behind CrowdStrike’s AWS Success

    12/11/2025

    Jessica Alexander: Inside the Playbook Behind CrowdStrike’s AWS Success

    Jessica Alexander spent nearly nine years at CrowdStrike, architecting one of the most successful AWS partnerships in the software ecosystem - a relationship that has driven more than $2B in marketplace transactions. Jessica is now Founder and CEO of Skematic, where she’s encapsulating those learnings into an AI-powered platform designed to help ISVs navigate AWS programs, messaging, alignment, and execution far earlier and far more effectively than most can today. It is rare to hear this level of clarity about what truly makes an AWS partnership work. Jessica lived it. And now she is scaling it. Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. The Early Days at CrowdStrike - And Why Marketplace Was Hard When Jessica arrived in 2016, CrowdStrike was already a strong product - but its AWS motion was immature. They saw an opportunity to partner deeper with AWS, both to differentiate and to build a 360 relationship that included buy-from, sell-with, and sell-through motions. “We initially launched our marketplace listing and thought there’s gonna be a whole bunch of people who are gonna show up. And nobody showed up.” This is the moment almost every ISV experiences. Marketplace is not magic. It is a multi-year internal and external enablement effort. CrowdStrike learned that success required educating customers on how to take advantage of AWS EDP (Enterprise Discount Program) funds, influencing AWS sellers, and aligning internal teams that had never collaborated this way before. “It was a five year journey to develop that flywheel of how do we do private offers, how do we scale marketplace transactions.” That flywheel eventually became legendary - but only because the company invested deeply in internal alignment. Why Internal Alignment Is the Real Secret to AWS Success Jessica emphasized repeatedly that AWS partnership success is not just an alliance-led motion. It is organizational. “We think of partnerships as who we partner with externally, but the key to success is how you partner internally.” At CrowdStrike, she created a global specialist team that “spoke AWS,” navigated EDP ownership, trained the sales organization, and partnered closely with product, finance, and marketing. One of her biggest internal allies might surprise people: “One of my early allies internally was our finance team because they saw how fast marketplace transactions reduced our daily sales outstanding.” This internal partnership became one of the catalysts that helped CrowdStrike scale its marketplace motion faster than nearly anyone else in the industry. Why Skematic Exists After advising many startups, Jessica saw the same repeated pattern: ISVs want to partner with AWS. But they do not know: • When they are ready • What programs apply to them • How to build their messaging • Who internally needs alignment • What AWS expects • Or how to operationalize the entire motion So she built Skematic to solve this. “We’re hoping to simplify this with Skematic and help ISVs navigate the process a lot faster, a lot earlier, with fewer resources.” Skematic is an AI platform that generates partnership pathways, creates better together stories, aligns executive teams, and provides prescriptive, personalized recommendations based on where an ISV is in their AWS journey. It also includes coaching for the first three months to ensure companies set the right strategy and internal structure. “The goal is for the platform to be prescriptive and personalized - contextually aware of where the ISV is and how to market to their AWS customer.” And it is built entirely on AWS using Bedrock and Claude Sonnet. Scaling What Used to Require Full-Day Workshops Jessica compares Skematic directly to the workshops historically run by AWS partner leaders. “We want to make this programmatic and accessible to more people. Jen [Dawson] was one person. I’m one person. How do we scale this across thousands of software companies?” This is where Skematic becomes transformational - taking the manual, human bottlenecks of cloud GTM and turning them into intelligent automation. Founding a Company After Years of Partnership Leadership Jessica describes founding Skematic as the most energizing step of her career. “You jump out of the airplane and realize you don’t have a parachute - but then you realize there’s no bottom. I’m doing what I love doing.” The reception from AWS has been strong. AWS sees Skematic as a capacity multiplier: helping more ISVs become partner ready, program eligible, and marketplace capable earlier in their lifecycle. What’s Next for Skematic Skematic is continuing to evolve with deeper AWS integrations, more automated workflows, portfolio-level insights for investors and accelerators, and expanded guidance mapped directly to AWS programs. And this is only the beginning. Startups today want to grow the way CrowdStrike did. Skematic is giving them the roadmap Jessica spent nearly a decade building out. 🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships. Let’s build the future of partnering - together. 📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career. Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it. 🎧 Want more conversations like this? 💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com 🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

    15 min
  7. Rick McConnell: How Partners Helped Double Dynatrace from $1B to $2B ARR

    12/08/2025

    Rick McConnell: How Partners Helped Double Dynatrace from $1B to $2B ARR

    At AWS re:Invent, I had the opportunity to sit down with Rick McConnell, CEO of Dynatrace, for a conversation that touched on observability, AI, partner ecosystems, and what it takes to build software that “just works” at global scale. Rick has led multiple high growth businesses throughout his career, and Dynatrace is no exception. But what stood out most in our discussion was the clarity of his vision for where the world is heading - and why observability is at the center of it. In Rick’s words: “Our vision is to help large organizations deliver software that works perfectly.” For Rick, this isn’t just an aspiration. It is becoming a requirement in a world where consumers expect flawless digital experiences every time they tap a screen, transfer money, book a flight, or check a bag. Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Cloud Scale, Data Explosion, and the End of Manual Operations Rick explained that cloud growth and AI adoption are fundamentally changing the nature of operating software environments. According to him, the sheer complexity of modern cloud systems has made manual management impossible. “It is rendering the ability to run software environments manually simply impossible.” Organizations can no longer rely on traditional network operations centers scanning dashboards for “the needle in the haystack.” Instead, AI powered observability must guide every stage of detection, triage, and remediation. With AI development accelerating the creation of new software loads and generating even more data, Rick says the challenge intensifies: “Now you’re developing software loads even more rapidly, you’ve got even more data - further data explosion.” This is why he sees observability not as an optional IT investment, but as critical infrastructure. The Emergence of Agentic, Autonomous Operations One of the most compelling parts of our conversation was Rick’s view of where observability is heading next. He believes we are entering an era of agentic, autonomous operations where large categories of incidents will be auto prevented, auto optimized, or auto remediated. “A reasonable percentage of incidents can be avoided completely through agentic AI.” Rick used a simple but powerful example. If Dynatrace detects that a cloud environment is about to run out of storage, why should a human intervene? An agent should automatically handle it - provisioning new storage, notifying the right teams, and preventing customer impact before it ever occurs. This is where observability becomes the connective tissue for an entire ecosystem of agents working together across platforms like AWS, ServiceNow, Atlassian, GitHub, and even Nvidia. Why Trustworthy Data Matters Rick emphasized that autonomy is only as good as the data behind it. “If you can’t rely on the underlying answer, then the action that would be taken autonomously is not the right action.” And this is where Dynatrace differentiates itself. Trustworthy, precise data is required for any AI agent to take action confidently. The partnership between Dynatrace and AWS, including the new Bedrock integration, is designed to enable organizations to build these agentic systems safely. Partner Ecosystem as a Growth Engine Rick’s commitment to partnerships is unmistakable. He shared that more than 80 percent of Dynatrace’s deals are now partner influenced or partner sourced. “More than 80 percent of our deals go through partners.” AWS is central to this. Dynatrace runs on AWS infrastructure, co sells with AWS teams, and continues to expand integrations that bring observability directly into customers’ AI and cloud modernization initiatives. But GSIs and ISVs also play a major role, especially as customers look for end to end interoperability across the modern software ecosystem. Why This Matters to Partner Leaders For those working in the partner ecosystem, Rick’s message is clear: The future belongs to platforms that work together. The value flows to organizations that can interoperate across AI, cloud, and observability layers. And autonomous operations will require coordinated action across multiple partner solutions. Rick summed it up simply: “It really isn’t just about observability anymore. It is about an end-to-end ecosystem of software that works well together.” For partner leaders helping customers navigate AI, digital transformation, and cloud modernization, this episode offers a blueprint for where the market is heading - and how collaboration multiplies value. 🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships. Let’s build the future of partnering - together. 📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career. Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it. 🎧 Want more conversations like this? 💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com 🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

    16 min
  8. Inside the AppDirect Acquisition of Tackle.io with John Jahnke and Emanuel Bertolin

    12/05/2025

    Inside the AppDirect Acquisition of Tackle.io with John Jahnke and Emanuel Bertolin

    At AWS re:Invent this week, AppDirect and Tackle.io made a major announcement in the “partner tech” world: AppDirect is acquiring Tackle to extend AppDirect’s $1billion marketplace business into cloud marketplaces. I had a chance to catch up with John Jahnke, CEO of Tackle, and Emanuel “Bert” Bertolin, CRO of AppDirect to dive into some details about the acquisition and how they see it impacting the broader market for ISVs, distribution, marketplaces, and cloud GTM. The announcement created some big buzz in the cloud GTM and partner technology market. Both leaders shared why this combination matters and how it could change the distribution landscape for thousands of ISVs. Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Why AppDirect Acquired Tackle AppDirect has spent 15 years building a subscription commerce and marketplace platform serving telecom providers, global enterprises, and a fast-growing advisor community. As Bert explained, the long-term vision has been a single integration that gives an ISV access to all AppDirect marketplaces. “Our vision was always to have a catalog that once you integrate it in, you could access all of the AppDirect marketplaces.” The rise of hyperscaler marketplaces made this vision even more important. ISVs today face expanding distribution choices - should they build their own marketplace, lean into hyperscalers, or pursue channel marketplaces? AppDirect’s answer is simple: you should not have to choose. “Do I have my own marketplace? Do I go onto the hyperscaler marketplaces? Our answer is both.” Adding Tackle expands AppDirect’s reach into cloud marketplaces, where Tackle has been a leading platform for ISV listing, co-sell, and transacting motions. Tackle’s Perspective: Unifying Marketplaces and Expanding Possibilities For Tackle, the announcement capped off what John described as an already massive re:Invent week. “Taking our biggest event of the year and adding an acquisition on top was like gas on the fire.” Tackle has always been focused on helping ISVs sell more and sell faster through cloud marketplaces. As they evaluated AppDirect earlier in the year, the scale of AppDirect’s reach - including 400+ marketplaces - immediately stood out. “We’ve always been exploring a lot of marketplaces to see what’s going on… and we didn’t really know at first that AppDirect powers 400 marketplaces.” Both teams quickly saw the potential of connecting Tackle’s hyperscaler expertise with AppDirect’s catalog, advisor network, and global distribution footprint. Expanding Distribution for ISVs One of the biggest themes in the conversation was how this merger expands distribution opportunities for ISVs. AppDirect brings a marketplace platform used by telcos, enterprises, and 14,000 technology advisors. “We also operate a marketplace where we have 14,000 technology advisors that buy and draw services from there.” These advisors function as MSPs, consulting shops, and technology brokers who can sell through referral or resell motions - creating valuable long-tail distribution. AppDirect also works with about 1,000 providers, ranging from SaaS ISVs to telecom and even energy suppliers in deregulated states. That means ISVs who integrate through Tackle or AppDirect could theoretically reach: * Hyperscaler marketplaces * Hundreds of enterprise and telco marketplaces * A large advisor community * Additional commerce channels across hardware, services, and energy This combination gives ISVs a single integration with multiple distribution paths. Creating a Unified Cloud GTM Engine Both leaders emphasized that nothing changes for Tackle customers. Instead, the merger adds new paths to revenue. “Nothing changes for Tackle customers. We’re going to continue to stay laser focused on innovating with the hyperscalers.” New opportunities include: * Deeper integration with AWS, including Buy with AWS * A “Tackle plugin” to power hyperscaler access for AppDirect marketplaces * Unified onboarding for ISVs across multiple distribution channels * Connecting ISVs with AppDirect’s advisor-driven demand engine John summed up what this means for Tackle customers: “There’s a lot to help people sell more.” Why This Matters for Buyers and Sellers As procurement becomes more complex, companies are seeking simpler ways to manage software, telecom, energy, hardware, and cloud spend. AppDirect’s goal is to make procurement easier through unified catalogs and consolidated purchasing. “We’re looking at how do we simplify procurement and how can you get a lot of products on one bill, one MSA, a simple procurement process.” Meanwhile, product-led growth and AI-driven discovery are reshaping how customers find and adopt software. John highlighted how this trend ties directly to marketplace innovation. “AI is forcing every company to rethink their business model for product-led growth.” Together, the two companies plan to address not only enterprise private offers but also user-led discovery and frictionless purchasing motions. The Road Ahead Both Tackle and AppDirect acknowledge there is a lot of integration work to do. But they also emphasized how aligned their visions are. For ISVs, the promise is clear: more distribution, more channels, more buyers, and fewer integration points. For channel partners and advisors, the opportunity expands from cloud marketplaces into a wider commerce ecosystem with more ways to generate demand and revenue. And for enterprises, procurement gets simpler. This merger positions both companies to redefine cloud GTM and marketplace-driven growth - and judging by their enthusiasm at re:Invent, they are only getting started. 🎙️ Inside Partnering is a podcast for ecosystem builders, alliance leaders, and the people shaping the future of partnerships. Let’s build the future of partnering - together. 📌 If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience? This spreads the word and keeps me interviewing and sharing content that will help you grow your partnership business and career. Thanks for reading Inside Partnering! This post is public so feel free to share it. 🎧 Want more conversations like this? 💌 Subscribe to get new episodes and behind-the-scenes insights: insidepartnering.substack.com Check out all 90+ episodes at InsidePartnering.com 🔗 Follow Chip on LinkedIn for daily partnership content and guest clips Know someone Chip should interview? Send a quick email. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit insidepartnering.substack.com/subscribe

    13 min
See All (48)

About

Strategies behind today’s most successful partner ecosystems. Join host Chip Rodgers for candid conversations with the leaders shaping the future of ecosystems, co-selling, and go-to-market strategy. insidepartnering.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Chip Rodgers
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    48
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Chip Rodgers
  • Show Website
    Inside Partnering