Unlearn with Asher & Kelly

Partnership Leaders
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Unlearn with Asher Mathew & Kelly Sarabyn breaks down the news, trends, and CEO priorities shaping the technology ecosystem. From AI and platforms to partners, capital, talent, and regulation, we connect headlines to what leaders need to rethink — and execute — now.

  1. 1d ago

    Ep 50: Workday’s Partner Playbook | Marketplace Maturity | Own the Number | AI With Humans

    In Episode 50, we celebrate a major Unlearn milestone: 50 conversations about what business leaders need to rethink. Saqib Sheikh joins the show to break down how Workday is building its partner ecosystem across strategic partnerships, ISVs, benefits, payroll, and Workday Marketplace. This is a practical conversation about what happens when partnerships move from “nice to have” to a real growth motion with revenue, operations, product, and customer experience behind it. We cover:• Why Workday works with more than 1,500 partners, but focuses deeply on a smaller set of strategic relationships• How benefits and payroll partners extend Workday’s platform for employees• Why marketplaces cannot stop at search and listings• How Workday Marketplace moved from discovery to transactions• Why customer context matters: industry, geography, company size, and maturity stage• What it takes to run a marketplace across product, partner ops, finance, sales ops, and marketing• Why partner teams should own real metrics like sourced revenue, co-sell, and revenue share• How Workday thinks about co-sell attribution and partner revenue• Why AI can help customers browse and decide, but payroll, benefits, and finance still need deterministic systems• Why the best AI strategy is not replacing people, but helping them work differently 50 episodes in, one lesson keeps showing up:partnerships matter most when they are tied to customer outcomes and business outcomes. If you want to understand how a company like Workday thinks about marketplace strategy, partner revenue, and AI, this episode is worth listening to all the way through.

  2. Jul 11

    Ep 49: Building AI-Native Companies | Services vs. Software | The Future of Work

    In Episode 49, we sit down with Connor Jeffers, Founder of Aptitude 8 and CEO of Hapily, to explore what it takes to build an AI-native company. After scaling one of HubSpot’s leading services partners and launching a venture-backed SaaS business, Connor shares how AI is changing software development, marketing, partnerships, and the way startups compete. We cover: * Why AI is making small teams dramatically more productive * Lessons from building both a services company and a SaaS company * How HubSpot’s ecosystem created opportunities for founders * Why product design is becoming more valuable than engineering capacity * Building software for in-person events and customer engagement * The future of partnerships in an AI-first world * Where AI is creating the biggest productivity gains—and where it isn’t If AI allows companies to operate at two or three times their previous scale, what does that mean for the future of teams, products, and competition? Whether you’re a founder, operator, partnership leader, or executive navigating AI, this episode offers practical insights into how the next generation of companies will be built.

  3. Apr 6

    Ep 48: AI Stack Playbook | AWS x Cerebras | Build the Channel First | Inference Race

    In Episode 48, we break down a hard truth about AI: the companies that win will not be the ones with the best models. They will be the ones with the best partner strategy. Alan Chhabra joins the show to unpack the AI stack and why distribution, not product, is becoming the real advantage. We cover: • Why AI is a stack game and no company can win alone • The AWS x Cerebras partnership and what it signals about the future of infrastructure • Why hiring sales before building a partner ecosystem is a mistake • The shift from hundreds of partners to a few high leverage relationships • How AI deals are now sold top down to executives, not bottom up • Why inference speed is critical to unlocking real AI adoption • The emergence of neo clouds and the global race for compute capacity • How partner leaders are becoming more important than ever in this market Is AI a technology revolution or a distribution war? The answer is both. But most companies are still operating like it is just a product problem. If you want to understand how the AI market is actually being won, this episode is for you.

  4. Mar 29

    Ep 47: Anthropic’s Ecosystem Play | AI Services Boom | Events Are Back | CEO Reset

    In Episode 47, we break down a major shift happening in AI right now: it is not just changing products, it is reshaping services companies and forcing entirely new operating models. Brendan Tolleson, CEO of RevPartners, joins the show. We cover: • Anthropic launching a marketplace and $100M partner fund and what it signals for AI GTM • Why frontier AI companies are going partner first instead of product first • The rise of smaller, AI native services firms driving innovation in the market • New data showing most AI adoption is still internal, not customer facing • How services firms are evolving from delivery to product and IP creation • Why events are becoming one of the highest ROI channels for pipeline generation • The blurring line between services companies and software companies • Why CEO turnover is rising as companies navigate this transition Is AI actually transforming how services companies operate? Or are most still experimenting without clear ROI? The reality is we are still early. Most companies are applying AI internally, but the real shift will come when it becomes embedded in how they deliver value to customers. If you care about AI, services, go to market, or how companies are evolving their operating models, this episode breaks down what is actually changing.

  5. Mar 17

    Ep 46: AI Doesn’t Reduce Work | Anthropic at $20B | Salesforce & HubSpot Moves | CEO = Chief AI Officer

    In Episode 46, we break down one of the biggest misconceptions about AI right now: it is not reducing work, it is intensifying it. Shailesh Powdwal, VP at Partnerships at Forsys joins the show. We cover: • Research showing AI increases pace, scope, and expectations across teams • Anthropic’s rapid growth and what it signals about the AI market • HubSpot and Salesforce reshaping partner programs for an AI first world • McKinsey’s shift toward agents and the rise of new operating models • How services firms are evolving from time based to outcome based work • Why hardware companies like SanDisk are benefiting from AI demand • CEOs stepping in as Chief AI Officers and what that means for org structure • Why partnerships must shift from influence to owning AI driven revenue Is AI actually making companies more efficient? Or is it forcing a complete reset in how work gets done and measured? The data suggests AI is not a cost reduction story. It is a performance escalation across every function. If you care about AI, partnerships, services, or how companies are restructuring around this shift, this episode breaks down what is really happening.

  6. Feb 21

    Ep 45: AI vs SaaS? | Anthropic’s Agents | Microsoft Co-opetition | $1T Software Selloff

    In Episode 45, Kelly hosts for the first time and friend of the pod Scott Brinker returns to pressure test the SaaS apocalypse thesis. We cover: • Anthropic’s new agent capabilities, including legal automation • The $1T software selloff and Nvidia’s pushback on the collapse narrative • Microsoft positioning against OpenAI and the rise of AI co opetition • Anthropic vs OpenAI’s Super Bowl ad battle and Sam Altman’s response • OpenAI hiring forward deployed engineers and what it signals about product companies moving into services • KPMG and McKinsey data showing most enterprises are still experimenting with agents Are agents replacing applications? Or are software companies embedding AI faster than the market expects? The data suggests we are not seeing the death of SaaS, but a reshuffling of power across models, infrastructure, applications, and services. If you care about AI, SaaS, hyperscalers, or ecosystem strategy, this episode breaks down what’s signal vs noise.

  7. Feb 14

    Ep 44 | America as a Platform Company: The AI Ecosystem Shift, System Integrators, Anthropic’s SI Role & The Budget Reality

    In this episode, Asher and Kelly zoom out to a bigger question: what happens when AI turns nations, platforms, and enterprises into ecosystem companies? Starting with the idea that “America is becoming a platform company,” they explore why the biggest AI winners will be the ones with the largest ecosystems, not just the best models. From Lumen’s transformation from telecom provider to connective AI infrastructure, to the mounting pressure on system integrators to redesign their business models, to Anthropic hiring a revenue owning SI leader at $250K plus OTE, the signals are clear. Adoption beats shipping, and execution beats hype. They also unpack new data from the 2026 State of Partnership Leaders report, including the hard truth about budget authority, and connect it to Salesforce’s latest State of Sales, where partner selling is now nearly universal. If platforms win through ecosystems, someone has to own outcomes. This episode explores who that is and why this moment may redefine the Chief Partner Officer role.

  8. Jan 24

    Ep 43 | New Format | OpenAi CPO job | Shopify layoffs | Microsoft, Google, ServiceNow Updates | BCG CEO Radar | Kathleen Curry from Workday joins the pod

    In this episode, Asher and Kelly kick off a new Unlearn format and talk through what’s really changing across the tech ecosystem. Kathleen Curry from Workday joins the pod. They dig into OpenAI recruiting a CPO-level partnerships role, Shopify’s partnership shakeup, and the latest partner program moves from Google, Microsoft and ServiceNow. The conversation also looks at what the BCG AI Radar tells us about CEOs taking ownership of AI, and why partnerships now have to focus on adoption, expansion, and real customer value.

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Ratings & Reviews

5
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About

Unlearn with Asher Mathew & Kelly Sarabyn breaks down the news, trends, and CEO priorities shaping the technology ecosystem. From AI and platforms to partners, capital, talent, and regulation, we connect headlines to what leaders need to rethink — and execute — now.

Information

  • Creator
    Partnership Leaders
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    50
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Partnership Leaders
  • Show Website
    Unlearn with Asher & Kelly

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