Transformation sounds exciting—until you’re in the middle of it. In this episode, Mercedes Villanueva shares what it actually takes to rebuild a global partner marketing function while the entire company is rebranding, restructuring, and redefining how it goes to market.

From prioritizing just three high-impact initiatives to reshaping partner programs around real customer outcomes, Mercedes explains how to cut through complexity and focus on what drives value. She also shares why flexibility matters more than perfection, how to let go of ideas that don’t work, and what resilience really looks like when nothing is fully under your control.

A practical and honest look at building, leading, and adapting when everything is changing at once.

Big partner events are fading—and the teams seeing real pipeline impact are doing the opposite. In this episode, Austin Burningham from Atlassian breaks down the shift from high-volume events to smaller, highly targeted experiences that actually move deals forward.

He shares why webinars still play a critical mid-funnel role, how executive roundtables and one-to-one experiences are driving bottom-funnel conversion, and what it takes to get the right customers—and sales teams—into the room. The conversation also gets practical on event strategy: securing customer speakers, aligning partners and sellers, and attributing real pipeline impact across multiple touches.

The takeaway is clear: the best partner marketers aren’t choosing between digital and in-person—they’re designing both to work together, with precision.

Partner marketing only works when it stops acting like a side function. In this episode, Amyn Jivani, Senior Director of Partner Marketing at Contentful, breaks down how the best teams turn partnerships into the connective tissue of their entire go-to-market strategy.

Amyn shares why most partner programs fall into “random acts of marketing,” and what it actually takes to align partners to pipeline generation, product adoption, and market expansion. He explains how to map the right partners to the right stages of the customer journey, why data alone isn’t enough to drive partner decisions, and how to measure real impact beyond partner-sourced pipeline.

The conversation also dives into the practical side of alignment—showing up in the right rooms, tying work to company goals, and knowing when to say no. The takeaway is clear: the most effective partner marketers don’t just run programs—they make sure every motion across marketing, sales, and partnerships is pulling in the same direction.

Most partner teams don’t have a demand problem — they have a reporting and attribution problem.

In this episode, Rick sits down with Michael Venman, Founder of The Sales Nerd, to unpack why partner revenue so often gets lost inside CRM systems, conflicting definitions, and undefined SLAs.

Michael shares practical insight on:
• Why deal registration architecture determines whether you can prove ROI
• How misaligned sales and partner teams create attribution chaos
• Where partner data should actually live inside your CRM
• What private equity firms and executives expect when they ask for clean funnel reporting

If you’ve ever struggled to defend partner-sourced revenue, align on who gets credit, or produce reporting leadership actually trusts, this conversation will give you a clearer framework.

This episode is for partner marketing leaders who want attribution that holds up, reporting that’s defensible, and a partner motion that drives measurable pipeline.

Partner collaboration doesn’t fail because partners aren’t willing—it fails because internal teams aren’t aligned. In this episode of Never GTM Alone, veteran partner marketing leaders Christine White and Angela Heenan break down what it actually takes to build collaboration that scales, inside the company and across the ecosystem.

They unpack why internal collaboration with sales, ops, and content teams is often harder than working with partners—and why it’s the foundation for external success. From leading without authority to setting clear cadences, accountability, and expectations, this conversation moves beyond theory into real, repeatable execution.

Listeners will learn how to assess partner maturity, run collaboration like a program (not a one-off), and create trust-driven relationships that drive pipeline, ROI, and long-term impact. This episode is a practical guide for partner marketers who need collaboration to move faster, prove value, and scale without burning out.

Partner marketing isn’t a support function—it’s a leadership role. In this episode, Michelle Zhang shares how she approaches alliances marketing as the CMO of the partner business, owning everything from joint narrative and value creation to internal activation and execution.

Drawing from experience across large enterprises and fast-moving startups, Michelle breaks down what it really takes to build high-impact technology alliances: activating sales and product teams, prioritizing the right partners, and creating “one-plus-one-equals-four” value for customers. She explains why partner marketers can’t wait for permission, how to navigate internal politics, and how to scale programs without reinventing the wheel every time.

The conversation also tackles burnout, ownership, and why the best partner marketers succeed by inspiring the rest of the organization to move with them—proving that you’re never truly going to market alone when alliances are done right.

Partner marketers are heading into 2026 under more pressure than ever — tighter budgets, more partners, more programs, and still the same demand to prove ROI and pipeline impact.

In this episode of Never GTM Alone, Rick Currier sits down with Hondo Lateef Lewis of PartnerVista to break down the real partner marketing priorities emerging from AWS re:Invent and other hyperscaler events. They unpack what’s changing — and what isn’t — as AI moves from hype to operational reality.

The conversation covers why attribution is still holding teams back, how fragmentation and agency bloat are slowing execution, and why reusable GTM motions are becoming essential for scale. Hondo also shares why trust, feedback loops, and in-person community matter just as much as dashboards and automation when aligning sales, marketing, and partners.

This episode is for cloud alliance, ISV, and channel partner marketers who need to move faster in 2026 — without adding headcount or losing credibility with executives.

Product marketing often looks polished in a deck — but breaks down when it reaches partners, sales, and the field.

In this episode of Never GTM Alone, Rick Currier is joined by Rachel Roundy, Product Marketing Lead for AI at Snowflake, to explore what it takes to build product marketing that partners actually use in real-world GTM motions.

Drawing on her experience at Intel and Snowflake, Rachel shares practical insights on:

• Designing modular messaging that scales across partners and regions
• Creating feedback loops that keep product marketing grounded in execution
• Avoiding AI hype while staying aligned to real buyer needs
• Aligning product, sales, demand, and partner teams around a clear GTM North Star

Rather than theory, this conversation focuses on execution — where product marketing most often breaks down and how to fix it in partner-led environments.

This episode is for partner, alliance, and product marketers who need faster GTM execution, clearer handoffs, and messaging that drives adoption and pipeline.