Podcasts about appexchange

Send us a textWelcome to the Salesforce Hiring Edge, hosted by Josh Matthews and co-host Josh LeQuire. In this powerful episode, we break down exactly what it takes to hire the right Salesforce SI (System Integrator) partner — and why making the wrong choice could cost you your career.From uncovering the #1 factor in Salesforce implementation success (spoiler: it's client engagement), to red flags in partner pitches, to protecting your investment through smart, small-bite projects — this conversation is a goldmine for any leader navigating the Salesforce ecosystem.

In this episode, Avanish and Mike discuss:Mike's journey from his early tech roots in Silicon Valley to his role as CRO at Zscaler, including his transformative work growing ServiceNow from $500M to $6B in the Americas regionThe importance of always viewing platform strategy through the customer's lens - helping them achieve outcomes rather than managing multiple point solutionsHow a successful platform requires breaking down silos not just within your own organization, but often within your customer's organizationThe "one team" concept of the three-legged stool: customer, vendor, and partner, all working together toward shared successWhy ecosystem partners are mission-critical, providing industry expertise and customer insights that vendors can't replicateThe role of security in enabling productive AI adoption, with Zscaler helping customers leverage generative AI safely at scaleHow to develop meaningful metrics with partners beyond just pipeline generation, focusing on mutual success plans and regular reviewsThe importance of playing the long game with partners - "It's not how you behave when things are going great, it's how you behave when things hit the fan"Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About Mike RichMike Rich is a highly accomplished technology sales professional with a career spanning more than 30 years.During his tenure as President, Americas at ServiceNow from 2011–2023, Mike played a pivotal role in the company's success. Under his leadership, the AMS region experienced unprecedented revenue growth, catapulting from $500 million to $6 billion+.Mike focused on initiatives like vertical industries that enabled customer-facing teams to partner closely with customers. During his time, the company's overall growth skyrocketed from $80 million to $8 billion. Throughout his career, Mike has kept customer satisfaction as the north star, ensuring that every business decision aligns with the goal of providing unparalleled value to clients and career advancement for employees.Before ServiceNow, Mike held leadership roles at enterprise software companies Borland, Rational Software, and Kana.Mike's leadership philosophy revolves around building diverse teams that prioritize achieving desired mutual outcomes. His passion is fostering environments where collaboration, mutual respect, and teamwork are paramount.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Mike RichFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

In this episode, Avanish and Dennis discuss:How Freshworks evolved from a single help desk product to a multi-product platform serving 74,000 customers globally, from small businesses to enterprises like Airbus and Nucor SteelThe importance of being "pulled" by customers into new markets rather than pushing—recognizing when customers you didn't expect are adopting your productsThe challenges of building and scaling a multi-product company where products are at different maturity levels and target slightly different ICPsWhy ecosystem strategy is critical at Freshworks, including both technology integrations with thousands of partners and a services ecosystem to source and implement solutionsFreshworks' differentiated approach of building "uncomplicated" solutions in a market dominated by complexity—particularly for mid-market and low-enterprise customers (up to 20,000 employees)Dennis's philosophy of customer-centricity: "When in doubt, go talk to a customer"Building an ecosystem strategy that includes both technology integrations with thousands of partners and a global services network, with direct sales in nine countries and partner-led expansion everywhere elseAbout the HostAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About Dennis WoodsideDennis Woodside is the CEO and President of Freshworks. He joined Freshworks as President in 2022. Dennis has spent more than two decades at innovative companies in Silicon Valley. Previous roles include Chief Operating Officer of Dropbox and sales and strategy leadership roles at Google for more than 10 years, including CEO of Motorola Mobility after Google acquired the company.Dennis serves on the board of the Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula in California and previously served on the boards of the American Red Cross and ServiceNow. Dennis holds a B.S. in Industrial Relations from Cornell University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.About FreshworksFreshworks Inc. (NASDAQ: FRSH) provides people-first AI service software that organizations use to deliver exceptional customer and employee experiences. More than 72,000 companies, including American Express, Bridgestone, Databricks, Fila, Nucor, and Sony choose Freshworks' uncomplicated solutions to increase efficiency and loyalty. For the latest company news and customer stories, visit www.freshworks.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Dennis WoodsideFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

For Founders and Funders and those supporting the startup ecosystem, this episode was a kool convo around all things fundraising, founder journey, cap tables, dilution and more. For the chat with Peter of Carta, I am joined by Startup Guru Bobby Napiltonia, the Managing Partner @TheGTMFirm and former head of the AppExchange at @Salesforce and @Twilio's first CRO.  See https://www.thegtmfirm.com/ Subscribe and Share!

Why you should listenPeter shares his insider expertise as a former Salesforce employee on how to optimize your AppExchange listing to generate more quality leads and close more deals.Discover why most Salesforce partners struggle with the same fundamental go-to-market problems and learn the unconventional strategies that can help you stand out from the competition.Learn practical approaches to focusing your messaging, leveraging the AppExchange search algorithm, and building effective partnerships with Salesforce's marketing programs.As a Salesforce partner, I know the dread you feel when you look at your AppExchange listing that you've neglected despite knowing it could bring in the most deals. In this episode, I talk with Peter Ganza from AppXWhisperer.com who specializes in helping ISVs and Salesforce Implementation partners get more leads (and ultimately deals) through optimized AppExchange listings. Peter shares his unique approach that goes beyond traditional SEO and marketing tactics, explaining why most partners "suck at go-to-market" and how to break away from the herd mentality. Whether you're a Salesforce partner or working with another platform, you'll learn valuable strategies for standing out in crowded marketplaces and leveraging partner directories to generate business.About Peter GanzaPeter Ganza has been in the B2B tech industry for over 20 years with roles in marketing, product marketing, product management and technical support.He worked for Salesforce for 2 years as a Product Marketing Leader, building Canada's first integrated GTM program across all products and verticals. He now supports ISVs and 5SIs to get more leads on the app exchange. Resources and LinksAppxwhisperer.comPeter's LinkedIn profilePrevious episode: 594 - Picking the Right Platform: Building and Selling an 8-Figure Amazon Agency with John GhiorsoCheck out more episodes of The Paul Higgins ShowSubscribe to our YouTube channel: @PaulHigginsMentoringThe Tech Consultant's RoadmapJoin our newsletterJoin the Tech CollectiveSuggested resources

In this episode, Avanish and Lara discuss:The four distinct phases of software company growth and what each requires - from finding product-market fit ($0-100M) to demonstrating platform vision ($100M-1B) to scaling enterprise deals ($1B-5B)The critical importance of not neglecting your core business while scaling - how ServiceNow used tiered pricing models to continue monetizing their core productsWhy platform and ecosystem strategies are "two sides of the coin" but must be tailored to each company's specific situation - there is no one-size-fits-all approachThe "win-win-win equation" that must exist for successful partnerships - creating value for customers, partners, and your companyCreating cultural alignment around ecosystem strategy - including Dave Schneider's innovative approach of inviting partners to ServiceNow's sales kickoffHow to avoid "throwing money against the wall" with partnerships that lack strategic foundationBuilding unfair advantages at scale through customer relationships, installed base data, and continuous innovation to stay ahead of imitatorsHost: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About Lara CaimiLara Caimi is the President of Worldwide Field Operations at Samsara. Lara brings nearly 25 years of experience to Samsara, where she is responsible for leading Sales and Customer Outcomes. Before Samsara, Lara was Chief Customer and Partner Officer for ServiceNow, overseeing nearly 2,500 global employees across organizations including customer success, professional services, and channel ecosystem. Previously, she served as ServiceNow's Chief Strategy Officer. Before joining ServiceNow, Lara was a partner at Bain & Company, where she advised technology companies on growth and go-to-market strategy.Lara holds a bachelor's degree in Economics and English Literature from St. Olaf College, a MIB from the University of Sydney as a Fulbright Scholar, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Lara CaimiFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

In this episode, Avanish and Jim discuss:Jim's 46-year journey from IBM to Salesforce, including his role in scaling Salesforce from $22M to $5B in revenueHow customer demands, particularly from companies like Cisco and Merrill Lynch, shaped Salesforce's platform strategyThe strategic decision to separate the application layer from the platformCreating a successful customer success organization to drive adoption and showcase customer storiesThe evolution of Salesforce's partner strategy and metrics for measuring ecosystem successHow the "tactics dictate strategy" philosophy helped Salesforce respond to market needsAbout Our GuestJim Steele is the President of Global Strategic Customers and Partners at Salesforce. Previously, Jim served as Salesforce's President of Worldwide Sales and Chief Customer Officer for over 12 years, from 2002 through 2014 where he led the growth of the company from $22 million to more than $5 billion in revenue. Jim rejoined Salesforce in 2020 as President of Global Strategic Sales with his primary focus to bring the full power of Salesforce to its largest and most strategic customers. Most recently, Jim has also assumed responsibility for Salesforce's Alliances & Channels organization, the Emerging Business operating unit, and Private Equity practice. Previously Jim served as Chief Revenue Officer and President of Yext, President and Chief Revenue Officer of InsideSales.com and President of Worldwide Sales at Ariba. Jim started his career at IBM where he spent over 22 years in executive leadership and senior sales roles including VP and GM of Sales in Asia, based in Tokyo.About our HostAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the AppExchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Jim SteeleFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

Send us a textWelcome to another electrifying episode of the Spark of Ages podcast! Today, we sit down with the legendary Bobby Napoltonia, whose 36-year journey has forever shaped the tech landscape. From bringing sound to computers to democratizing the telecommunications industry, Bobby's fingerprints are all over the tech we use daily.

This season will feature conversations with key decision-makers who have to support the journey to a platform or any ecosystem. We will talk to C-suite executives, board members, investors, and others who must be bought into the platform journey. In this episode, Avanish and Kevin discuss:Kevin's career journey and his experiences shaping ServiceNow's growth.What it means to authentically be a platform company and how ServiceNow approached platform-first scaling.How customer feedback drove ServiceNow's expansion into new domains like HR and customer workflows.The key factors for entering new markets, including market fit, size, and differentiation.The importance of hiring domain-specific experts and adapting go-to-market strategies.Building and leveraging ecosystem partnerships to drive growth and scale.Balancing core revenue innovation with new domain expansion to ensure sustainable growth.Guest: Kevin HavertyKevin Haverty was formerly the Vice Chairman, Global Public Sector at ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW). In this role, he worked directly with CEO Bill McDermott on expanding ServiceNow's strategic footprint in the public sector and mentoring the company's next generation of early-in-career professionals.During the past decade, Kevin successfully led and grew ServiceNow's world-class go-to-market organization. He most recently served as the company's Chief Revenue Officer, and also held the roles of EVP and SVP of Worldwide Sales and VP of Americas Sales.Earlier in his career, Kevin held several senior sales leadership roles at EMC, Data Domain, Thomsen Financial, and Brocade. He also served 10 years in the U.S. Army National Guard, attaining the rank of Captain.Kevin holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Providence College, where he was a distinguished military graduate of the Army ROTC program. He currently serves on the Board of Sprinklr.  Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Kevin HavertyFollow our host, Avanish Sahai

This season will feature conversations with key decision-makers who have to support the journey to a platform or any ecosystem. We will talk to C-suite executives, board members, investors, and others who must be bought into the platform journey. In this episode, Avanish and Dave discuss: Dave's background and what led him to start TidemarkTidemark's VSKP framework on how a Vertical SaaS company can win their category, expand their offerings, and then, for a select few, extend through the value chainWhat it really means to be a control point and why it mattersThe mindset (and perhaps mindset shift) that is required to build a strong ecosystemThe wedges you need to be mindful of and the problems they can cause on your journeyThinking about the varying horizons of your product roadmap and how to synthesize them in actionable paths forwardHow to determine if your team is ready for the platform journeyAnd much more! Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Dave YuanFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

Steve and Sam talk to Sati Hillyer, founder, and CEO of OneMob, about his journey from starting the AppExchange at Salesforce to developing and advancing his company's video platform for sellers over an almost ten-year period. With a OneMob microsite, sellers can provide context, content, and a clear next step for the prospect.

In today's episode, we're joined by Matt Robison. Matt is the founder of Lightbox Logic and the creator of Marketing Cloud Connect Toolbox, which has recently been listed on the Salesforce AppExchange. Matt came back on the show to tell us all about his journey of building the Marketing Cloud Connect Toolbox, where the idea came from, how he approached building it whilst being in employment, what the AppExchange process was like,and tips he would share with others looking to build a product.   Make sure you're following Matt on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-robison-salesforce/   You can find out more about Lightbox Logic here: https://lightboxlogic.com.au/   You can find more content from us at Talent Hub, here:   LinkedIn@ https://www.linkedin.com/company/talent-hub-global/ YouTube@ https://www.youtube.com/@talenthub1140 Facebook@ https://www.facebook.com/TalentHubGlobal/ Instagram @ https://www.instagram.com/talenthubglobal/ Twitter X @ https://twitter.com/TalentHubGlobal   We hope you enjoy the episode!  

In today's episode of How We Got There, I talk with George Kenessey who is the CEO of Appiphony. Appiphony is a Product Development Outsourcer (PDO) and more recently an ISV themselves with Drive Connect on the AppExchange. George is one of the best humans and business leaders in the ecosystem. This conversation took place wayyyy back pre-Dreamforce but I finally got around to releasing it and it's one of the most insightful ones. George shares his experience of helping companies launch on the AppExchange over the last 15 years as well as their own apps, taking their learnings from the PDO world to their own AppExchange journey. He shares tips relevant to new ISVs going through the security process with Salesforce and then moves into GTM lessons from launching Drive Connect. They designed a PLG motion on the AppExchange, including building a way for customers to sign up for a trial and ability to purchase via Stripe on the backend. The best gtm motion they have found is writing specific content to help their customers and partners solve a problem that is related although not fully solved necessarily by Drive Connect. If you help people do their job for free, they will eventually give you money is something I say often and what George and team are doing over there. Drive Connect has one of the best partner resources pages out there, I encourage you to check it out as you consider how well you are set up to enable SI partners. Link to the episode in the comments (or on Apple Podcasts) This episode is brought to you by Invisory. Invisory is designed to meet you where you are: whether you're looking to list on the AppExchange, are in the process of listing, or listed and looking to accelerate success. Links: George's LI - https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgekenessey/ Appiphony LI - https://www.linkedin.com/company/appiphony/ Drive Connect AppEx listing - https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000FMlVWUA1 Invisory LI - https://www.linkedin.com/company/invisory-co/ Drive Connect Partner Page - https://driveconnect.me/partner-resources/

Peter Ganza, the 'AppExchange Whisperer', and tech veteran Janeen Marquardt join me, Vanessa Grant, to share their insights on navigating the complex world of ISVs, product management, and the power of the AppExchange. We unravel the challenges and opportunities that Dreamforce presents for ISVs and explore alternative strategies that might be the game-changer for your business. Enter the world of product marketing through the experiences of our seasoned guests. From localizing messaging and developing compelling customer stories to transforming marketing strategies in small ISVs, Peter and Janeen lay the stepping stones to success. We dive deep into the effectiveness of Dreamforce and how it compares to smaller, more targeted events. We also shed light on the role of partner ecosystems and their undeniable contribution to Salesforce's success. Stay tuned as we shift gears toward career growth and personal resilience. We tackle the daunting reality of toxic work environments, drawing from our experiences and challenging you to prioritize your mental well-being over any job. Peter shares his invaluable advice on successful career pivots and the art of maintaining a positive attitude. Not one to shy away from life's curveballs, he recounts his own journey of unexpected challenges and the resilience that saw him through. From product marketing, and ISV partnerships, to personal growth within the Salesforce ecosystem, this episode will accompany your roadmap to success. 

In this episode, Avanish and Tyler discuss:The opportunity involved in bringing together disparate partner initiatives within an organization (4:35)Leveraging a partner ecosystem at Salesforce to create transformative offerings and expand internationally (6:30)The importance of building an ecosystem to manage data in the face of AI (9:05)Prioritizing customer success and partner growth to drive company value (12:40)Changing the paradigm around bringing applications to data (14:50)The inherent value of the consumption model in a partner ecosystem (18:30)Enabling partners to start delivering value as quickly as possible (19:55)Finding support from the top down, and curating the right talent for the ecosystem journey (22:30)The importance of simplification (27:10)Guest: Tyler PrinceAs the SVP of Worldwide Alliances & Channels, Tyler Prince is responsible for growing the Snowflake global community of Consulting Partners, System Integrators, ISVs, Resellers and Technology Partners. He brings a deep breadth of experience to his role with more than 30 years of delivering transformational capabilities to partners and customers across many industries. Prior to joining Snowflake, Prince served as EVP, Global Alliances at Salesforce and as Partner & Global Oracle Practice Leader at PwC. Prior to PwC, Prince held various management positions at Oracle, PeopleSoft, IBM and Andersen Consulting. He resides in Chicago, IL where he remains active in the local community as a board member of the American Cancer Society and 1871, a non-profit digital startup incubator.Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Tyler PrinceFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

In this episode, Avanish and Warren talk about:Developing extensions based on user and partner feedback (4:15)Thinking of ISVs as customers in their own right (9:10)The importance of internal alignment, and transparency both internally and externally (11:55)Getting buy-in from the board all the way down for ongoing investment in platform (14:20)When to prioritize adoption vs. monetization on your platform (19:50)Guest: Warren ChenWarren is Head of Ecosystem Partnerships and Developer Success at Canva, with over a decade of experience in App Platform Ecosystems at Salesforce, Atlassian, and Canva.Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Warren ChenFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

How do you partner with Salesforce, one of the biggest SaaS companies in the world? Xiaofei Zhang, head of Platform and Strategic Partnerships at ActiveCampaign tells how ActiveCampaign became the #1 marketing automation app on Salesforce's AppExchange. And she spills the deets on how ActiveCampaign optimized its listing in the AppExchange.Xiaofei also shares the framework she uses to help partners solve problems, choose the right partners, and co-sell with a PLG company.Highlights:01:21 Greatest partnership of all time03:19 From Salesforce and ActiveCampaign10:21 Partner up to help solve problems12:31 Becoming the #1 marketing automation app on the Salesforce app exchange14:10 Framework for choosing partners16:51 Becoming the number 1 app in the Salesforce app exchange21:25 How to optimize your listing23:32 Building a network within Salesforce27:29 Partnerships decision matrix30:38 Helping others is instrumental to growth33:49 How to individualize how you treat each partner38:28 Co-selling with a PLG companyP.S. We just dropped the news on the largest event in partnerships history is BACK… and bigger. The historic PL[X] Summit for 2023 is now the Nearbound Summit. Register, 100% FOR FREE over at https://nearboundsummit.com and get your FREE event workbook while supplies last.

In this episode, Avanish and Aaron talk about:Aaron's personal journey to the coveted Chief Ecosystem Officer title (2:00)How Aaron defines charting the platform journey as an ecosystem leader (4:45)Tackling build/buy/partner with a sophisticated view, enabling you to take a completely different approach to how you execute partnerships and ecosystems (7:49)The power of harnessing your datasets to drive enhanced outcomes (9:50)The recent shift to the importance of profitability and what that means for partnership teams (11:11)Tying your ecosystem strategy to your corporate strategy effectively (19:20)Understanding the difference between vanity metrics and true business operator metrics (24:18)Guest: Aaron McGarryAaron McGarry, AMG, is a Go-To-Market operator with 17 years of leadership experience at industry giants such as VMware, Salesforce, and Qualtrics. He has a proven track record of building and scaling high-performing teams, driving strategic growth, and delivering operational excellence.AMG is an empathetic leader and coach, with a deep passion for growing, mentoring, and developing talent, ensuring that his teams reach their fullest potential. Renowned for his Build - Buy - Partner approach and keen expertise in GTM strategy, he has architected and scaled premier Ecosystem and Sales Organizations. He played a pivotal role during Salesforce's meteoric rise from $6B to $26B in revenue, experiencing hyper-growth firsthand. His track record also includes notable milestones such as Rackspace's IPO, SoftLayer's acquisition by IBM, and Qualtrics' acquisition by SilverLake.Recognized for championing strategic growth and for his operational acumen, AMG serves as a trusted advisor to CEOs and boards of directors across early, mid, and late stage companies. He is a sought-after speaker on topics encompassing GTM strategy, leadership, and team development.Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Aaron McGarryFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

In this episode, Avanish and Adrienne talk about:Changes in the productivity space that have impacted Workspace's platform strategy (9:55)Balancing product and ecosystem developments while you scale (16:10)Taking a principle-based approach to building a platform (19:00)The necessity of a multifaceted strategy in creating a successful platform (20:30)Innovation and “first-of-a-kind” thinking in partnerships (22:50)Building a partnership strategy based on product and business goals (24:40)Creating missions at the business and team level to achieve your goals (27:40)Guest: Adrienne McCallisterAdrienne McCallister is the Vice President of Global Partnerships for Workspace and Messaging, where she oversees Workspace's productivity suite partnerships, as well as all Comms/Messaging partnerships, covering Google's consumer communications products Messages by Google(RCS), Meet, Dialer and Business Messaging.Adrienne's previous roles at Google include partnership lead for Android's U.S. carrier partners, Google's VR/AR/Lens efforts, helping to launch Chromecast, Google Home and leading its global distribution partnerships, as well as leading strategic content partnerships for Google TV. Prior to joining Google in 2011, Adrienne held senior business development roles at Associated Content (a Yahoo! company), Clearleap (an IBM company) and AOL. Adrienne holds an M.B.A. from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, and has a bachelor's degree in finance from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Adrienne McCallisterFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

Avanish and Jim discuss:Investing in an ecosystem in a tough market (8:04)Committing to working with partners over growing professional services (11:26)Finding a way to demonstrate returns and get the C-Suite on board with building an ecosystem (12:40)How to avoid having an “identity crisis” by setting an intention for how you will grow your platform (17:15)Understanding how a partner delivers services to integrate in a complementary way (19:50)The advantages and challenges of a managed service provider motion (21:30)Selling a solution rather than an outcome (26:34)The importance of authentic communication (29:00)Guest: Jim NairnSince arriving in the Spring of 2021, Jim Nairn has served as WalkMe's Senior Vice President of Alliances and Channels Ecosystems. Prior to joining WalkMe, from 2015 through 2021, Jim held the role of Vice President of Partner Sales for ServiceNow. Jim's pedigree comes from a 20+ year career in Direct and Indirect Selling in the Telecommunications, Infrastructure and Software space, before moving into SaaS (with ServiceNow), in 2015. Jim has spent those 2+ decades working with a vast array of partners, traveling the globe and helping grow some of the biggest tech companies in the world. He continues to serve as an advisor for pre-ipo startups, consults a vast network of C-Suite executives and mentors several former colleagues, employees and associates, worldwide. Today, Jim lives just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with his wife Kati… and 2 daughters, Emma and Amelia.Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Jim NairnFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

Evelyn Grizzle, Senior Salesforce Developer, joins Corey on Screaming in the Cloud to discuss the often-misunderstood and always exciting world of Salesforce development. Evelyn explains why Salesforce Development is still seen as separate from traditional cloud development, and describes the work of breaking down barriers and silos between Salesforce developers and engineering departments. Corey and Evelyn discuss how a non-traditional background can benefit people who want to break into tech careers, and Evelyn reveals the best parts of joining the Salesforce community. About EvelynEvelyn is a Salesforce Certified Developer and Application Architect and 2023 Salesforce MVP Nominee. They enjoy full stack Salesforce development, most recently having built a series of Lightning Web Components that utilize a REST callout to a governmental database to verify the licensure status of a cannabis dispensary. An aspiring Certified Technical Architect candidate, Evelyn prides themself on deploying secure and scalable architecture. With over ten years of customer service experience prior to becoming a Salesforce Developer, Evelyn is adept at communicating with both technical and non-technical internal and external stakeholders. When they are not writing code, Evelyn enjoys coaching for RADWomenCode, mentoring through the Trailblazer Mentorship Program, and rollerskating.Links Referenced: Another Salesforce Blog: https://anothersalesforceblog.com RAD Women Code: https://radwomen.org/ Personal Website: https://evelyn.fyi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evelyngrizzle/ TranscriptAnnouncer: Hello, and welcome to Screaming in the Cloud with your host, Chief Cloud Economist at The Duckbill Group, Corey Quinn. This weekly show features conversations with people doing interesting work in the world of cloud, thoughtful commentary on the state of the technical world, and ridiculous titles for which Corey refuses to apologize. This is Screaming in the Cloud.Corey: Welcome to Screaming in the Cloud. I'm Corey Quinn, and this is Screaming in the Cloud. But what do we mean by cloud? Well, people have the snarky answer of, it's always someone else's computer. I tend to view it through a lens of being someone else's call center, which is neither here nor there.But it all seems to come back to Infrastructure as a Service, which is maddeningly incomplete. Today, we're going in a slightly different direction in the world of cloud. My guest today is Evelyn Grizzle, who, among many other things, is also the author of anothersalesforceblog.com. I want to be clear, that is not me being dismissive. That is the actual name of the blog. Evelyn, thank you for joining me.Evelyn: Hi, Corey. Thank you for having me.Corey: So, I want to talk a little bit about one of the great unacknowledged secrets of the industry, which is that every company out there, sooner or later, uses Salesforce. They talk about their cloud infrastructure, but Salesforce is nowhere to be seen in it. But, for God's sake, at The Duckbill Group, we are a Salesforce customer. Everyone uses Salesforce. How do you think that wound up not being included in the narrative of cloud in quite the same way as AWS or, heaven forbid, Azure?Evelyn: So, Salesforce is kind of at the proverbial kid's table in terms of the cloud infrastructure at most companies. And this is relatively because the end-users are, you know, sales reps. We've got people in call centers who are working on Salesforce, taking in information, taking in leads, opportunities, creating accounts for folks. And it's kind of seen as a lesser service because the primary users of Salesforce are not necessarily the techiest people on the planet. So, I am really passionate about, like, making sure that end-users are respected.Salesforce actually just added a new certification, the Sales Representative Certification that you can get. That kind of gives you insight to what it's like to use Salesforce as an end-user. And given that Salesforce is for sales, a lot of times Salesforce is kind of grouped under the Financial Services portion of a company as opposed to, like, engineering. So again, kind of at the proverbial kid's table; we're over in finance, and the engineering team who's working on the website, they have their engineering stuff.And a lot of people don't really know what Salesforce is. So, to give a rundown, basically, Salesforce development is, I lovingly referred to it as bastard Java full-stack development. Apex, the proprietary language, is based in Java, so you have your server-side Java interface with the Salesforce relational database. There's the Salesforce Object Query Language and Salesforce Object Search Language that you can use to interact with the database. And then you build out front-end components using HTML and JavaScript, which a lot of people don't know.So, it's not only an issue of the end-users are call center reps, their analysts, they're working on stuff that isn't necessarily considered techie, but there's also kind of an institutional breakdown of, like, what is Salesforce? This person is just dragging and dropping when that isn't true. It's actually, you know, we're writing code, we're doing stuff, we're basically writing full-stack Java. So, I like to call that out.Corey: I mean, your undergraduate degree is in network engineering, let's be very clear. This is—I'm not speaking to you as someone who's non-technical trying to justify what they do as being technical. You have come from a very deep place that no one would argue is, “Well, that's not real computering.” Oh, I assure you, networking is very much real computering, and so is Salesforce. I have zero patience for this gatekeeping nonsense we see in so many areas of tech, but I found this out firsthand when we started trying to get set up with Salesforce here. It took wailing and gnashing of teeth and contractor upon contractor. Some agencies did not do super well, some people had to come in and rescue the project. And now it mostly—I think—works.Evelyn: Yeah, and that's what we go for. And actually, so my degree is in network engineering, but an interesting story about me. I actually went to school for chemical engineering. I hated it. It was the worst. And I dropped out of school did, like, data analytics for a while. Worked my way up as a call center rep at a telephone company and made a play into database administration. And because I was working at the phone company, my degree is in network engineering because I was like, “I want to work at the phone company forever.” Of course that did not pan out. I got a job doing Salesforce development and really enjoy it. There's always something to learn. I taught myself Salesforce while I was working at IBM, and with the Blue Wolf department that… they're a big Salesforce consulting shop at IBM, and through their guidance and tutelage, I guess, I did a lot of training and worked up on Salesforce. And it's been a lot of fun.Corey: I do feel that I need to raise my hand here and say that I am in the group you described earlier of not really understanding what Salesforce is. My first real exposure to Salesforce in anything approaching a modern era was when I was at a small consulting company that has since been bought by IBM, which rather than opine on that, what I found interesting was the Salesforce use case where we wound up using that internally to track where all the consultants were deployed, how they wound up doing on their most recent refresher skills assessment, et cetera, so that when we had something strange, like a customer coming in with, “I need someone who knows the AS/400 really well,” we could query that database internally and say, “Ah. We happen to have someone coming off of a project who does in fact, know how that system works. Let's throw them into the mix.” And that was incredibly powerful, but I never thought of it as being a problem that a tool that was aimed primarily at sales would be effective at solving. I was very clearly wrong.Evelyn: Yeah. So, the thing about Salesforce is there's a bunch of different clouds that you can access. So there's, like, Health Cloud, Service Cloud, Sales Cloud is the most common, you know, Salesforce, Sales Cloud, obviously. But Service Cloud is going to be a service-based Salesforce organization that allows you to track folks, your HR components, you're going to track your people. There's also Field Service Lightning.And an interesting use case I had for Field Service Lightning, which is a application that's built on top of Salesforce that allows field technicians to access Salesforce, one of the coolest projects I've built in my career so far is, the use case is, there's an HVAC company that wants to be able to charge customers when they go out into the field. And they want to have their technician pull out an iPad, swipe the credit card, and it charges the customer for however much duct tape they used, however much piping, whatever, duct work they do. Like I said, I'm a software engineer, I'm not a HVAC person, but—Corey: It's the AWS building equivalent for HVAC, as best I can tell. It's like all right, “By the metric foot-pound—” “Isn't that a torque measurement?” “Not anymore.” Yeah, that's how we're going to bill you for time and materials. It'll be great.Evelyn: Exactly. So, this project I built out, it connects with Square, which is awesome. And Field Service Lightning allows this technician to see where they're supposed to go on the map, it pulls up all the information, a trigger in Salesforce, an automation, pulls all the information into Field Service Lightning, and then you run the card, it webhooks into Square, you send the information back. And it was a really fun project to work on. So, that was actually a use case I had not thought of for Salesforce is, you know, being able to do something like this in the field and making a technician's job that much easier.Corey: That's really when I started to feel, as this Salesforce deployment we were doing here started rolling out, it wasn't just—my opinion on it was like, “Wait, isn't this basically just that Excel sheet somewhere that we can have?” And it starts off that way, sure, but then you have people—for example, we've made extensive use of aspects of this over on the media side of our business, where we have different people that we've reached out to who then matriculate on to other companies and become sponsors in that side of the world. And how do we track this? How do we wind up figuring out what's currently in flight that doesn't live in someone's head, or God forbid, email inbox? How do we start reasoning about these things in a more holistic way?We went in a slightly different direction before rolling it out to handle all of the production pieces and the various things we have in flight, but I could have easily seen a path whereas we instead went down that rabbit hole and used it as more or less the ERP, for lack of a better term, for running a services business.Evelyn: Yeah. And that is one thing you can use Salesforce as an ERP. FinancialForce, now Certinia, exists, so it is possible to use Salesforce as an ERP, but there's so much more to it than that. And Salesforce, at its heart, is a relational database with a fancy user interface. And when I say, “I'm a Salesforce developer,” they're like, “Oh, you work at Salesforce?” And I'm like, “No, not quite. I customize Salesforce for companies that purchase Salesforce as a Salesforce customer.”And the extensibility of the platform is really awesome. And you know, speaking of the external clients that want to use Salesforce, there's, like, Community Cloud where you can come in and have guest users. You can have your—if you are, say at a phone company, you can have a troubleshooting help center. You can have chatbots in Salesforce. I have a lot of friends who are working on AI chatbots with the Einstein AI within Salesforce, which is actually really cool. So, there is a lot of functionality that is extensible within Salesforce beyond just a basic Excel spreadsheet. And it's a lot of fun.Corey: If I pull up your website, anothersalesforceblog.com, one of the first things that you mentioned on the About the Author page just below the fold, is that you are an eight-time Salesforce Certified Developer and application architect. Like, wow, “Eight different certifications? What is this, AWS, on some level?”I think that there's not a broad level of awareness in the ecosystem, just how vast the Salesforce-specific ecosystem really is. It seems like there's an entire, I want to reprise the term that someone—I can't recall who—used to describe Dark Matter developers, the people that you don't generally see in most of the common developer watering holes like Stack Overflow, or historically shitposting on Twitter, but they're out there. They rock in, they do their jobs. Why is it that we don't see more Salesforce representation in, I guess, the usual tech watering holes?Evelyn: So, we do have a Stack Overflow, a Stack Exchange as well. They are separate entities that are within the greater Stack websites. And I assure you, there's lots of Salesforce shitposting on Twitter. I used to be very good at it, but no longer on Twitter due to personal reasons. We'll leave it at that.But yeah, Dreamforce is like a massive conference that happens in San Francisco every year. We are gearing up for that right now. And there's not a lot of visibility into Salesforce outside of that it feels like. It's kind of an insulated community. And that goes back to the Salesforce being at the kids' table in the engineering departments.And one of the things that I've been working on in my current role is really breaking down the barriers and the silos between the engineering department who's working on JavaScript, they're working on Node, they're working on HTML, they're, you know, building websites with React or whatever, and I'm coming in and saying, like, hey, we do the same thing. I can build a Heroku app in React, if I want to, I can do PHP, I can do this. And that's one of the cool things about Salesforce is some days I get to write in, like, five or six different languages if I want to. So, that is something that, there's not a lot of understanding. Because again, relational database with a fancy user interface.To the outside, it may seem like we're dragging and dropping stuff. Which yes, there is some stuff. I love Flows, which are… they're drag-and-drop automations that you can do within Salesforce that are actually really powerful. In the most recent update, you can actually do an HTTP call-out in a Flow, which is something that's, like, unheard of for a Salesforce admin with no coding background can come in, they can call an Apex class, they can do an HTTP call-out to an external resource and say, like, “Hey, I want to grab this information, pull it back into Salesforce, and get running off the ground with, like, zero development resources, if there are none available.”Corey: I want to call out just for people who think this is more niche than it really is. I live in San Francisco. And I remember back in pre-Covid times, back when Dreamforce was in town. I started seeing a bunch of, you know, nerdy-looking people with badges. Oh, it's a tech conference, what conference is it? It's something called Dreamforce for Salesforce.Oh, is that like the sad small equivalent of re:Invent in Las Vegas? And it's no, no, it's actually about three times the size. 170,000 people descend on San Francisco to attend this conference. It is massive. And it was a real eye-opener for me just to understand that. I mean, I have a background in sales before I got into tech and I did not realize that this entire ecosystem existed. It really does feel like it is more or less invisible and made me wonder what the hell else I'm missing, as I am too myopically focused on one particular giant cloud company to the point where it has now become a major facet of my personality.Evelyn: And that's the thing is there's all kinds of community events as well. So, I'm actually speaking at Forcelandia which, it's a Salesforce developer-focused event that is in Portland—Forcelandia, obviously—and I'm going to be speaking on a project that I built for my current company that is, like, REST APIs, we've got some encryption, we've got a front-end widget that you drop into a Salesforce object. Which, a Salesforce object is a table within the relational database, and being able to use polymorphic object relationships within Salesforce and really extending the functionality of Salesforce. So, if you're in Portland, I will be at Forcelandia on July 13th and I'm really excited about it.But it's this really cool ecosystem that, you know, there's events all over the world, every month, happening. And we've got Mile High Dreamin' coming up in August, which I'll be at as well, speaking there on how to break into the ecosystem from a non-tech role, which will be exciting. But yeah, it's a really vibrant community like, and it's a really close-knit community as well. Everyone is so super helpful. If I have a question on Stack Exchange, or, you know, back in my Twittering days, if I'd have something on Twitter, I could just post out and blast out, and the whole Salesforce community would come in with answers, which is awesome. I feel like the Stack Exchange is not the friendliest place on the planet, so to be able to have people who, like, I recognize that username and this person is going to come and help me out. And that's really cool. I like that about the Salesforce community.Corey: Yeah, a ding for a second on the whole Stack Exchange thing. That the Stack Overflow survey was fascinating, and last year, they showed that 92% of their respondents were male. So, this year, they fixed that problem and did not ask the question. So, I just refer to it nowadays as Stack Broverflow because that's exactly how it seems.Evelyn: [laugh].Corey: And that is a giant problem. I just didn't want that to pass uncommented-on in public. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to basically—Evelyn: Fair enough.Corey: —mouth off about that crappy misbehavior.Evelyn: Oh, yeah. No. And that's one of the things that I really like about the Salesforce community is there's actually, like, a huge movement towards gender equity and parity. So, one of the organizations that I'm involved with is RAD Women Code, which is a nonprofit that Angela Mahoney and a couple of other women started that it seeks to upskill women and other marginalized genders from Salesforce admins, which are your declarative users within Salesforce that set up the security settings, they set up the database relationships, they make metadata changes within Salesforce, and take that relational database knowledge and then upskill them into Salesforce developers.And right now, there is a two-part course that you can sign up for. If you have I believe it's a year or two of Salesforce admin experience and you are a woman or other marginalized gender, you can sign up and take part one, which is a very intro to computer programming, you go over the basics of object-oriented programming, a little bit of Java, a little bit of SOQL, which is the Salesforce Object Query Language. And then you build projects, which is really awesome, which is, like, the most effective way to learn is actually building stuff. And then the second part of the course is, like, a more advanced, like, let's get into our bash classes, which is like an automation that you can run every night. Let's do advanced object-oriented programming topics like abstraction and polymorphism. And being able to teach that is really fun.We're also planning on adding a third course, which is going to be the front-end development in Salesforce, which is your HTML, your JavaScript. Salesforce uses vanilla JavaScript, which I love, personally. I know I'm alone in that. I know that's the big meme on Facebook in the programming groups is ‘JavaScript bad,' but I have fun with it. There's a lot you can do with just native JavaScript in Salesforce. Like, you can grab the geolocation of a device and print it onto a Salesforce object record using just vanilla JavaScript. And it's been really helpful. I've done that a few times on various projects.But yeah, we're planning on adding a third course. We are currently getting ready to launch the pilot program on that for RAD Women Code. So, if you are listening to this, and you are a Salesforce admin who is a marginalized gender, definitely hit me up on LinkedIn and I will send you some information because it's a really good program and I love being able to help out with it.Corey: We'll definitely include links to that in the [show notes 00:18:59]. I mean, this does tie into the next question I have, which is, how do you go about giving a cohesive talk or even talking at all about Salesforce, given the tremendous variety in terms of technical skills people bring to bear with it, the backgrounds that they have going into it? It feels, on some level, like, it's only a half-step removed from, “So, you're into computers? Here's a conference for that.” Which I understand, let's be clear here, that I am speaking from the position of the AWS ecosystem, which is throwing stones in a very fragile glass house.Evelyn: Yeah, so again, I said this already. When I say I'm a Salesforce developer, people say, “Oh, you work at Salesforce. That is so cool.” And I have to say, “No, no. No working at Salesforce. I work on Salesforce in the proprietary system.” But there's always stuff to be learned. There's obviously, like, two releases a year where they send updates to the Salesforce software that companies are running on and working on computers is kind of how I sum it up, but yeah, I don't know [laugh].Corey: No, I think that's a fair place to come at from. It's, I think that we all have a bit of a bias in that we tend to assume that other people, in the absence of data to the contrary, have similar backgrounds and experiences to our own. And that means in many cases, we paper over things that are not necessarily true. We find ourselves biasing for people whose paths resemble our own, which is not inherently a bad thing until it becomes exclusionary. But it does tend to occlude the fact that there are many paths to this broader industry.Evelyn: Yeah. So, there is a term in the Salesforce ecosystem, we like to call people accidental admins, where they learn Salesforce on a job and like it so much that they become a Salesforce admin. And a lot of times these folks will then become developers and then architects, even, which is kind of how I got into it as well. I started at a phone company as a Salesforce end-user, worked my way up as a database admin, database coordinator doing e911 databases, and then transitioned into software engineering from there. So, there's a lot of folks who find themselves within the Salesforce ecosystem, and yeah, there are people with, like, bonafide top-ten computer science school degrees, and you know, we've got a fair bit of that, but one thing that I really like about the Salesforce ecosystem is because everyone's so friendly and helpful and because there's so many resources to upskill folks, it's really easy to get involved in the ecosystem.Like Trailhead, the training platform for Salesforce is entirely free. You can sign up for an account, you can learn anything on Salesforce from end-user stuff to Salesforce architecture and anything in between. So, that's how most people study for their certifications. And I love Trailhead. It's a very fun little modules.It gamifies learning and you get little, I call them Girl Scout badges because they resemble, you know, you have your Girl Scout vest and your Girl Scout sash, and you get the little badges. So, when you complete a project, you get a badge—or if you work on a big project, a super badge—that you can then put on your resume and say, “Hey, I built this 12-hour project in Salesforce Trailhead.” And some of them are required for certifications. So, you can say, “I did this. I got this certification, and I can actually showcase my skills and what I've been working on.”So, it really makes a good entrance to the ecosystem. Because there's a lot of people who want to break into tech that don't necessarily have that background that are able to do so and really, really shine. And I tell people, like, let's see, it's 2023. Eight years ago, I was a barista. I was doing undergraduate research and working in a coffee shop. And that's really helped me in my career.And a lot of people don't think about this, but the soft skills that you learn in, like, a food service job or a retail job are really helpful for communicating with those internal and external stakeholders, technical and non-technical stakeholders. And if you've ever been yelled at by a Karen on a Sunday morning, in a university town on graduation weekend, you can handle any project manager. So, that's one thing that, like, because there's so many resources in the ecosystem, there's so many people with so many varied backgrounds in the ecosystem, it's a really welcoming place. And there's not, like… I don't know, there's not a lot of, like, degree shaming or school shaming or background shaming that I feel happens in some other tech spaces. You know, I see your face you're making there. I know you know what I'm talking about. But—[laugh].Corey: I have an eighth-grade education on paper. My 20s were very interesting. Now, it's a fun story, but it was very tricky to get past a lot of that bias early on in my career. You're not wrong.Evelyn: Absolutely. And like I said, eight years ago, I was a barista. I went to school for chemical engineering. I have an engineering background, I have most of a chemical engineering degree. I just hated it so much.But getting into Salesforce honestly changed my life because I worked my way up from a call center as an end-user on Salesforce. Being able to say I have worked as a consultant. I have worked as a staff software engineer, I have worked at an ISV partner, which if you don't know what that is, Salesforce has an app store, kind of like the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, but purely apps on Salesforce, and it's called the Salesforce App Exchange. So, if you have Salesforce, you can extend your functionality by adding an app from the App Exchange to if you want to use Salesforce as an ERP, for example, you can add the Certinia app from the App Exchange. And I've worked on AppExchange apps before, and now I'm like, making a big kid salary and, like, it's really, really kind of cool because ten years ago, I didn't think my life was going to be like this, and I owe it to—I'm going to give my old boss Scott Bell a shout out on this because he hired me, and I'm happy about it, so thank you, Scott for taking a chance and letting me learn Salesforce. Because now I'm on Screaming in the Cloud, which is really cool, so—talking about Salesforce, which is dorky, but it's really fun.Corey: If it works, what's wrong with it?Evelyn: Exactly.Corey: There's a lot to be said for helping people find a path forward. One of the things that I've always been taken aback by has been just how much small gestures can mean to people. I mean, I've had people thanked me for things I've done for them in their career that I don't even remember because it was, “You introduced me to someone once,” or, “You sat down with me at a conference and talked for 20 minutes about something that then changed the course of my career.” And honestly, I feel like a jerk when I don't remember some of these things, but it's a yeah, you asked me my opinion, I'm thrilled to give it to you, but the choices beyond that are yours. It still sticks out, though, that the things I do can have that level of impact for people.Evelyn: Yeah, absolutely. And that's one of the things about the Salesforce community is there are so many opportunities to make those potentially life-changing moments for people. You can give back by being a Trailblazer Mentor, you can sign up for Trailblazer Mentorship from any level of your career, from being a basic fresh, green admin to signing up for architecture lessons. And the highest level of certification in Salesforce is the Certified Technical Architect. There's, like, 300 of them in the world and there are nonprofits that are entirely dedicated to helping marginalized genders and women and black and indigenous people of color to make these milestones and go for the Certified Technical Architect certification.And there's lots of opportunities to give back and create those moments for people. And I spoke at Forcelandia last year, and one of the things that I did—it was the Women in Tech breakfast, and we went over my LinkedIn—which is apparently very good, so if you don't know what to do on LinkedIn, you can look at mine, it's fine—we went through LinkedIn and your search engine optimization in LinkedIn and how you can do this, and you know, how to get recruiters to look at your LinkedIn profile. And I went through my salary history of, like, this is how much I was making ten years ago, this is how much I'm making now, and this is how much I made at every job on the way. And we went through and did that. And I had, like, ten women come up to me afterwards and say, “I have never heard someone say outright their salary numbers before. And I don't know what to ask for when I'm in negotiations.”Corey: It's such a massive imbalance because all the companies know what other people are making because they get a holistic view. They know what they're paying across the board. I think a lot of the pay transparency movement has been phenomenal. I've been in situations before myself, where my boss walks up to me out of nowhere, and gives me a unsolicited $10,000 raise. It's, “Wow, thanks.” Followed immediately by, “Wait a minute.”Evelyn: Mm-hm.Corey: People generally don't do that out of the goodness of their hearts. How underpaid, am I? And every time it was, yeah, here's the $10,000 raise so you don't go get 30 somewhere else.Evelyn: Yeah. And that's one of the things that, like, going into job negotiations, women and people of marginalized genders will apply for jobs that they're a hundred percent qualified for, which means that they're not growing in their positions. So, if you're not kind of reaching when you're applying for positions, you're not going to get the salary you need, you're not going to get that career growth you need, whereas, not to play this card, but like, white men will go in and be, like, “I've got 60% of the qualifications. I'm going to ask for this much money.” And then they get it.And it's like, why don't I do that? It's, you know, societal whatever is pressuring me not to. And being able to talk transparently about that stuff is, like, so important. And these women just, like, went into salary negotiations a couple weeks later, and I had one of them message me and say, like, “Yeah, I asked for the number you said at this conference and I got it.” And I was like, “Yes! congratulations.” Because that is life-changing, especially, like, because so many of us come from non-technical backgrounds in Salesforce, you don't know how much money you can make in tech until you get it, and it's absolutely life-changing.Corey: Yeah, it's wild to me, but that's the way it works. I really want to thank you for taking the time to speak with me. If people want to learn more, where's the best place for them to find you?Evelyn: So, I am reachable at anothersalesforceblog.com, and evelyn.fyi, E-V-E-L-Y-N dot F-Y-I, which actually just links back to another Salesforce blog, which is fine. But I'm really [laugh] reachable on LinkedIn and really active there, so if you need any Salesforce mentorship, I do that. And I love doing it because so many people have helped me in my career that it's really, like, anything I can do to give back. And that's really kind of the attitude of the Salesforce ecosystem, so definitely feel free to reach out.Corey: And we will, of course, put links to that in the [show notes 00:30:27]. Thank you so much for taking the time to, I guess, explain how an entire swath of the ecosystem views the world.Evelyn: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for having me, Corey.Corey: Evelyn Grizzle, Senior Salesforce Developer. I'm Cloud Economist Corey Quinn, and this is Screaming in the Cloud. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice, whereas if you've hated this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice along with an angry, insulting comment that I will one day aggregate somewhere, undoubtedly within Salesforce.Corey: If your AWS bill keeps rising and your blood pressure is doing the same, then you need The Duckbill Group. We help companies fix their AWS bill by making it smaller and less horrifying. The Duckbill Group works for you, not AWS. We tailor recommendations to your business and we get to the point. Visit duckbillgroup.com to get started.

In this week's episode, Sonia sits down with returning guest, Mehmet Orun (Sr. VP of Product at PeerNova), to discuss the meaning of fit-for-purpose  data and why it is so critical for an organization. He shares how Cuneiform for CRM helps CRM stakeholders achieve fit-for-purpose data.  Mehmet answers the following questions: What does fit-for-purpose data mean? What are some examples?How does fit-for-purpose apply today in business?Why is it critical for Salesforce customers?What are some things Salesforce customers can do to determine if their CRM data is fit-for-purpose?What is Cuneiform for CRM and how is it different from other applications?How can customers get started?Install Cuneiform for CRM in the AppExchange

What does it take to build a successful marketplace in the ever-evolving world of payments technology? We had the pleasure of speaking with Kate Major and Ray Nazloomian from the JPMorgan payments team to find out. Together, we explored the importance of providing trusted solutions for clients, JPMorgan Chase's partnerships with fintech companies, and the recent innovations launched in collaboration with Salesforce. Our conversation took a deep dive into the JPMorgan Payments Partner Network, a groundbreaking B2B marketplace for payment solutions. With over 50 partners listed, this platform enables clients to access a whole ecosystem of third-party integrations across various industries and value propositions. Kate and Ray shared their experience working with Salesforce to launch the platform and the lessons they've learned in building a successful digital marketplace. Lastly, we discussed the complexities of pre-integrating platforms and the value of automation in helping companies get live quickly.  Don't miss this fascinating episode as we uncover the power of partnerships and innovation in the world of payments, and learn how the JPMorgan Payments Partner Network is revolutionizing the industry! Show Highlights: The JPMorgan's Payments Partner Network has been developed in collaboration with Salesforce, with insights from their AppExchange experiences. Pre-integrating and connecting platforms helps companies go live quickly and reduces the complexity of managing multiple payment partners. A focus on customer experience, partner experience, and seller experience is essential for building a successful marketplace. JPMorgan has received positive feedback from partners who appreciate the visibility and streamlined approach of the Payments Partner Network. The platform aims to solve complex client needs and simplify the payment ecosystem for businesses. Follow and Review: We'd love for you to follow us if you haven't yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We'd love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast. *** Episode Credits If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com. Let them know I sent you.  

In this episode, Sara Varni, CMO of Attentive, reflects on her time at Salesforce and the role she played in achieving significant milestones like AppExchange and more. Drawing from her experiences, Sara shares strategies to excel in a fast-paced work environment and effectively build a high-performing team.Quote:“The AppExchange was well on its way but it was an inflection point where we began to see people gravitate towards our ecosystem… it was cool to be part of the early days of that.”Episode Timestamps:*(00:00) - Ohana Origins: Sara's introduction to Salesforce *(12:30) -  What does the Ohana mean to Sara?*(18:00) - What's Cooking: Sara's career post-Salesforce*(23:00) - Future Forecast: What's in store for the Salesforce ecosystem?*(15:00) - Advice for aspiring CMOs*(27:00) - Lightning Round!SponsorInside the Ohana is brought to you by Qualified.com, the #1 Conversational Marketing platform for companies that use Salesforce and the secret weapon for Demand Gen pros. The world's leading enterprise brands trust Qualified to instantly meet with buyers, right on their website, and maximize sales pipeline. Visit Qualified.com to learn more.LinksConnect with Dan on LinkedInConnect with Sara on LinkedInwww.caspianstudios.com

Avanish, JW, and Andrew discuss: The ideation of VIIZR out of Ford's Greenfield Labs (1:30)The critical alignment of technology and go-to-market strategy when picking what platform to build VIIZR's core product and capabilities on (4:00) Small vs. scalable businesses and how VIIZR supports its customers (7:30) Their view on the most important components of platform building for customers (8:12) How VIIZR tackles knowing where to build and where to partner (10:30) What happens when high tech meets high touch (16:30)Ford's path to investing in VIIZR and the genesis of the company's name (20:24) The power of the democratization of technology over recent history (24:00)The biggest obstacles VIIZR has faced and how the team has navigated hurdles (26:23)And much more! Guests: JW Hoh & Andrew AlbertJian Wei Hoh is originally from Melbourne, Australia and has spent the past two decades globally focused on technology and business growth across startups and enterprises. He is currently the CEO of VIIZR Inc, a field services platform for trade professionals. Prior to VIIZR, Jian Wei served 5 years at Ford Motor Company, most recently as General Manager and Head of Business Design at Ford Greenfield Labs. Previously, Jian Wei was an executive overseeing the growth of rideshare in Scandinavia, social media in China, and omnichannel marketing and digital transformation across Oceania. As a practitioner of Human-Centered design, Jian Wei currently teaches business design thinking to startups, students and executives across various institutions in the United States.Andrew Albert has over 20 years of CRM, Platform, and Enterprise SaaS experience in engineering, consulting, and platform enablement. Prior to being CTO of VIIZR, Andrew spent 16 years at Salesforce, most recently as the SVP of AppExchange advising and mentoring ISVs on how to architect great applications on the Salesforce platform. Previously, Andrew joined Salesforce as a technical consultant helping ensure Salesforce's early enterprise customers were successful. Prior to Salesforce, spent a few years at Siebel as a Software Engineer and another few years as a Siebel consultant.Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, JW Hoh and Andrew AlbertFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

In this week's episode, Navid and Sonia sit down with Mehmet Orun, Sr. VP of Product at PeerNova, to announce the launch of Cuneiform for CRM, a business data quality application now available on the Salesforce AppExchange. Mehmet answers the following questions: What is the largest data quality challenge that organizations face today?What are the current gaps in today's data quality for CRM applications?What is Cuneiform for CRM?What does it mean when data is fit-for-business purpose?How is it different from current data quality applications on the AppExchange?Read the AnnouncementDownload Cuneiform for CRM in the AppExchange

Avanish and Jason discuss: Thirdera's founding story from a company with no resources in early 2021 to a company of just under a thousand resources across 12 countries today. (2:30) ServiceNow's  pivot to digital transformation across the enterprise and the  $6.2-6.8 trillion market opportunity it creates (7:15) The platforms that will be positioned to win in this evolving environment (10:52)The rise of the data model (12:30) Jason's advice for those who want to be “extraordinarily future-ready” (16:26)The critical role experience will play in the future (20:00) And much more! Guest: Jason WojahnJason Wojahn has more than 25 years of business, technology, and investment experience across start-ups, private and public companies. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of Thirdera, a global services consultancy specializing in ServiceNow digital transformation, workflow automation, cloud advisory, and adoption. Thirdera brings together the power of the ServiceNow platform and its limitless potential across the world of work. Our architects, developers, consultants, designers, and project managers help our customers transform, get more from ServiceNow, and unlock hidden potential in their businesses and technology.  Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Jason WojahnFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

Avanish and Erica have a robust discussion around: Erica's 23-year journey at Deloitte 1:00Why  it's not about the role you have, but about what you do with the role and opportunities you're given (7:40) Erica's advice for growth companies thinking about building partnerships with organizations such as Deloitte or Accenture (10:25) Unpacking what “partner empathy” looks like in practice (12:45) How it is different to go to market with what we now call an ecosystem rather than what used to be more traditional partner programs (15:50) The biggest roadblocks Erica has encountered and show she steered around them (23:30)How organizations looking to enact change and has some of a similar history of direct sales and direct delivery can embark on this journey and start changing mindsets. (28:48)Why storytelling is the ultimate superpower (30:34)Guest: Erica Volini Erica Volini is the Senior Vice President responsible for Global Partnerships at ServiceNow. In that role, she has the privilege of managing the over 2,000 partners that are part of the ServiceNow global ecosystem. Before joining ServiceNow in 2021, she spent over two decades at Deloitte Consulting leading the Human Capital business and as the Chief Commercial Officer for Deloitte's overall relationship with ServiceNow. She has written and talked extensively around the Future of Work and is a recognized expert in that space. She got her BS ILR from Cornell University and while she's a true-blue New Yorker, she currently resides in Scottsdale, AZ with her husband and son with a new baby on the way in just a few short weeks.Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Erica VoliniFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

In this episode of The Platform Journey, Stephen and Avanish discuss: The shift from linear sales motions to ecosystem sales motions (3:35)Integrating a financial model perspective and business model perspective (7:30)Reframing how we think about revenue allocation and the financial impact of partners on a business (9:45)Recognizing both the buy and sell side of contracts and sales execution (15:50)The importance of owning your management systems and partner motions (20:25)The opportunities (and challenges) facing new platform and ecosystem companies (25:15)Guest: Stephen HurrellStephen leads the expertise in the Office of Revenue and guides leaders in the applications and technology for buying and selling products and services to maximize revenue. The topics of coverage include partner management, digital commerce, price and revenue management, sales enablement, revenue performance management and subscription management. Stephen's uniquely diverse technology experience spans over 30 years, including leadership roles, heading up product strategy across a range of data-driven applications in sales enablement, financial reporting and planning, and billing and monetization platforms. Stephen was General Manager at InsideSales.com where he managed the C9 Analytics business, VP of Product and AI strategy at RecVue and held roles at Oracle, Exigen and Aviso. Stephen earned his BS in Economics from the London School of Economics.Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Stephen HurrellFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

In Part Three, Avanish and Allan discuss: The evolution of monetization models (3:00) Understanding the three buckets of  tech partner monetization (6:45) How Procore's model resulted in much higher levels of adoption and engagement, and a much higher orientation around how to make the magic happen (10:50)How to turn ISVs from  flavor-adders to the meal, into the whole meal (16:34)Allan's favorite monetization model: the reciprocity or reciprocal model (20:37) Bringing it all back  to sourced revenue attribution (28:14) The importance of finding lagging and leading indications (30:33)Guest: Allan Adler, Managing Partner, Digital Bridge PartnersAllan Adler is a world-class advisor, consultant, and change agent.  As Managing Partner at Digital Bridge Partners, he helps individuals, managers, and executives understand and leverage partnership best practices in business and society.  He is the creator of the GoToEcosystem Framework and has worked with a wide range of organizations to unlock their full ecosystem potential.  Allan is Chair of the Ecosystem Counsel at PartnerHacker and an Executive Member of Partnership Leaders.  Previously, Allan founded and ran MSI Consulting Group; a 100-person sales and marketing strategy firm focused on the tech industry and worked as a consultant with The Boston Consulting Group.  He received his MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business, where he was honored as a Baker Scholar. Allan is a CPA and serves on several for-profit and not-for-profit boards.Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Allan AdlerFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark 

In Part Two, Avanish and Allan discuss: Understanding taxation, reciprocal, and mutuality models (3:30) The role of NRR and ARR (7:27)The “stickiness” justification when monetizing tech partnerships (9:30) Understanding universal success models (12:00) Hyperscalers (14:01) Why your go-to-market or the go-to-eco motion has to be multi-threaded(20:50) Why Allan likes to look at the journey of go-to-eco very similarly to the journey of making a product(24:30) Understanding that is incumbent on partner leaders to recognize that partner operations is not a “nice to have.”(30:29)Guest: Allan Adler, Managing Partner, Digital Bridge PartnersAllan Adler is a world-class advisor, consultant, and change agent.  As Managing Partner at Digital Bridge Partners, he helps individuals, managers, and executives understand and leverage partnership best practices in business and society.  He is the creator of the GoToEcosystem Framework and has worked with a wide range of organizations to unlock their full ecosystem potential.  Allan is Chair of the Ecosystem Counsel at PartnerHacker and an Executive Member of Partnership Leaders.  Previously, Allan founded and ran MSI Consulting Group; a 100-person sales and marketing strategy firm focused on the tech industry and worked as a consultant with The Boston Consulting Group.  He received his MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business, where he was honored as a Baker Scholar. Allan is a CPA and serves on several for-profit and not-for-profit boards.Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Allan AdlerFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

Tom Melbourne is the Founder of OpnMkt (pronounced Open Market) which is a Salesforce-Native utility app on the AppExchange for a marketplace approach to the distribution of new leads or new opportunities. OpnMkt is more than just a sales effectiveness tool. It's completely reimagining the status quo when it comes to maximizing sales capacity.Tom has had an incredible career on his way to starting OpnMkt. He started out as an Account Executive where he was very successful and then went on to leading sales teams for companies like CareerBuilder, Citrix, MixPanel and Sendoso. He's been a VP of Sales 3x over and is also an angel investor and a strategic advisor.In this episode, Tom challenges the way we think about sales structure in terms of pre-defined territories and/or named account lists. He offers an innovative alternative to traditional SDR to AE routing/distribution that can inherently open up more sales capacity.#salesconsultantpodcast #salescapacity #leadrouting #accountdistribution #sdr #salesdevelopment #salesterritory #namedaccountsTime Stamps:[2:00] Tom starts by telling the story of starting a wedding DJ business at 12 which he ran all the way through college. This led to him and a partner creating a wedding planning app right out of college that they sold to companies. [8:00] Explains what he attributes his progressive career to. Tom gives some advice to people who might be earlier in their career; nurture your network.[10:23] Nobody cares about a lead until someone wants to buy something + the origin story of OpnMkt.[13:00] The one thing missing from lead distribution platforms today is involvement from the Account Executive. The more excited a rep is about working a lead the better that lead will be worked.[15:00] The current model of SDR to AE opportunity routing is inherently inconsistent due to the AE's expectation varying based on the health of their funnel. [19:00] Pre structured territories limit the ability to dynamically route leads. We talk through an example where a lead surfaced that was generated via a rep's brand building/social media activity and how unless an exception was made that rep most likely wouldn't get the lead.[22:30] Tom helps us understand what “Sales Capacity” even means. Then he gets into how we inherently limit capacity through the traditional approaches to structuring our orgs and our territories.[26:00] We unpack an alternative approach to just defaulting to the same ol ‘assign everything to the salespeople/Account Executives'. The approach is innovative ad creates optionality which leads to increased sales capacity.[37:00] He explains the inherent challenges to the traditional SDR/AE pod model (i.e., personality conflicts, inconsistent SDR development, etc.) [41:30] The tension between quality and quantity and how SDR compensation changes for the better in this new model. [47:00] Why and how creating optionality in your distribution helps maximize sales capacity.Mentions:OpnMkt - https://www.opnmkt.ioSendoso - https://sendoso.comConnect with us:Tom's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommelbourne/OpnMkt - https://www.opnmkt.ioOpnMkt on the Salesforce AppExchange -

Avanish and Allan unpack a wide range of topics to kick off this series, including:Why tech partnerships harness so much power (3:42) The role tech partnerships play between channel and alliances (5:43) The commercial envelope concept and what it means for technology partners (8:02) Distinguishing between the strategy and the platform business model (10:34) Going to market directly vs. going to market through an ecosystem (12:00) Where does the customer fit in? (15:40) Why is digital transformation happening, and what does it mean for customers? (20:26) The important CEO to CPO conversation that needs to be had (24:13) And much more!Guest: Allan Adler, Managing Partner, Digital Bridge PartnersAllan Adler is a world-class advisor, consultant, and change agent.  As Managing Partner at Digital Bridge Partners, he helps individuals, managers, and executives understand and leverage partnership best practices in business and society.  He is the creator of the GoToEcosystem Framework and has worked with a wide range of organizations to unlock their full ecosystem potential.  Allan is Chair of the Ecosystem Counsel at PartnerHacker and an Executive Member of Partnership Leaders.  Previously, Allan founded and ran MSI Consulting Group; a 100-person sales and marketing strategy firm focused on the tech industry and worked as a consultant with The Boston Consulting Group.  He received his MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business, where he was honored as a Baker Scholar. Allan is a CPA and serves on several for-profit and not-for-profit boards.Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Allan AdlerFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

On this episode, Charles Yang, Senior Director of Product Management at ScreenMeet, and Tehsin Daya, Head Of Partnerships at Groove, share their journeys with Salesforce, the leading CRM platform, and how their partner program AppExchange accelerated their kickstart. AppExchange is an enterprise cloud marketplace with more than 7000 apps and certified consulting organizations that work with Salesforce. Charles and Tehsin speak about how they got started with Salesforce, how AppExchange accelerates the journey, and they both offer suggestions for those considering their own path with Salesforce. They discuss the main outcomes of the program, which are essentially networking, good connections and co-marketing. For those wanting to get started on AppExchange, Tehsin says, “First understand Salesforce and their strategy, then align within that strategy in a way that makes sense to you.” Charles Yang - https://www.linkedin.com/in/chuckyang/ ScreenMeet - https://www.linkedin.com/company/screenmeet/ Tehsin Daya - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tdaya/ Groove - https://www.linkedin.com/company/groove.co/ Resources mentioned: Qualified - https://www.qualified.com/ Test Drive widget on AppExchange - https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxContentListingDetail?listingId=a0N3u00000PtX4aEAF Note: SaaS Connect 2023 will take place in San Francisco April 19th and 20th. If you would like to be a sponsor, please contact us at admin@cloudsoftwareassociation.com for information. Thank you to our amazing podcast team at Content Allies. Want to launch your own B2B revenue-generating podcasts? Contact them at https://ContentAllies.com. #saas #cloud #software

This bonus episode delves into the meaning of “Ohana”, and how being part of it has left a lasting impact on current and former Salesforce employees. You'll hear past guests describe their own experiences and discover why the Ohana is forever.Quotes“I think of the Ohana as a tree with rings. Ohana is where we put the employees but there are some MVPs in the Salesforce ecosystem who fit right in there too.” - Woodson Martin, EVP and GM, AppExchange, Salesforce“In the Ohana, nobody gatekeeps knowledge. When people build something cool or they learn about something cool, they cannot wait to share it. They are shouting it from the mountaintops, and I love that. - Marquita Sidibe, Sr. Systems Support Analyst at Liberty Mutual Insurance“I've been a part of probably 5 major corporations, 4 of which were public companies and I never experienced that kind of Ohana that we have at Salesforce.” - Jim Steele, President, Global Strategic Customers, Salesforce“The Ohana is everybody rallying around a cause that you believe in. In my case, it was software but it was always more than software. It was how Salesforce can help your business, how Salesforce could help the world, and how you could drive change and do good.” - Jamie Domenici, CMO, GoTo“It's the employees that really give of themselves that demonstrate the Ohana.” - Suzanne DiBianca, EVP Corporate Relations and Chief Impact Officer, Salesforce Episode Timestamps* (1:28) - What does the Ohana mean to Dan?*(2:19) - Woodson Martin's meaning of Ohana*(3:53) - Marquita Sidibe's meaning of Ohana*(5:02) - Jim Steele's meaning of Ohana *(6:37) - Jamie Domenici's meaning of Ohana *(7:27) - Suzanne DiBianca's meaning of OhanaSponsorInside the Ohana is brought to you by Qualified.com, the #1 Conversational Marketing platform for companies that use Salesforce and the secret weapon for Demand Gen pros. The world's leading enterprise brands trust Qualified to instantly meet with buyers, right on their website, and maximize sales pipeline. Visit Qualified.com to learn more.LinksConnect with Dan on LinkedInwww.caspianstudios.com

In this episode, Avanish Sahai and Chris Grusz use the marketplace journey of Amazon Web Services as a springboard to discuss a variety of platform-related topics:The driver of a successful flywheel (2:17)Developing products and fostering selection to match customer demand (5:28)Balancing feature development between both buyers and sellers to maximize value for both (7:45)The advantages offered by a marketplace when co-selling with ISVs (14:56)The Amazon leadership mindset, and facilitating feedback from customers (20:54)Maintaining a long view and finding ways to attract new types of customers (25:32)Offering simplification: the key to successful marketplaces (30:00)Guest: Chris Grusz, General Manager, WW ISV Alliances & Marketplace, Amazon Web ServicesChris Grusz is the General Manager, ISV Alliances & Marketplace.  In this role he leads the ISV Partner Development and Marketplace organizations globally. With AWS since 2015, his team is responsible for the adoption of AWS Marketplace - with double digit YoY growth equating to billions in sales on an annual basis, more than 2,000 ISVs and 12,000 software product listings in AWS Marketplace.  Chris' team works with all ISVs to adopt various partner programs and co-sell initiatives.   In addition, his team also works with customers across Commercial and Public Sector on a global basis, helping them utilize AWS Marketplace to change how they find, buy, deploy, and manage application portfolios running on AWS. Prior to joining AWS, Chris held various leadership roles including Director of Sales, Managing Director and Business Unit Executive for IBM in Sales & Distribution as well as IBM Software Group. Chris holds a BA in Business Administration and an MBA in Technology Management from the University of Washington where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Chris GruszFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

In today's episode of How We Got There, I talk with Mike Getchis, who was the VP of Sales at Zenkraft. They were acquired by Brinng earlier this year and he is now Partner Solutions Engineer. Mike was at the helm of Zenkraft's sales organization which bootstrapped their way to a strategic exit but started his Salesforce journey with hands on keyboard. Zenkraft's top gtm strategies included working with SIs, Salesforce, and other ISVs. They found that their AppExchange listing was the starting point for the SI community, so focused on giving them partner-ready materials and a quick way to get them in touch with technical resources. The access to technical resources is an important component to any SI partner program that is often overlooked and mirrors my experience at Conga. Mike shares his experience participating in Salesforce Accelerate and how it improved their positioning and execution of aligning with SEs and AEs. Their SDO page is a high water mark for the ecosystem in terms of enabling the Salesforce SEs to demo their solution. And when they close a deal, they are intentional about a bottoms up strategy to share the win with their peers in a lean way. Zenkraft's app is horizontal so they have a challenge of focus which I hear from a lot of ISVs. In regards to their AppExchange listing, he speaks to the value from an Account Management perspective of knowing when customers refresh their sandbox and how Test Drive can help drive leads. His secret sauce to having over 300 5-star reviews? Asking them. After a successful implementation or great support experience, their whole team asks them to write a review. Here's a closer look at the episode: 1:00 About ZenKraft and How Mike joined the ecosystem 3:00 Salesforce hands on keyboard, what did that teach you about selling in the ecosystem? 4:00 What was the best go to market program that you created there? 9:10 How did you prioritize with a small team that was Bootstrap? 13:20 For folks that haven't gone through an accelerated program, what would you say to them as they consider applying for a future cohort? 15:44 The importance of the AppExchange 17:28 Tips on improving reviews on the AppExchange 18:42 Through your journey at Zenkraft, what are you most proud of? Resources: AppExchange Listing: https://appexchange.salesforce.com/appxListingDetail?listingId=a0N3A00000DvLFvUAN Website: https://www.bringg.com/ Mike's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-getchis-57075891/ Salesforce Accelerate: https://www.salesforce.com/campaign/accelerate/ Zenkraft's Demo Kit: https://zenkraft.com/demokit/retail This episode is brought to you by ISVapp. ISVapp is used by leading Salesforce ISVs and OEMs as the central toolbox to reduce churn, increase renewals, identify upsell potential, and close more deals. ISVapp is the only plug & play solution for the AppExchange AppAnalytics API and provides deep product insights. The set up is easy and takes less than 5 minutes. Visit isvapp.com to learn how you can take advantage of usage data in your app today.

Marcus and Avanish talk about the following and more:ServiceNow's history as a platform company from the very beginning (3:05)The cooperation and cohesion of ServiceNow's internal products and what partners can build (6:49)The importance of committing to an ecosystem as well as a platform—and what companies really want (12:45)The challenge of long-term investment into a platform and ecosystem strategy (24:52)Why you should be cautious of building a platform just because you can (29:00)Guest: Marcus Torres, GM and VP of App Engine Business at ServiceNowMarcus is a people, product and business leader with over 20 years of proven experience building and scaling products within organizations of all sizes across consumer and enterprise markets. Extensive experience in market segments of SaaS, cloud computing, platform, mobile, developer experience, digital marketing, location-based services, and supply chain management.Marcus is General Manager of ServiceNow's market leading low code business, App Engine. App Engine is one of the fastest growing businesses at ServiceNow. He previously led ServiceNow's Integration Hub business while driving product strategy for the ServiceNow Platform. Responsibilities include GTM, product management, product strategy, strategic partnerships, M&A, executive engagement and business operations with additional dotted line responsibility across engineering, product marketing and sales.Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Marcus TorresFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

In this episode, you can hear Laura and Avanish discuss:Expanding single channels and products to create more value (7:00)The importance of internal alignment on products and partners (10:48)Using modeling to optimize partnerships and platform strategy (13:35)Key measures of success when growing partnership ecosystems (16:47)The benefit of defining clear metrics of success (21:12)Laura's advice: Start where you know you can have an impact, but don't be afraid to disrupt (28:57)Guest: Laura Padilla, VP, GLobal Partners, AirtableLaura Padilla is currently the VP of Global Partners and Services at Airtable where she is building the partner and services delivery strategy. She brings over 20 years of leadership experience in leading/building complex business units and new revenue streams to scale small, private companies to +$1B post-IPO revenue including Zoom, Nutanix, Box and Riverbed. Leadership experience across marketing, alliances/business development and partner/channel sales roles in the SaaS, Enterprise Software and Hardware industries. She most recently was at Zoom where she led the global partner and platform sales business unit that was composed of over 300 team members and over $500M in revenue. This included indirect sales with and through VAR's, service providers/carriers, OEM's, referral partners, ISV's and SI's, as well as influenced revenue with technology partners such as Slack, Dropbox, Box, Okta, Five9, Twilio and others. She is known as a function builder where her strength is in scaling new organizations to drive incremental revenue and customer value. Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guest, Laura PadillaFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

Meet Jim Sinai, CMO at Vanilla and former marketing leader at Salesforce. During his 8 years at Salesforce, Jim worked on various businesses including Salesforce Einstein, Salesforce Platform, AppExchange, Data.com, and Salesforce Industries. In this episode, Jim shares the lessons he's learned from his biggest projects at Salesforce and how keeping a beginner's mindset has helped him succeed.Quote“If you're not rooted in the concept of a beginner's mind, your projects will fail.”Episode Timestamps:*(1:56) - Ohana Origins: Meet Jim Sinai *(7:29) -  What Does the Ohana mean to Jim?*(11:53) - What's Cooking: Jim's Current Role at Vanilla*(19:45) - Future Forecast: What's in Store for the Salesforce ecosystem?*(19:07) - Advice for Aspiring Marketing Leaders*(22:22) - Lightning Round!SponsorInside the Ohana is brought to you by Qualified.com, the #1 Conversational Marketing platform for companies that use Salesforce and the secret weapon for Demand Gen pros. The world's leading enterprise brands trust Qualified to instantly meet with buyers, right on their website, and maximize sales pipeline. Visit Qualified.com to learn more.LinksConnect with Jim on LinkedInConnect with Dan on LinkedInLearn more about Vanillawww.caspianstudios.com

In this episode, Avanish and Peter discuss: The power of maintaining a customer-centric approach (4:24)Looking down, not up, to determine how to really fix the source of a problem within your platform (5:39)How to think about delivering true value to the developers on your platform (10:17)Not setting out on the platform journey before you're ready (16:19)Choosing the right marketing motion for your platform (22:15)Guest: Peter Reinhardt, CEO of Charm IndustrialPeter Reinhardt is CEO & Co-founder at Charm Industrial, where they are developing novel carbon removal & renewable industrial syngas technology. Prior to Charm, Peter was CEO and co-founder at Segment, a SaaS customer data platform that grew to 600 people before it was acquired by Twilio in 2020 for $3.2B. He previously studied aerospace engineering at MIT.Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Peter ReinhardtFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark 

Many of us want to make a difference in our lives, find our purpose and create our legacy. Shaped by our past, we look toward the future, and toward creating a better world for those around us. As the daughter of an immigrant and refugee, Katica Roy is driven by a passion to eradicate economic inequality and to champion the rights of refugees, women, and children. She has written numerous articles about intersectional gender equity for different national media platforms and uses storytelling and data-stitching to create a common calling toward achieving gender equity. Her articles garnered over 2.9 billion impressions. I was thrilled to have Katica join me on today's episode for a fascinating discussion on gender and the economy. Katica Roy (she/her) is one of LinkedIn's 2022 Top Voices for Gender Equity, the 2020 Colorado Entrepreneur of the Year, 2019 Stevie Entrepreneur of the Year, Top 25 Most Powerful Woman in Business, a 2018 Denver Business Journal Outstanding Women in Business finalist, a 2018 Colorado Governor's Fellow, and was named a Luminary by the Colorado Technology Association in 2017, recognizing her as a visionary technology leader in Colorado. Katica is the CEO of Pipeline, an award-winning company that uses advanced technology to make intersectional gender parity a reality in our lifetime. In addition to its core platform, Pipeline launched the first gender equity app on Salesforce's AppExchange. Pipeline was also named as one of TIME Magazine's Best Inventions of 2019, Fast Company's 2020 World's Most Innovative Companies, Fast Company's 2021 Next Big Things in Tech, Fast Company's 2022 World Changing Ideas. Pipeline is backed by both Accenture and Workday.

In the Season 2 premiere of The Platform Journey, Avanish and Kevin discuss: Driving value to your underlying platform through partnerships (3:35) Reevaluating the way we categorize partners; building network effects to solve customer problems (6:17) Embracing “coopetition” and the importance of transparency when building a platform (9:16) Understanding and communicating the core and context layers of your ecosystem (12:42) Kevin's key advice for an ISV setting out on the platform journey (15:15)Guest: Kevin Ichhpurani, Corporate VP at Google CloudKevin Ichhpurani is Corporate Vice President, Global Ecosystem and Business Development at Google Cloud. Kevin brings nearly 25 years of experience in the technology industry leading global strategy, platform ecosystem transformation, venture capital and mergers and acquisitions. Most recently, Kevin served as Executive Vice President and Corporate Officer of GE. Prior to GE Digital Kevin was a Senior Partner, Global Markets at Ernst and Young and before Ernst and Young Kevin served at SAP as Executive Vice President, Head of Business Development and Global Ecosystem. Kevin holds an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Kevin IchhpuraniFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about Tidemark

This episode, I'm joined by Katica Roy.As the daughter of an immigrant and refugee, Katica is driven by a passion to eradicate economic inequality and champion the rights of refugees, women, and children. CNN, MSNBC, CBS, Bloomberg, Cheddar, MarketWatch, Yahoo Finance, NBC and Newsy have sought Katica for her sharp and unconventional take on the day's headlines. She's interviewed President Biden, Vice President Harris, Senators Booker and Gillibrand, Secretary Pete, Canadian Pay Equity Commissioner Karen Jensen, Sophia Bush, Eve Rodsky, Gretchen Carlson, and Dr. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings. Her high-octane, visionary articles have been published by the World Economic Forum, Fast Company, Fortune, Forbes, Bloomberg, NBC, Entrepreneur, The Hill, The Advocate, Harvard Business Review, and Morning Consult. Her articles have garnered over 2.9 billion impressions. In 2017 Katica was named a Luminary by the Colorado Technology Association; in 2018 a Colorado Governors' Fellow; in 2019 a Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Business and awarded the Stevie Entrepreneur of the Year—Gold Award; in 2020 she was named the Colorado Entrepreneur of the Year; in 2022 a LinkedIn Top Influencer for gender equity. She is a member of Fast Company's Impact Council and Bloomberg's New Economy Forum. Katica is the CEO of Pipeline, an award-winning company that uses advanced technology to make intersectional gender parity a reality in our lifetime. In addition to its core platform, Pipeline launched the first gender equity app on Salesforce's AppExchange. Pipeline was also named as one of TIME Magazine's Best Inventions of 2019, Fast Company's 2020 World's Most Innovative Companies, Fast Company's 2021 Next Big Things in Tech, and Fast Company's 2022 World Changing Ideas.  Pipeline is backed by both Accenture and Workday. Before speaking with Katica, we cover the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the looming railroad strike, and the importance of curating quality news.

Today on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Keizra Tyson-Griffin, Salesforce Business Analyst at Esor Consulting Group and a soon-to-be Dreamforce presenter. Join us as we talk about her Dreamforce presentation about evaluating AppExchange apps as a Salesforce Business Analyst. You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from […] The post Best of Dreamforce: AppExchange Strategies for Business Analysts with Keizra Tyson-Griffin appeared first on Salesforce Admins.

CRM es la sigla utilizada para "Customer Relationship Management" (Gestión de la Relación con el Cliente), pero la definición de CRM va más allá: es una gestión 360º de ventas, marketing, atención al cliente y todos los puntos de contacto. Las plataformas de CRM están en la lista de las tecnologías corporativas más importantes e innovadoras disponibles para empresas por la manera en que utilizan la información de los clientes para administrar cuentas, leads y oportunidades de ventas en un único lugar. Para aprovechar esta herramienta, en este episodio contamos con Esteban Gonzalez, experto consultor en Salesforce, una plataforma de CRM integrada, reconocida en todo el mundo. Él nos explica que el CRM “nos permite gestionar las relaciones que tenemos con nuestros clientes”: “Es un punto digital único de la verdad de tu cliente donde puedes encontrar todo lo que necesitas para tomar las mejores decisiones basadas en data dura y pura. Puedes analizar tus históricos y el comportamiento real de tu clientela con una herramienta digital como esta”, detalla.   Con cualquier plataforma de CRM podemos activar varias acciones importantes para nuestro negocio. Tal como ejemplifica Esteban, tendremos la capacidad de analizar la data de forma manual o automática, automatizar los flujos de negocio que queramos dentro de la plataforma, enviarles un correo automáticamente a los clientes con cierta información, reactivar nuestra cartera de clientes que no nos compra hace años, recibir notificaciones del CRM respecto a ciertos criterios que definamos y hasta automatizar trabajos internos de nuestra empresa, como tareas de los empleados, entre otros tantos. “También esto se puede integrar con otros sistemas. Si tienes sistema de contabilidad o de marketing los puedes incorporar. El CRM no viene a reemplazar, sino que viene a enriquecer y potenciar las soluciones que ya tienes”, remarca nuestro invitado. El CRM se puede también integrar a nuestra web, como el caso de Shopify. “Salesforce tiene algo muy similar al App Store de Apple y al Play Store de Google, y se llama AppExchange, en el que buscas las apps que quieras integrar, y Shopify tiene una app en AppExchange para integrar con Salesforce. Hay miles de apps para integrar lo que quieras, desde Shopify hasta cálculo de impuestos, temas de inventarios, marketing, etc.”, afirma Esteban. Respecto a la elección del CRM, nuestro especialista recalca que depende mucho de cada empresa. “HubSpot es un CRM muy conocido mundialmente que tiene una solución gratuita y conozco a equipos de ventas que la usan y les va súper bien y no necesitan nada más. Pero si eres una empresa multinacional que necesita integrar 17 sistemas diferentes o personalizar algo muy detalladamente, definitivamente necesitas algo más robusto y Salesforce es buenísimo para eso”, asegura nuestro invitado, y añade: “En cuanto a la seguridad, Salesforce cumple con todas las regulaciones mientras que otros sistemas puede que no lo hagan. Entonces va a depender mucho de cuál sea tu necesidad de negocio real”. Si queremos implementar el sistema CRM para nuestro negocio tenemos que considerar dos gastos principales: uno es el del licenciamiento y el otro es el de la implementación. “Dependiendo del tipo de trabajo que vayas a hacer, el costo va a ser diferente. Si necesitas una solución básica, Salesforce inicia en 25 dólares por mes. Si necesitas algo más costoso puede llegar hasta los 150 dólares por mes. Para ver precios siempre recomiendo ir con un ejecutivo de cuenta de Salesforce”, informa Esteban.  Luego de eso viene la implementación del sistema. “Para eso necesitas un partner autorizado por el CRM que hayas escogido para que agarre los materiales y los configure de acuerdo a la necesidad de negocio que tienes”, sostiene nuestro invitado, y agrega: “El costo de la implementación es súper variado. Generalmente se cotiza por horas”. Como toda plataforma, el CRM necesita mantenimiento por parte de la empresa y es un tercer gasto que cada tanto tenemos que tener en cuenta. Lo podemos hacer por nuestra cuenta, optar por una compañía que nos brinde ese servicio o especialistas que trabajan freelance y hasta hay empresas que tienen departamentos internos de Salesforce. Como cierre, Esteban nos aconseja que “toda implementación de CRM tiene que ir de la mano con una estrategia”; caso contrario, vamos a fallar. “Mucha gente piensa que necesita un CRM para aumentar las ventas, lo compran, lo ponen a andar y lo que tienen es un gasto más y terminan cancelando sus contratos. Y el problema no es el CRM, sino que debemos ocuparnos del mismo para sacarle provecho”, remata nuestro invitado. LinkedIn: Esteban Gonzalez

Highlights of Avanish, Damien, and Nick's discussion include:Xero's growth story from one person's headache to a global platform supporting over 3 million customersThe genesis of Xero's impressive platform strategyHow the company has created a playground for developers to solve for Xero's customers in new and innovative waysUnderstanding the role the tension between things that the company could do and things that the ecosystem could do plays in overall platform strategyPracticing transparency both internally and with your partner ecosystemDefining your ecosystem platform principles to strike balance between first-party and third-party propositionsAnd much more!Guests: Nick Houldsworth & Damien TamplingDamien Tampling, Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer, XeroDamien leads Xero's global strategy, corporate development and partnership teams. Prior to joining Xero, Damien spent nearly 20 years at Deloitte in a number of senior strategy, M&A and other executive roles and was a founding partner of Deloitte's global online and mobile technology practice, Deloitte Digital. He holds a Bachelor of Business from RMIT University, Melbourne and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.Nick Houldsworth, Executive GM Ecosystem, XeroXero is a global small business platform, with over 1000 connected apps in its ecosystem. In 2021 Nick oversaw the launch of the new Xero App Store, and has held board and advisory roles for a number of startups. He is passionate about building a network of innovation through Xero's ecosystem community to support small businesses worldwide. He is based in Auckland, New Zealand.Host: Avanish SahaiAvanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and has served as a Board Member of Hubspot since April 2018 and of Birdie.ai since April 2022. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early-to-mid stage startups in Silicon Valley.About TidemarkTidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com.LinksFollow our guests, Nick Houldsworth and Damien TamplingFollow our host, Avanish SahaiLearn more about TidemarkYou can find the full transcript here. 

Meet Sam Gutmann, the CEO and Co-Founder of OwnBackup - the top-ranked backup and restore ISV on the Salesforce.com AppExchange. Once an outsider to the Ohana, Sam shares his journey from former skeptic to embracing the Salesforce ecosystem. In this episode, you'll hear the amazing ways the Ohana supports its community, as well as guidance for anyone aspiring to make a difference within the ecosystem.Quote“You don't go to any of the tech trade shows and see both technology demonstrations and stuffed animals walking around – it was eye-opening at first. I was a little skeptical at the beginning but said, ‘Wow, you know what? Maybe if we leave the skepticism aside and we really dive in with both feet, we can get a lot out of it.' And, it's been an amazing journey through the ecosystem over the last 7 years.”Episode Timestamps:*(1:39) - Ohana Origins *(4:35) - Sam's biggest wins as part of the Salesforce ecosystem*(6:48) - The value of investing in new partnerships*(9:36) -  What the Ohana means to Sam*(12:20) - What's Cooking*(19:34) - Future Forecast*(21:36) - Advice for aspiring leaders at Salesforce partners *(22:47) - Lightning RoundSponsorInside the Ohana is brought to you by Qualified.com, the #1 Conversational Marketing platform for companies that use Salesforce and the secret weapon for Demand Gen pros. The world's leading enterprise brands trust Qualified to instantly meet with buyers, right on their website, and maximize sales pipeline. Visit Qualified.com to learn more.LinksConnect with Sam on LinkedInConnect with Dan on LinkedInLearn more about OwnBackupwww.caspianstudios.com

Our quest to research the latest technology that is enabling sales professionals to succeed continues with Episode of Tenbound Research Labs! Episode 8 features Tom Melbourne, Founder of OpnMkt. OpnMkt is a Salesforce-Native utility app on the AppExchange for a marketplace approach to new lead / prospect / opportunity distribution, effectively shifting the paradigm on the SDR/AE handoff - a hot topic for our audience! Our host Derrick Williams conducts a value packed episode that covers Tom's views on re-imagining the SDR role, his journey to starting OpnMkt, how the technology works and how it impacts sales organizations.The Sales Development Framework: by David Dulany and Kyle Vamvouris, we lay out a proven methodology for running a high performance Sales Development program, now available here in paperback Grab it here: https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Development-Framework-Productive-Program/dp/1736768905/The Tenbound Sales Development Conference is here, come learn from the best in our industry! Free virtual conference this year. Register Today! https://tenbound.com/conference/ #SDR #BDR #salesdevelopment #tenbound #podcast #sales #marketing #salesengagement #salesenablement #research #prospecting

Meet Woodson Martin, EVP and GM at AppExchange, the leading enterprise cloud marketplace. In this episode, Woodson shares his Salesforce story, which taught him that why transformational leadership begins with a customer-first mindset. Tune in for great insights into relationship-building, advice for aspiring leaders, and much more.Quote“What we are doing is so fundamentally transformative for our customers that we have to invest in those relationships, and get the executive suites to understand the problems that [customers] are trying to solve and the transformations they're trying to lead, and then truly partner with them to do it. That informs almost every decision that we make, including the decisions that we make about the product, what products that we build and what features to prioritize and how we need to accomplish that because it is fundamental.” - Woodson Martin, EVP and GM, AppExchangeEpisode Timestamps:*(1:48) - Ohana Origins *(6:12) - Woodson's biggest Salesforce wins*(10:37) - The value of customer-centric transformative leadership*(14:38) -  What the Ohana means to Woodson*(20:56) - What's Cooking*(26:19) - Future Forecast*(28:27) - Advice aspiring leaders *(30:02) - Lightning RoundSponsorInside the Ohana is brought to you by Qualified.com, the #1 Conversational Marketing platform for companies that use Salesforce and the secret weapon for Demand Gen pros. The world's leading enterprise brands trust Qualified to instantly meet with buyers, right on their website, and maximize sales pipeline. Visit Qualified.com to learn more.LinksConnect with Woodson on LinkedInConnect with Dan on LinkedInLearn more about AppExchangewww.caspianstudios.com