Podcasts about MuleSoft

Don’t Fade and Die in AI Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX: https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ Matt Yanchyshyn, VP AWS Marketplace, Rekha Thangelapalita, Elastic GSI Leaders; Allison McFadden, Accenture AWS Leader; and James Kang of Nvidia join Ultimate Partner. In this panel discussion, leaders from Elastic, Accenture, Nvidia, and AWS dissect the urgent shifts in the ecosystem, emphasizing that partners must adapt to AI and agentic co-selling or risk fading away completely. The conversation explores the necessity of deep co-engineering, the power of multi-product solutions in the AWS marketplace, and how automated agents are now replacing traditional human sales pipeline progression. By embracing data readiness and strategic collaboration, organizations can survive the “token maxing” era, effectively scale their enterprise opportunities, and align with NVIDIA’s five-layer strategy to dominate the new cloud landscape. https://youtu.be/zUkL4Wqsa68 Key Takeaways AI agents will automate the majority of AWS partner co-selling attachments and opportunity progressions this year. Partners who fail to embrace agentic workflows and automated governance face the existential risk of fading into obsolescence. Successful multi-product offerings require a “blood to all organs” approach that benefits the client, the ISV, the GSI, and the hyperscaler simultaneously. Nvidia’s “five-layer cake” model emphasizes that successful outcomes at the application layer automatically drive growth for all underlying infrastructure. The “token maxing” phenomenon is forcing enterprises to seek cost-effective, open-model alternatives to scale their generative AI securely. Integrating GSIs and ISVs on the AWS marketplace significantly increases enterprise deal sizes and long-term customer renewal rates. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags strategic collaboration agreement, data readiness engine, agentic co-sell, semantic layer, token maxing, five layer cake, accelerated computing platform, open models, cloud consumption, multi-product solutions, partner central agents, propensity data, automated opportunity progression, generative AI governance Transcript Matt Y and Panel Audio Podcast [00:00:00] Vince Menzione: You have a choice. You can embrace them and figure it out and get governance and, and make your data available. Um, use the partner, central agent, move to Agen Co-sell, or you can fade and die. [00:00:11] Vince Menzione: You can feel it happening. The ecosystem is shifting beneath us, the way Hyperscalers are partnering, how AI is remaking the channel and what it means to win in 2026. [00:00:22] Vince Menzione: Welcome to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. I’m Vince Menzi. Own your host. And each week I sit down with leaders at the intersection of technology, partnerships and outcomes. The voices shaping how ecosystems actually work. We talk about what’s real, what’s changing, and what it takes to lead in this era where the partner channel isn’t just part of the strategy. [00:00:44] Vince Menzione: It is the strategy because [00:00:46] Vince Menzione: being in the room changes everything. Let’s start. [00:00:51] Vince Menzione: We’ve got some amazing leaders joining us. So I think probably for a little bit of context, maybe just start with Rika. You can introduce yourself, your role and, uh, what, what you’ve been doing at Elastic. Yeah. [00:01:03] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah, sounds great. [00:01:04] Rekha Thangellapalli: Hi everyone. I’m Reka and I lead GSI Alliances at Elastic. Um, for the past 14 years, I’ve had the pleasure of building different kinds of partner ecosystems across companies such as SAP. MuleSoft, Salesforce, Coupa, and now Elastic. Um, I wanna thank Ultimate partner and Vince for having us here today. Thank you and the panel of these incredible speakers for joining me on stage. [00:01:31] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, very excited for the conversation today. [00:01:33] Vince Menzione: We love Elastic, and you’ve had some of your other leaders on stage at other events. As such, the quality of your leadership team is amazing. Thank you. [00:01:42] Rekha Thangellapalli: I wholeheartedly agree. [00:01:45] Allison McFadden: Excellent. Um, hello everyone. Allison McFadden. I lead our North America AWS practice at Accenture. [00:01:52] Allison McFadden: Uh, I’ve been there for five years, and truth be told, it was my first partnership role, my first formal partnership role. Uh, so I can take some tips from all of you in the room here today. Prior to that, I was 21 years with IBM, and I got into partnerships because my last role at IBM was actually trying to build. [00:02:14] Allison McFadden: Linux business on the mainframe, and I had to have partners. I had to have partners to help me with workloads to run there. So I kind of learned, uh, trial by fire. But I’m excited for the conversation today. Excited to be in this room and excited to talk about what we’re doing with, uh, elastic. Thank you. [00:02:34] James Kang: Uh, my name is James Kang. Nice to see and meet everyone here. Vince, thank you for the opportunity. Thank you [00:02:38] Vince Menzione: for being here. [00:02:39] James Kang: Um, I’m with Nvidia, so I help manage the AWS partnership at Nvidia all up. Um, I guess fun fact, I’m former AWS and so I see a lot of very familiar faces here in the front row. Uh, former colleagues and then current friends. [00:02:56] James Kang: And so, uh, looking forward to the conversation. [00:02:59] Vince Menzione: Great. Well, we’ll start with an easy tia. Matt. This is not directed to you, directed to the others. So what does a successful AWS partnership look like from your C? So we’ll start with Eureka. [00:03:09] Rekha Thangellapalli: Sure. So from an ISV perspective, I think we really are looking at three things. [00:03:15] Rekha Thangellapalli: Uh, mutual investment building together. And scaling together. So when we talk about mutual investment, elastic recently signed a five-year SCA or strategic collaboration agreement with AWS. And while that is a significant milestone in our partnership, for us, what matters more is what it represents, and that is really a long-term commitment from both companies. [00:03:39] Rekha Thangellapalli: Towards product engineering, um, and joint go to market initiatives to deliver value to customers over time. And that’s what we see is that the best partnerships really compound and they build upon each other every year. Um, they don’t necessarily kind of reset every year. Um, next we talk about building together. [00:03:59] Rekha Thangellapalli: So, um. When we talk about joint solutions, we want to deliver solutions that are better together and the customers have to see us that way. And so whether it’s search, observability, or security, we’re looking at taking to market solutions that we can’t or necessarily don’t wanna take on our own. And finally we talk about scaling together. [00:04:22] Rekha Thangellapalli: And this is where marketplace, for instance, plays a big role, um, when customers can draw down on their cloud commitments, transact online and go from, you know, pilot to enterprise scale adoption in hours, not days. Um, this is when really everyone wins. Um, and this is also where partners like Accenture play a critical role. [00:04:47] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, you know, the incredible amount of expertise that they bring, uh, the managed services capabilities and, um, their data assets actually play a huge role in having our customers realize that value faster. And, um, like Vince mentioned, at the end of the day, best partnerships are all all about creating kind of that. [00:05:07] Rekha Thangellapalli: Self-sustaining flywheel. And so it starts with investing together, building something unique, and having the customers realize that success faster because that success is really the only thing that’s gonna keep that flywheel going for everyone involved. I [00:05:26] Vince Menzione: absolutely. [00:05:26] Allison McFadden: Okay, amazing. I’m gonna riff off a few things Ika said, but from a GSI perspective. [00:05:32] Allison McFadden: A relationship with a WSA successful relationship with AWS looks slightly different. Um, so I think the first thing that we think of in the GSI Community common thread is that the client outcome and delivering value for clients is what we, what we’re striving for. Um, and so the partnership with AWS in that case, um, um, it has to, it has to. [00:06:01] Allison McFadden: Look like one team in front of our clients. So we have to show up indistinguishable, and that’s with AWS and with an ISV partner, it has to look like one solution in front of the client, especially moments that matter. So board meetings, um, you know, the time we’re gonna sign a deal, like we have to look like one team, uh, and keep our our client outcome, um, first and foremost in mind. [00:06:24] Allison McFadden: The second thing, and this is I think where the magic of all the people in this room comes into play. We can have as many discussions at a CEO level as we want. And if our client teams on the ground are not working together, it falls apart. Falls apart directly in front of the client. Yes. And that is a really hard thing to do. [00:06:45] Allison McFadden: So I’m passionate about the alliance work because that that work is what makes it happen at the corporate level. [00:06:53] James Kang: Cool. Um. I’ll start here. So in Nvidia is a accelerated computing platform company. Um, if you asked. Anyone on the, on the street about a year ago, what is ai? A lot of times they would say AI is, is open ai, or it’s philanthropic. [00:07:12] James Kang: Um, Jensen and I’ll, I’ll reference Jensen a lot today, um, because he is our leader, um, but he also sets the strategy in the direction for Nvidia. He talks a lot about AI in the metaphor of a five layer cake. And in terms of the five layer cake, you start off with the foundational bottom layer being power and energy, which sustains. [00:07:32] James Kang: All of our data centers, you move up the stack in terms of chips. So things think of Foxconn, think of TSMC. Next you have the infrastructure layer. So obvious choice is AWS, and then you get to the models where you do have the philanthropics and the open ais. But finally in at the precipice, you have the application layer. [00:07:53] James Kang: Ultimately, the reason why I mentioned all different stacks of the layers, the five layer cake, is the fact that the application layer is the most important. And so when you think about. Partners like Elastic or ServiceNow Trend, ai, CrowdStrike. Every time you pull from the application layer and you see a success, it pulls all five different components of that layer up. [00:08:13] James Kang: And so ultimately, as I think about success, it’s it’s being able to develop these co-sell wins at the application layer and really demonstrating that through extreme co-engineering and co-design with all the different application. Infrastructure, power and energy layers in mind. Um, Jensen also likes to think of himself not only as the CEO and founder, but also as the, the chief Marketing Officer. [00:08:35] James Kang: We are a very event driven company, and so at our big events like GTC or at big industry events like CES or Computex, he likes to show up on the biggest stage, biggest stages and showcase the partnerships with not only ISVs and GSIs, but also with end customers. And so that’s what I think about when I think of SA success. [00:08:56] Vince Menzione: That’s a really good point. You talked about, Allison, you talked about having an alliance strategy, or at least you teed it up, so I thought maybe we would go there for a second. Right? Like, what does a great alliance strategy look like and why is it important to the success of the partnership? [00:09:11] Allison McFadden: Man, I, uh, I have so many opinions on this. [00:09:13] Allison McFadden: We could probably be up here all day. That’s [00:09:15] Vince Menzione: okay. [00:09:16] Allison McFadden: Um, no, I think. Uh, there, there are a couple things, and the first one that comes to mind is focus. We cannot be all things to all people. Um, so when it comes to think about some of the, the work we’re doing with Elastic, we have a very, very clear point of view on what client problem we’re solving, what clients we want to talk to. [00:09:38] Allison McFadden: It helps if, um, from an ISV perspective, if there’s a very clear fit in. The Accenture portfolio or whatever, you know, SI consulting partner. You’re working with a very clear fit in the portfolio and we know what we’re not gonna go after, what we’re not gonna spend our time on because we have, we have this tendency, there’s millions of people. [00:10:00] Allison McFadden: The ecosystem chart that, you know, Vince, you showed up there, there’s so many connections. There’s probably more connections there than there are atoms in the universe, right? So, um. Defining what we do together and what we don’t do together is the first thing that pops to my mind. [00:10:19] Vince Menzione: Reka, do you have a perspective on it since we’re gonna, we’re gonna talk next about what you’ve done together, but, and I also wanna get mass perspective as a hyperscaler partner here as well. [00:10:29] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah, I mean from my perspective, I, I’m gonna, you know, kinda echo what Allison said is to be just maniacally focused. Yep. Um, because, especially from my perspective, so Elastic has three different solutions, right? We’ve got search, we’ve got observability, we’ve got security that map to completely different business units within Accenture. [00:10:47] Rekha Thangellapalli: And of course Accenture does a lot of things. And so, you know, when we first came together it was like. Okay, what are we gonna focus on? What industries are we gonna go after? Which segments are we gonna go after? Which customers, you know, um, outcomes are we trying to solve? And I think that sort of maniacal focus is the number one contributing factor to, to the fact that I’m like, up here on stage today. [00:11:12] Rekha Thangellapalli: Great. [00:11:14] Vince Menzione: Matt? Perspective? [00:11:16] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah, I, I, I guess I was trying to. To add something, uh, additional from an AWS perspective, uh, when it comes to, you know, what does a great alliance look like? Uh, AWS is obsessed with data, you know, in data we trust. And, and so the best, um, and, and this goes sales business problem, and it’s not just the engineering teams. [00:11:34] Matt Yanchyshyn: And so, uh, you know, Accenture does a good job of this elastic, definitely. And if you can come to the table with, um, quantifiable proof of the value of customer outcomes and partnerships. Um, you’ll win all the time and it’ll be a durable relationship with AWS ’cause we really are this data obsessed company and, and even the most senior sales leaders. [00:11:54] Matt Yanchyshyn: Uh, and so what I mean by that specifically is like if you, if you can show like your a RR to land an a RR conversion ratio, like in in numerical format, it’ll light up our sales leaders and, and they’ll be all, and they will co-sell with you all day long. If you can show the, I mentioned this earlier, like the AWS service, uh, whether you’re consulting company or, um, elastic and, and how the shape of customer accounts change positively when we work together. [00:12:15] Matt Yanchyshyn: That type of sort of quantifiable data works particularly well from an alliance perspective. With AWS as a partner, we, we really are like this data in sort of results out company. Um, so I, yeah, that’s just adding to the great points that were already made. I would say specific to AWS that that’s key. [00:12:30] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah. And I’m gonna bring up one more thing. I want to dive in on the, the joint value proposition, but you mentioned something that made a lot of sense and resonated to me about the organizations once you get out of partner, the partner world that we all know and love. Mm-hmm. Once you get down into a field organization or account management organization. [00:12:49] Matt Yanchyshyn: Not as much understanding and really organizations do a bad job here, honestly, in terms of enabling the field organizations. Do you agree? [00:12:58] Allison McFadden: I agree because I, I agree. And, um, you know, I think that’s one of the things, and, and I, I, when I joined Accenture, what we had was a lot of wicked smart architects delivering programs to clients in the field. [00:13:15] Allison McFadden: Very smart, very deep in AWS knowledge. Um, and that was awesome for the 10 clients they were staffed on and to get that understanding of how AWS works and I dream about lar, right? Like, this is a good, you know, but that takes real effort and real work. Yeah. And it’s, it’s um, almost like being a language translator. [00:13:37] Allison McFadden: Yes. For me. Yeah. So, you know, I had to deeply learn AWS so that I could. [00:13:42] Rekha Thangellapalli: Sure. [00:13:42] Allison McFadden: Teach my account teams. My account teams are really smart. They know who they’re selling to. They know their customers. They know what their customers need. They do not know what AWS has to offer always because they’ve got 20 partners lining up to try to tell their stories. [00:13:57] Allison McFadden: Um, they don’t know how to ask of the AWS team or the elastic team or the Nvidia team. Yeah. What they need [00:14:02] Vince Menzione: this co-selling piece. Yeah. [00:14:04] Allison McFadden: And so that is where, um. We had to build that muscle even around our AWS practice, which was a huge practice at Accenture, but we didn’t necessarily surround it with that kind of enablement and um, almost deal coaching layer. [00:14:21] Vince Menzione: So Elastic and Accenture came together. I dunno which one of you wants to lead this part of the conversation, but you will, right? Yeah. So tell us about the genesis of this and why. And a lot of people dunno what Elastic does, but you do some really incredible work. Like I, somebody told me one day was like, oh, you know, Uber, like, that’s elastic, powering all that. [00:14:41] Vince Menzione: Like, we don’t think about that. That the engines that you have and the, the backend to the customers, huge customers. [00:14:48] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah, absolutely. Um, so when AWS launched this feature last, um, reinvent where basically it allowed, you know, channel partners such as Accenture to be able to bundle up their services, their data assets with an ISV solution and put it on marketplace, um, you know, Accenture and Elastic immediately saw an opportunity. [00:15:09] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, at the time most customers were doing gen ai. But they were running into the same challenge, which was that their data just was not ready. And by the way, this is a problem we were solving. Outside of marketplace. I think the, the feature that you guys launched just gave us a way to package it up and to be able to create this repeatable solution, which we call data readiness engine for gen ai and put it on marketplace. [00:15:40] Rekha Thangellapalli: And, um, this to me was a success because. Each company had a clear reason to invest. Um, so for Accenture, they were able to, you know, create a very differentiated services led offering. Uh, for Elastic, we were able to expand on our AI story. And for AWS, um, you know, it drives marketplace adoption, increases cloud consumption, all of that great stuff. [00:16:07] Rekha Thangellapalli: And customers, of course get. A solution to a very real problem that, that they were having. Um, and you know, the surprising part for me going through that journey was that, um. The pitching, the idea, getting the budget, getting the executive sponsorship was actually the easy part. The hard part was getting all three companies to come together, uh, to go from idea to launch in a very ambitious timeline of six weeks. [00:16:37] Rekha Thangellapalli: Nice. And so, you know, this was very much like. Doesn’t matter your title. We’re rolling up our sleeves and we are on this outcome together. Um, and so we literally built a RACI matrix, a project plan, and you know, we had daily standup calls for six weeks where literally. At least one person from each three of these companies called in, you know, got rid of any blockers and we made sure we were on target for that timeline. [00:17:07] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, and you know, at the end we had a successful launch. But I think my favorite part about the story is the impact that we’re having and, um. My favorite story comes from a global pharmaceutical company that, you know, had basically nine petabytes of data spread across six different continents. Wow. And by working with Accenture and Elastic, they were able to build that trusted foundation that their AI and their agents can, you know, kind of safely tap into and be accessible at scale. [00:17:41] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, so that’s my version. Allison. [00:17:44] Allison McFadden: Yeah. Well, I don’t have a lot to add. I just, I would say this is a good example of a couple of principles, right? One is having a forcing function is never a bad idea. Sign up for a big event, sign up. I’m like, I’m here with my, you know, Nvidia guys saying, sign up for the event. [00:17:58] Allison McFadden: It’ll make you move quick, right? [00:18:00] Audience Member: Yes. [00:18:00] Allison McFadden: Um, so that is one, but two, one of my mentors once told me, when you’re designing any kind of, you know, offering go to market motion, it has to get blood to all organs. If it does not get blood to all organs, it does not go [00:18:14] Vince Menzione: nice. [00:18:14] Allison McFadden: Um, [00:18:14] Vince Menzione: I love that analogy. [00:18:15] Allison McFadden: Oh, I love it. And I can talk all day. [00:18:17] Allison McFadden: That guy was brilliant. I love him. But, um, no, and, and so Elastic did a really nice job of bringing the tech to the table. Um, our team has to trust in that technology and its ability to scale, right? Um, because at Accenture we have to be able to deploy across 700,000 consultants. Um. And yeah, so I think those are the two, two things that really worked well here is we had, uh, trust in the technology solved a customer need. [00:18:50] Allison McFadden: Um, it drives, we don’t even talk about, like, yes, it drives marketplace revenue, but it unlocks work that we do that drives even more revenue to our AWS Friends. Right. So this is a, this is a, um, product that’s getting your data ready for AG agentic. It’s a messy problem that everyone’s dealing with, and it removes blockers for clients and it unlocks more, you know, ag agentic work on top of that. [00:19:15] Allison McFadden: So, blood to all organs. [00:19:17] Vince Menzione: So, was that the proposal going forward to say we need to have, we need to have trust in the solution. We need to drive significant revenue. It needs to be something all of our, you know, seven, 700,000 people. Can be a part of and help drive? Is that how you think about? [00:19:32] Allison McFadden: Yeah, and for us right now, um, it’s an interesting time for Accenture. [00:19:36] Allison McFadden: Our clients are asking a lot of us, and what it does is it having some of these accelerators helps us deliver cheaper, better, faster to our clients, which is what they’re demanding of us right now. Um, so it’s an accelerator to client outcomes. [00:19:55] Vince Menzione: James, what is NVIDIA’s role and how do, how do you enter the equation here? [00:20:00] James Kang: Yeah, it’s, um, it’s a good question. Um, I, I would say that Nvidia is probably one of the most misunderstood organizations in the world. Um, despite the, uh, the market capitalization in the valuation of the company, we have a very tiny organization. Um, what I mean by that is, um, if you think about. [00:20:20] James Kang: Salesforces and field sales organizations. Um, we’ll take Salesforce as the account or the customer. As an example, we have one account manager at NVIDIA that no, not only covers and is responsible for the relationship with Salesforce, um, but also manages. Automation Anywhere as well as DocuSign. Whereas at AWS, in contrast, like there are full armies and teams Yeah. [00:20:45] James Kang: That are supporting the Salesforce relationship. And so as you think about partnering and working with Nvidia, the focus has to be on really. Extreme co-design, but also being very prescriptive in terms of what are the very specific customer outcomes that we are solving for. And the guidance that I would give is bring in Nvidia into that equation and that conversation as early as possible because that [00:21:10] James Kang: co-engineering and co-design needs to be part of the foundational building blocks in order for you to come out with a end solution that checks all those different requirements. [00:21:20] James Kang: And so I think. Again, like going back to Nvidia, um, we like to talk about two different types of brains. A brain one and a brain two. Uh, brain One you think about the next quarter and making sure that you’re hitting the revenue targets for the next quarter. Brain two, you think about a long-term goals and potentials looking around corners and being very strategic. [00:21:41] James Kang: The saying internally is without Brain one, there is no oxygen, but without brain two, there is no future. And everyone at NVIDIA is trained to think in that brain two mentality. [00:21:52] Vince Menzione: Wow, Matt. [00:21:54] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah, I, I was just thinking I love the blood doll organs. Uh, and so just on, on that note, um, and, and, you know, the multi-product solutions that, that you, you built together, uh, that is a really good example of blood do organs because like we all know, that’s how customers buy. [00:22:07] Matt Yanchyshyn: They, they buy solutions and increasingly they’re looking for combinations of ISV, sometimes multiple products from multiple ISVs with services. Uh, often they’re buying it through a resell motion. You know, and they, and, and so that from a customer perspective, they want a single place to go. And so that’s the multi-product solution. [00:22:24] Matt Yanchyshyn: They wanna find everything they need, they need Accenture, they need Elastic to solve a specific solution. And I think where that’s headed is even more specific listings, like with AI powered listing experience, like, you know, elastic Plus Accenture for, I’ll make something up like a manufacturing workload. [00:22:37] Matt Yanchyshyn: And so this solution based. Uh, sort of buying is, is very customer centric. It’s what customers want. We all know that. But that’s, that’s the customer sort of organ, I guess. Um, but then, you know, you all have SCAs and those SCAs have marketplace commits. It helps if that gets transacted through marketplace helps the AWS relationship, you know that that’s an organ. [00:22:55] Matt Yanchyshyn: It’s the relationship. It’s, it’s the commercial construct and that you have, uh, that that’s another organ. You’re marketing people. They, that’s another organ. They don’t wanna land, uh, leads on a static marketing page. They wanna land a lead on a, a storefront with a multi-product solution that can actually convert and that you can actually buy it through that. [00:23:12] Matt Yanchyshyn: So the marketing person’s happy because they, they have less churn. Uh, and then, you know, our reps are happy ’cause guess how they get paid? They retire quota when they sell Marketplace. And they, we also, Jay McMain will tell you, that’s another organ called Jay or on, on you now. Um, [00:23:27] Matt Yanchyshyn: he’ll like that. I’ll call him up and tell him that. [00:23:29] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah, [00:23:30] Matt Yanchyshyn: but he, he’ll tell you, you know, don’t believe me. Obviously, never believe Matt, believe, believe the, the data and, and his data shows that. Those deals will close faster and larger if you use marketplace. So that’s, that’s a lot of organs. That’s the whole body. Um, but you know, when you have your customer happy ’cause that’s how they wanna buy your field happy. [00:23:45] Matt Yanchyshyn: Um, and, you know, the relationship happy and you know, your marketing team happy. Uh, and, and Jay happy. Um, and, and you know, I think that multi-product construct and, and the way you kind of use it to model a partnership and the way buyers ultimately wanna buy is, is really powerful. And so I, I think it’s, you know, it’s really a manifestation of how. [00:24:04] Matt Yanchyshyn: We kind of intend and to go to market anyway. Uh, so I think, you know, and thanks for leading the way, by the way. You’re, you’re amongst the very first, so that’s great to see. [00:24:11] Matt Yanchyshyn: So these storefronts are really helping this drive, drive this. Well, [00:24:13] Matt Yanchyshyn: that’s the next evolution. Like we’re talking about the multiproduct solution. [00:24:16] Allison McFadden: I’m JJ Accenture storefront. [00:24:17] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Oh, there you go. I mean, j and j Accenture storefront. [00:24:20] Allison McFadden: We’re gonna talk about that. [00:24:20] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah. I mean, [00:24:21] Matt Yanchyshyn: Accenture also leading the way yet again with storefronts. And so I think the combination of. You know, again, I was talking a lot about conversion. Yeah. And you know, buyers know sometimes they know what they wanna buy and, but if you really wanna convert that lead, you wanna land them again, something that combines, you know, elastic Accenture’s services plus software, but in a storefront that is, you know, surrounding with just the solutions they want so they don’t need to kind of go searching. [00:24:42] Matt Yanchyshyn: So, you know, ultimately reducing that time to close, I guess, really ’cause meeting the customer where they are with what they need. [00:24:51] Matt Yanchyshyn: So we talk about co-selling a little bit. We, Jay and I talk about this all the time. We gotta keep looping Jay in here, even though he is not even in town this week, but Reko, um, what does co-sell look like inside Elastic? [00:25:02] Matt Yanchyshyn: You’ve got, we talked about an incredible leadership team. I’ve gotten meet some of your leaders. Seems like you drive, you do a good job internally driving that. Let’s talk a little bit about it. [00:25:11] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah, and this is something I’m, I’m personally very passionate about. Um, co-sell is. Very much a journey, not a destination. [00:25:20] Rekha Thangellapalli: And I think step one for us is recognizing the different partner types that we have. Because at Elastic we work with, you know, OEMs, MSPs, resale distributors, GSIs, um, and they all bring something very unique. To the customer lifecycle and they all contribute very differently within, you know, our own sales cycle and sales process. [00:25:45] Rekha Thangellapalli: And so, you know, figuring out what is the unique benefit they bring, how do we enable them? So training and enablement is a huge piece of it, and so is making sure we’ve got the right metrics to measure success. Um, I know a lot of companies look at partner sourced as the north star, and that’s great, right? [00:26:06] Rekha Thangellapalli: Because that is undeniable. You can say, Hey, that would not exist if it wasn’t for my partner team. Um, but we’ve also noticed that when we bring in GSIs, it actually increases renewal rates. It significantly increases. Um, a RR over time. Um, it expands deal sizes and so these are very real metrics that we can point to, um, beyond just the co-sell and the partner sourced number. [00:26:32] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, so for us it’s looking at it from a very holistic perspective, but also catering it towards that unique partner and making sure we’re doing everything we can to set them up for success and setting up the partnership for success. [00:26:47] Vince Menzione: So clo close win ratios, deal size and renewal rates? [00:26:52] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yes. For specifically for geos size. [00:26:54] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah. [00:26:55] Vince Menzione: Very interesting. Allison, uh, what had to change internally to produce these co-selling? We talked a little bit about the field organization and enabling a, a group of, and, you know, account sellers that are very customer focused and enabling them on the co-sell side. What had to change internally to drive that? [00:27:13] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:27:14] Allison McFadden: I, I might have already alluded to this a little bit in a previous answer, but, um, creating the capacity to develop, build, and sell these solutions, um, inside of a large GSI, where billable hours is kind of the number one metric on the table. Um. Is part of the investment that we had to make within Accenture to get this done? [00:27:36] Audience Member: Yeah, [00:27:36] Allison McFadden: so expert technology time. So we have technologists that understand the elastic technology. We do similar with Nvidia, by the way, we. We released some of their time to go co-develop the solution because it has to hold technical water, right? It can’t just be a marketing pitch. It can’t just be, it has to be a real, um, what’s the there, there. [00:27:59] Allison McFadden: So in order to actually do proper co-sell, we had to release some of that time. Um, to invest in those partnerships. Um, we’ve also done similar with some industry aligned business development leaders recently, so we have freed their time up to go. Uh. Open new conversations, educate client, account teams, go to clients, have conversations. [00:28:26] Allison McFadden: Um, so that, that’s a new motion that we, uh, have just kind of recently made, um, to allow them, I love this brain one, brain two also, right? So to allow them to focus on brain two, because a lot of our time. Typically spent delivery issues, you know, getting my hours, where am I charging my time? And so just freeing up a little of that capacity to do this work, um, helps get us in this brain two mode where we’re not just living to survive. [00:28:56] Vince Menzione: I. So, Matt, you’ve removed a lot. I mean, one of the things I admire, I admire AWS for being first to market and removing the most friction in marketplace of any of the vendors. Really, truly that. You talked about some of the announcements. How does some of, how does some of this tie PC central agents propensity sales plays, MCP, how does some of this tie to how, how you’re thinking about the future? [00:29:18] Vince Menzione: And how to enable more motions like this. [00:29:20] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah. Well, I, I think if you know my boss, UBA Borno, uh, you’ll know that she has a maniacal focus on automation. Yeah. Um, and, uh, co-sell is increasingly automated. You know, you were asking earlier about propensity data. You can get that propensity data in addition to sales plays and, uh, opportunity scores through the partner central agents. [00:29:38] Matt Yanchyshyn: So things that used to require multiple calls to A PDM, if you’re lucky to have one. Yeah. Or a p sm. Uh, you, you can now get through, through these agents, you know, uh, tech Systems, TGS, they, they manage what, over 5,500 customer opportunities with agents that they built on top of our partner Central APIs. [00:29:55] Matt Yanchyshyn: Um, and work Span has built a whole product and business that’s right on leveraging, uh, our APIs, our capabilities to sort of tie into your CRM. So, majority of all opportunities will be progressed and managed by agents. This year at AWS, we already have a majority of all customer opportunities, all app have a partner attached and I, I took a personal goal for a majority of those partner attachments, not to happen from a human. [00:30:22] Matt Yanchyshyn: But from our solution matching engine. And how do you get recommended by that solution? Matching engine, having a healthy ACE pipeline, thanks to partner central agents and the integrations you’re doing. And in addition to being the specializations and doing things like multi-product solutions and ultimately closing opportunities, you dream of LAR and so LAR will help that. [00:30:40] Allison McFadden: It’s more like a nightmare. [00:30:41] Vince Menzione: And so, you know, [00:30:42] Allison McFadden: it’s more like a nightmare, but [00:30:44] Vince Menzione: nightmare. Well, it’s, it’s, yeah. Nightmare of Laura and, and. Nice dreams of PRM, but the, um, but that’s the loop, right? I, I think, uh, increasingly co-sell for us, and in my mind, is largely a hundred percent automated. Yeah. Except for what matters most, those most largest, most strategic, most complex deals. [00:31:01] Vince Menzione: Where our highly paid and very skilled salespeople are most effectively used. [00:31:05] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:31:05] Vince Menzione: You know, the days of, you know, this person with 20 years experience selling, clicking, progressing opportunities through a pipeline, uh, should be over. Uh, and, and we need those people out, out selling and, and co-selling. And so that for me. [00:31:19] Vince Menzione: Yeah. That, you know, we talk a lot about co-sell, but I, I’m obsessed with automating as much of the co-sell as possible. [00:31:24] Vince Menzione: I remember going back to the ex Excel spreadsheets and, and that, that seems to be be Viva became spreadsheet jockeys. [00:31:31] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:31:32] Vince Menzione: And, and they stopped selling. They forgot how to sell. [00:31:34] Vince Menzione: Yeah. And people spend all this time doing lunch and learns and things like that. [00:31:36] Vince Menzione: And then, you know. Then the salespeople rotate out after 18 months and, and it, that’s, that’s the old days. Uh, you know, the new days are, are AI powered matching algorithms, uh, ag agentic co-sell, using the partner essential agents to get your data and, and putting that data to use automatically and, and what sounded like magic. [00:31:51] Vince Menzione: 12 months ago is being done, you know, by partners at massive scale across thousands of opportunities. You can do it today. And you know, I, there’s a guy named another Mike, right? Mike another Mike who they have, there’s like a guy who’s doing all this and I’m picking on Mike ’cause I, I know their system really well and I know the guy Mike grew easily built it for them. [00:32:08] Vince Menzione: Um, but, you know, I think, yeah, again, in the days of having 10 people sort of doing lunch and learn could be replaced by one or two people, building agents, uh, managing a massive pipeline. And, and that’s the future. [00:32:18] Vince Menzione: Exactly. James, your perspective on what breaks with co-selling? [00:32:22] James Kang: Oh, what breaks co-sell? Um, I would say. [00:32:25] James Kang: It, it starts and finishes with just misalignment and a loss of trust with the customer, especially when you have multiple partners or stakeholders involved. If you’re trying to do a three-way deal with a end customer and you’re not on the same page, you’re not gonna get to a successful outcome on, on the backend. [00:32:44] James Kang: Uh, the fix is a much more complicated story. I would say that to take a step back, um. We’ve talked about the five layer cake. We’ve talked about where NVIDIA kind of fits within the equation. We are invested in the ecosystem and so as different players and application organizations win and see these outcomes for end customers, we celebrate that success. [00:33:07] James Kang: Um, and as part of that kind of ethos of where NVIDIA fits within the ecosystem, we wanna make sure that not only. Our customers, but our partners like ISVs and GSIs are set up for success. Um, we do not as Nvidia sell hardware or GPUs directly to customers We use. Hyperscalers like AWS as kind of our force multiplier. [00:33:31] James Kang: And similarly we think of ISVs and GSIs as the force multipliers in terms of our extensions of how we, we kind of leverage the relationships and build the trust with our end customers. And so going back to kind of the question, Vince, I would say that it all comes back to trust and being able to build that mutual trust. [00:33:48] James Kang: Um, a lot of what we do when we co-sell with AWS is really on the software layer. Um, we actually have more software engineers at NVIDIA than we have hardware engineers, which is a weird thing to say, um, because everyone knows us for our GPUs. But because of that fact, we are heavily invested in Cuda and making sure that Cuda becomes the foundational layer for how not only our ISVs and GSIs, but also our end customers are building. [00:34:12] Vince Menzione: Very cool. So Reiki, you and James together on this production. Versus pilot with the Gentech ai. Tell us a little bit more about that. Where, where are you in the process? [00:34:24] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah. So I mean, in general, what we’re seeing out in the market in, in relation to sort of AI and, and customer’s journeys is that, um, at least from an elastic perspective, um, we’re seeing people very much in production when it comes to, you know, kind of AI assistant co-pilot use cases. [00:34:42] Rekha Thangellapalli: So, you know, things like, um, software development, customer support is a big one. Um, any sort of employee productivity use cases where there’s. Still a human in the loop somewhere. Um, and there’s a very like, clear path to value. And so we see the customers being in production excelling there. Um, no problem. [00:35:01] Rekha Thangellapalli: Where we’re seeing people still kind of in the pilot phase is those fully autonomous workflows where there is no human involved. The agent is reasoning on its own. Um, accessing multiple systems and taking an action on the user’s behalf. And what we’re seeing is that it’s not the intelligence of the agent that’s holding it back. [00:35:26] Rekha Thangellapalli: It’s more about giving the right context to the agent and having the right. Security kind of governance controls in place for the company to feel comfortable in putting these fully autonomous workflows into production. And that’s really the conversation we’re having is all right, what are the controls you need in place? [00:35:47] Rekha Thangellapalli: For you to release this to your business unit. Um, and what is the context that the agent is needed before we can comfortably let the agent make the decision on the user’s behalf? Um, James, I’d be interested to hear what you’re, what you’re seeing in the market [00:36:03] James Kang: plus one on all things context. I, I would even go so far as to say, um. [00:36:09] James Kang: H how many folks in the audience have heard of token maxing? Like this new term? [00:36:13] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah. Yeah. [00:36:14] James Kang: Um, I’ll, I’ll give a very specific example of, of Uber that went public. With the example of Claude, like they allowed all of their employees to use as many tokens as possible, and within the span of four months, they exhausted their full budget for the year, and so they had to pull back, and now there’s a cap on every employee. [00:36:33] James Kang: I think the number that’s circulating is $1,500 per month per employee, and so I think that is at least. In this multi-phase evolution of where we’re going to be and where we’re today, cost has become kind of the prohibitive force in terms of agentic AI at scale. Um, I think we are working on some very creative solutions in-house and Nvidia. [00:36:55] James Kang: Um. And we saw some really dynamic announcements this week when it comes to all things agent core, um, where we want to focus on very nimble ways for customers to be able to execute and go to market. And one extreme example of that is our investment within our open model strategy. So Nvidia, not only, again, providing GPUs, we actually offer our own op open models, which we call our Nitron models. [00:37:21] James Kang: And through our Nitron models, we are allowing customers to really develop and fine tune their own proprietary models in a cost effective manner. So right alongside the frontier models like OpenAI and Anthropic. It’s not a if then, it’s not an either or statement. It’s a, it’s a permutation, it’s an and So we’re giving you a cost effective alternative to not only bring your AgTech applications at scale by training on Nibo tron, which is open source, but then once you’ve kind of finished and fine tuned that specific training job to be able to. [00:37:53] James Kang: Go ahead and utilize your frontier models, whether it be OpenAI or Claude. And I know there’s other partners here that are providing those kind of different model capabilities. And so I think for us it’s, it’s a matter of choice. We know that this market is dynamic. It’s gonna be evolving over the next coming months as well as the next coming years. [00:38:10] James Kang: Uh, but we believe that we are positioned for a really unique dynamic expansion of AgTech use cases over the, at least the next three to six months. [00:38:20] Vince Menzione: Allison, for the partners in the room who are glazed over right now going, what do I, what do I do over the next 12 months? [00:38:26] Allison McFadden: Should I wake everybody up by saying, yeah, please. [00:38:27] Allison McFadden: Say go hurricanes. [00:38:28] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:38:29] Allison McFadden: Is there anyone, anybody? Everyone’s like, boo. I get to leave the parade today to go home to parade. I live in Raleigh, so we’ve got our parade on Saturday. Nice. [00:38:39] Vince Menzione: Nice. [00:38:40] Allison McFadden: All right. Wake up. Um, all right. So for the $50 million partners in the room, um. $50 million is not small. You have something that works. [00:38:50] Allison McFadden: Right. This is great. What I would be thinking about is, you know, we’ve talked about focus before, but really doubling down on, you know, what is, what is your industry, what is your client like, ideal client that you serve. And build, um, almost that kind of community. You know, the, the clients we have move from firm to firm to firm. [00:39:17] Allison McFadden: And if you’ve done good work at one, you’re gonna follow ’em to the next. Um, so build that client demand in a specific place or specific client profile that is just like really knocking it out out of the park for you. Um. Scale with marketplace, right? So if you, I, I love some of the data that you were sharing in your talk earlier, um, because it’s like no overhead scaling mechanism. [00:39:45] Allison McFadden: I mean, it’s, it’s fantastic. Um, Accenture, other GSIs like us, we are investing in marketplace. So we’re investing in resources, um, to help us. Use marketplace more with our clients and we’re gonna capture, right, those storefronts. And if you’re present on marketplace, you’re gonna be able to catch, uh, yourself in that wheel. [00:40:09] Allison McFadden: So I think those are the, the kind of couple of things I would say is focus, focus, focus to drive that client demand and use scaling mechanisms like marketplace to really kind of, uh, accelerate. [00:40:24] Vince Menzione: Matt, anything to add there on the. [00:40:26] Vince Menzione: Well just, you know, Ja, James, you, I love the token maxing reference in Uber and it reminds me, you remember when cloud came out and everyone was like, oh, all these people are, are gonna use the cloud and costs are outta control and. [00:40:39] Vince Menzione: Um, a lot of people pulled back from the cloud and, and a lot of those companies no longer exist. And it’s similar with, with, uh, token maxing, like, oh, these agents are outta control. You have a choice. You can embrace them and figure it out and get governance and, and make your data available. Um, use the partner, central agent, move to agent to co-sell, or you can fade and die. [00:40:58] Vince Menzione: And, and that’s, that’s where we’re at. Uh, is, is the, the companies sitting here today embraced the cloud years ago and won. Uh, and and there’s a set of companies here today who are gonna embrace agents in the, for both buyers and sellers, and will win. And there are those who won’t and they won’t win. And so for me, it’s like we’re, we’re at a, we’re at a crossroads. [00:41:18] Vince Menzione: And, and if you’re gonna win, you gotta leap into that, you know? I love it. And, uh, and, and, and it’s, it means the cost of experimentation is so much lower now. Development and, and even business development or software development is, is agent enabled. And so you can take risks, you can experiment and, and you have to, it’s, it’s an existential moment. [00:41:37] Vince Menzione: Agreed. We’ve got a couple minutes left over for any questions. What do you think? Sure. Are there any here. I think there are a couple. Yeah, we’ve got, we’ve got a co-sell question I’m sure coming up here. [00:41:51] Audience Member: Um, I’m Cassandra, I’m the CEO of Partner Tap. And one of the questions I had was, I think, you know, the co-selling between the sellers is where things get. Really, really hard when you’re multi-partner. And so when I was listening, um, with, you know, the Accenture and Elastic together, you talked about how you had, you, you had to get these BD business development people. [00:42:22] Audience Member: Um, is this a new team that is over the client team? And how do these teams interact like with the elastic sellers? Are you doing a lot of coaching to the field and then with if AWS sellers are, are involved, like what is that whole picture? What does look like, [00:42:43] Allison McFadden: like [00:42:44] Audience Member: on the ground? I mean, that is the hardest part, I think, and that’s what we hear. [00:42:48] Allison McFadden: It’s so, it’s so, it’s so tough. Um, and I will, I’ll just say, so our business development leaders that we now have kind of. Expanded their capacity. They have always been, they have always been there. Um, but they have not been well resourced. They haven’t, they haven’t had very clear kind of job description. [00:43:12] Allison McFadden: I’m gonna say I, in the past they have been kind of focused on partner relationship. And so like more like an alliance manager and maybe working on some of the data. Right? So when I say I have nightmares about Lars, because we’re always trying to increase the LAR for Accenture and, and they were focused like in those detailed weeds of like trying to pass ACE and trying to call the PDM and all this stuff. [00:43:39] Allison McFadden: What we are doing is really pivoting them to be proper sales, business development focused on client outcomes and focused on. Technical skills to be able to describe what this solution is to the field. So, um, and because we need, I have many, many questions about, I gotta get agents to work with Eurogen co-sell so that that part somehow goes away. [00:44:05] Allison McFadden: So that’s a, that’s the thing we gotta solve still, but, um, so we’re pivoting them to be kind of driving. More of that co-sell enablement with the field, um, and taking that message to the field rather than being there, waiting for questions to come in from the field, waiting for like our field teams to discover, oh, I saw something that we’re doing with Elastic, like on a press release on LinkedIn. [00:44:30] Allison McFadden: Right. So we’re kind of trying to pivot them to be more proactive. [00:44:33] Vince Menzione: Very cool. [00:44:34] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah. And uh, Cassandra, that’s an excellent question because I think. Multi-party, you know, sort of tri-party offerings. The hardest part is operationalizing it at scale, right? Yeah. And so for this particular offering, we are basically having three routes to market. [00:44:51] Rekha Thangellapalli: So one is seeing how this offering fits into our existing elastic go to market. And so I am constantly enabling our field sellers to say, okay, within our three field sales place, here’s exactly where this fits in. Here are, you know, uh. Keywords that you hear in customer conversations where you bring up this offering and here’s a process of how it works. [00:45:14] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, exactly At what sales stage do I bring in Accenture, how, you know, what are the roles and expectations? Right? So that’s on the elastic side. We’re doing the same thing on the Accenture side. So we’re doing a ton of training enablement and lunch and learns, and we’re also looking at how do we fit into. [00:45:31] Rekha Thangellapalli: Uh, Accenture’s AI transformation projects, we are the semantic layer, right, of their enterprise brain. And so it’s a whole different sales motion, um, and, you know, having the right assets, having the right process again to make sure that that goes smoothly. And then finally, we’re going directly to the customer. [00:45:49] Rekha Thangellapalli: So we are launching multiple external campaigns where, you know, if the customer raises their hand. We will, we will line up immediately. Right. Um, and so, [00:46:01] Allison McFadden: I mean, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t say how important that third leg of the stool is. ’cause the second part, she talked about getting into our catalog is the first thing. [00:46:09] Allison McFadden: ’cause my BU business development leaders have the catalog. Right. And that’s what they’re selling. So what Elastic has done has gotten into one of those offerings and then. If we have a customer that asks for it, that is the fastest way to alignment. That is like the number one thing that we respond to [00:46:26] Vince Menzione: customer at the center. [00:46:27] Vince Menzione: This is great. Well, I think we’re up to time. This was a great session. I want to thank you. This is what a great, what a great group. [00:46:34] Vince Menzione: Thanks for listening to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. If today’s conversation resonated, share it with a partner leader in your network. Subscribe where [00:46:43] Vince Menzione: you listen, and head over to the ultimate partner.com. [00:46:47] Vince Menzione: For show notes related content and the resources for this episode. And if you haven’t already, now’s the time to register for the Ultimate Partner Live Event in Reston, Virginia, October 26th through October 28th. Until next time, keep showing up in the rooms that matter because being in the room changes everything [00:47:09] I.

C'est le grand défi de cette année 2026 : faire passer l'intelligence artificielle du statut de gadget conversationnel à celui d'agent autonome capable d'agir directement sur vos systèmes métiers.Selon les derniers chiffres, 42% des initiatives sont abandonnées avant même la mise en production, faute de supervision adaptée. C'est pour briser ce plafond de verre que Salesforce dégaine MuleSoft Omni Gateway, une solution conçue pour unifier la gouvernance de ces nouveaux robots d'entreprise.Le plan de contrôle exploseAbordons d'abord le piège de la fragmentation. Pour donner du pouvoir d'action aux agents autonomes, les entreprises ont tendance à empiler des passerelles IA dédiées ou à coder des couches de contrôle sur mesure. Résultat, le plan de contrôle explose.Vos équipes réseau gèrent les API d'un côté, les ingénieurs IA encadrent les modèles de l'autre, et la direction perd toute visibilité.Et ces angles morts se transforment vite en vulnérabilités.Salesforce propose avec Omni Gateway de centraliser la supervision sur l'ensemble de votre parc, qu'il utilise MuleSoft, Kong, Apigee, Azure ou encore AWS.Par la grâce du MCPLe deuxième levier, c'est la transformation des actifs métiers.Connecter des agents à vos données exigeait jusqu'ici un travail d'intégration lourd et spécifique.La solution de Salesforce convertit vos API REST existantes en outils directement assimilables par l'IA. Et cela se fait grâce au protocole MCP, le nouveau standard ouvert de communication.Concrètement, vos règles de sécurité et d'authentification d'origine sont automatiquement transmises. Les agents autonomes peuvent ainsi trouver et consommer les ressources de l'entreprise en toute autonomie, pendant que la gouvernance de l'IT tourne de manière invisible en arrière-plan.La question de la maîtrise financièreEnfin, regardons le nerf de la guerre, qui est la maîtrise financière et la traçabilité.Qui dit agents autonomes connectés dit risque d'explosion de la consommation de jetons, les fameux tokens.Omni Gateway permet de suivre ces flux en temps réel et d'imposer des garde-fous budgétaires depuis une interface unique. C'est donc une aubaine pour vos équipes FinOps et de sécurité.Mieux encore, chaque interaction ou délégation de tâche génère un audit. Si un agent IA adopte un comportement inattendu en production, vos équipes opérationnelles disposent donc d'un fil conducteur pour remonter à la source et résoudre l'incident.Le ZD Tech est sur toutes les plateformes de podcast ! Abonnez-vous !Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Rick Watson and Jessica Lesesky sit down to unpack a busy stretch across tech, shipping, and commerce. They open with Anthropic's confidential IPO filing, submitted to the SEC on June 1st, and what it signals about the AI lab's trajectory. After a $65 billion Series H that pushed its valuation to $965 billion, Anthropic now sits ahead of OpenAI on that measure, and Rick and Jessica dig into how it got there: a revenue run rate that climbed from roughly $10 billion a year ago to about $47 billion by May 2026, helped by a developer-first bet through Claude Code that has made it a serious contender for enterprise spend.The Watson Weekly Weekend episode is sponsored by Avalara. Its Agentic Tax and Compliance automates behind-the-scenes work for ecommerce brands, enabling accurate checkout tax calculation, clearer tariff and duty visibility, and fewer customer surprises. Avalara integrates with platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce. Learn more at avalara.watsonweekly.comFrom there the conversation turns physical. USPS and DHL have signed a multi-year contract valued at well over $10 billion, with DHL handling pickup, sorting, and transport while USPS covers final-mile delivery. It lands at an awkward moment for the Postal Service, which posted a $9.5 billion loss in fiscal 2025 and whose Postmaster General has warned of a possible cash crisis within a year absent action from Congress.The last segment covers Salesforce's push to wake up a commerce cloud that had been growing under 2%. The reported Contentful acquisition (somewhere in the $1 to $1.5 billion range) fits a long pattern that runs through MuleSoft, Tableau, Slack, and PredictSpring. Rick and Jessica close on whether the integrated Agentforce suite can hold up against focused players like Shopify.

In this episode of Corporate Finance Explained on FinPod, we discuss the reality behind one of the most dramatic events in corporate strategy: mergers and acquisitions (M&A).Every year, headlines announce massive multi-billion-dollar acquisitions, complete with executive handshakes and promises of transformative growth. But behind the press releases lies a far more complex story. In corporate finance, the deal announcement is only the beginning. The real test happens during the post-merger integration phase, when two massive organizations attempt to combine systems, teams, operations, and strategy without destroying the value the deal was supposed to create.In this episode, we break down why so many mergers fail and what separates the few extraordinary successes from the billions of dollars in shareholder value that disappear when integration goes wrong. Drawing on corporate finance frameworks and real-world case studies, we explore how finance teams track synergies, manage integration costs, and evaluate whether a deal's promised benefits are actually materializing.We examine some of the most successful technology acquisitions in recent history, including Meta's purchase of Instagram and WhatsApp, where a “light-touch” integration strategy preserved the products while quietly plugging them into Meta's global infrastructure and monetization engine. We also explore how Salesforce built a powerful enterprise ecosystem through acquisitions like Slack, Tableau, and MuleSoft by embedding new platforms into its broader CRM network.From there, we contrast those successes with traditional industrial consolidation, looking at the Exxon–Mobil merger, where the entire strategy revolved around operational efficiency, supply chain consolidation, and massive cost synergies across global infrastructure.But not every deal works. We analyze two of the most famous corporate integration failures: the Daimler–Chrysler merger, where cultural and organizational clashes destroyed expected synergies, and AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner, where strategic misalignment and overwhelming debt ultimately forced the company to unwind the deal.Along the way, we explain how modern finance teams manage integration through a dedicated Integration Management Office (IMO), tracking metrics such as synergy realization, stranded cost elimination, return on invested capital, and customer churn to determine whether the acquisition is actually delivering value.If you work in corporate finance, investment banking, strategy, or FP&A, this episode provides a practical framework for analyzing any merger announcement. The key question isn't the purchase price or the headline strategy. It's the one that determines whether the deal succeeds or fails: How will the integration actually work?

In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I explain why agent sprawl may become one of the biggest hidden risks of the AI Era.Highlights00:03 — The massive increase in the adoption of agentic AI technology will have significant consequences for businesses. There'll be increased productivity, the ability to reskill employees who have more time to focus on other areas of the business, and opportunities to explore new business ideas and avenues.00:32 — And something else — a surge in the number of AI agents, millions, millions, and millions of them. All of these agents lead to a phenomenon called agent sprawl. So if data sprawl is diesel-driven, think of agent sprawl as running on jet fuel. Without proper governance and visibility, this can lead to shadow AI, which, in the wrong hands, could effectively bring down a business.01:04 — To avoid this, Salesforce has added automated discovery for AI agents and tools to MuleSoft Agent Fabric. Andrew Comstock, SVP and GM of MuleSoft at Salesforce, said "The expanded capabilities give you the freedom to innovate across any platform while maintaining the unified visibility and control needed to scale."01:32 — At the core of these enhancements are agent scanners, which automatically detect and catalog AI agents across Salesforce Agentforce, Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud's Vertex AI, and other authorized AI platforms. Additionally, for MCP services and other bespoke agents, MuleSoft Agent Fabric facilitates easy integration across a company's entire agent ecosystem.02:01 — The recent updates replace manual oversight with automation, enhance security by providing instant visibility into multi-cloud agents, highlight internal tools that may otherwise be overlooked, and offer a unified agent map to identify areas for optimizing AI investments. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

Send us a textSalesforce demand dropped 37% in 2024, but the 2026 recovery is already leaving "average" Admins behind. Are you catching the wave, or getting crushed by the coral?In this episode of The Hiring Edge, host Josh Matthews and 27x Certified Architect Scott Stafford break down the "75% Delta of Pain" currently hitting the ecosystem. We move past the Reddit rants and look at the actual data: who is getting hired, who is getting $25k premiums, and why "manual configuration" is a career dead-end.Key Insights for your 2026 Career Plan:The Surfing Strategy: Why you must match the speed of the AI wave before it hits you.The "Jimmy" Trap: How a negative mindset is costing professionals more opportunities than the economy is.The Premium Pivot: Why RevCloud, CPQ, and MuleSoft are the "safe havens" for $150k+ roles right now.AI Orchestration: Moving from "builder" to "architect" in the age of Agentforce.Featured Guest: Scott Stafford, 27x Certified Salesforce Architect.Stop guessing about your career. Listen now to get the 2026 Talent Roadmap.

In this episode of the Shift AI Podcast, Alex Waddell, Chief Information Officer at Adobe Population Health, joins host Boaz Ashkenazy live from Dreamforce in San Francisco for a deep dive into AI adoption in one of the most highly regulated—and most impactful—industries: healthcare.Alex shares his unconventional journey from Salesforce administrator to CIO, and how Adobe Population Health built a custom electronic medical record (EMR) on the Salesforce platform to support population health case management long before it became an industry buzzword. The conversation explores why traditional EMRs often get in the way of care—and how AI can help remove friction so clinicians can focus on patients, not paperwork.Together, Boaz and Alex unpack how AI is being applied today to reduce clinician burnout, automate documentation, improve quality assurance, and deliver the right data at the right time. Alex also explains why “augmented intelligence,” not full automation, is the future of healthcare—and why humans will always remain at the center of care delivery.The episode closes with a thoughtful discussion on AI adoption, clinician trust, and why involving end users directly in building AI workflows is essential for success.This episode is a must-listen for healthcare leaders, technologists, and operators who want to understand how AI can drive real-world outcomes—not just efficiency metrics.Key Themes & TakeawaysWhy population health required building a custom EMR from scratchThe hidden cost of documentation and clinician burnoutHow AI can get “the system out of the way” of patient careUsing AI for chart summarization, note generation, and QA auditsOvercoming fear and resistance to AI in regulated environmentsWhy adoption—not technology—is the real challengeThe future of healthcare as augmented intelligenceChapters[00:00] Welcome & Live from Dreamforce[01:30] Alex Waddell's Journey: From Admin to CIO[03:39] Building a Custom EMR for Population Health[05:45] Data, Interoperability, and MuleSoft[06:45] Reducing Clinician Burnout with AI[08:24] Voice, Automation, and the Future of Admin Work[09:30] Using AI for Quality Assurance at Scale[10:49] AI's Real Impact on Patient Outcomes[12:20] “Augmented Intelligence” and the Future of Work[14:00] Adoption, Trust, and Bringing Clinicians Along[16:00] Learning More & Closing ThoughtsEpisode Quote“An EMR doesn't change lives. The human interaction does. AI's job is to get out of the way so clinicians can actually care.”Connect with the GuestsAlex WaddellChief Information Officer, Adobe Population HealthWebsite: https://www.adobepophealth.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-waddell-066bb914a/Boaz AshkenazyHost, Shift AI PodcastLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/boazashkenazy/Email: info@shiftai.fm

How will the rise of the agentic enterprise redefine the future of work, technology and scale for Indian businesses? Host Anirban Chowdhury speaks with Arun Kumar Parameswaran, Executive Vice President and MD of Salesforce, South Asia, about the shift from traditional digital transformation to a new era where autonomous AI agents collaborate with humans to reshape how organisations operate. From hyper-personalised experiences delivered at massive scale to AI-led credit decisions, fraud detection and instant commerce builds, the conversation explores how this model is set to transform speed, efficiency and global reach. It also examines why trust, auditability and the right balance between humans and AI will determine which companies truly capture the potential of this next technological wave. Tune in.Listen to Corner Office Conversation: Corner Office Conversation with Knight Frank’s William Beardmore-Gray and Shishir Baijal, Corner Office Conversation with Sridhar Vembu, CEO, of Zoho Corporation, Corner Office Conversation with Gunjan Soni, Country Managing Director, Youtube India, Corner Office Conversation with Elizabeth Reid, Head of Search, Google and much more.Catch the latest episode of ‘The Morning Brief’ on The Economic Times Online, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, JioSaavn, Amazon Music and Youtube.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we're increasingly inundated with AI-generated content and algorithm-driven ads, what's more powerful: yet another new technology, or the authentic voice of the small business owner on the corner? Agility requires not just reacting to market shifts, but deeply understanding the very fabric of the communities you serve and having the conviction to amplify their voices over your own. It's about finding strength not in shouting louder, but in listening closer. Today, we're going to talk about how a brand can cut through an increasingly crowded market by turning its most loyal customers into its most powerful advocates. We'll explore the strategy of reasserting brand relevance through authentic, community-driven storytelling, and what it takes to execute this when competitors are focused on features and scale.To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Lindsey Irvine, Chief Marketing Officer at Square. About Lindsey Irvine Lindsey Irvine is the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Square, the technology company that makes commerce and financial services easy and accessible. With nearly two decades of experience in marketing, strategy, and leadership across both large enterprises and fast-growing startups, Irvine is responsible for overseeing Square's global marketing efforts, driving brand awareness, customer engagement, and market growth around the world, all in service of the company's mission to empower businesses and entrepreneurs worldwide.Before joining Square, Irvine was CMO at Benchling, pioneer of the R&D Cloud powering the biotechnology industry. Prior to that, she spent nearly a decade at Salesforce, where she held several leadership roles, including global CMO for MuleSoft, and played a key part in developing go-to-market strategies across IoT, industry verticals, and cloud solutions. She is credited with driving high-impact global marketing strategies and helping position Salesforce as a leader in the enterprise software space. Lindsey Irvine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseyirvine/ Resources Square: https://squareup.com/us/en The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow Catch the future of e-commerce at eTail Palm Springs, Feb 23-26 in Palm Springs, CA. Go here for more details: https://etailwest.wbresearch.com/ Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.show Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

As we're increasingly inundated with AI-generated content and algorithm-driven ads, what's more powerful: yet another new technology, or the authentic voice of the small business owner on the corner?Agility requires not just reacting to market shifts, but deeply understanding the very fabric of the communities you serve and having the conviction to amplify their voices over your own. It's about finding strength not in shouting louder, but in listening closer.Today, we're going to talk about how a brand can cut through an increasingly crowded market by turning its most loyal customers into its most powerful advocates. We'll explore the strategy of reasserting brand relevance through authentic, community-driven storytelling, and what it takes to execute this when competitors are focused on features and scale.To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Lindsey Irvine, Chief Marketing Officer at Square. About Lindsey IrvineLindsey Irvine is the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Square, the technology company that makes commerce and financial services easy and accessible. With nearly two decades of experience in marketing, strategy, and leadership across both large enterprises and fast-growing startups, Irvine is responsible for overseeing Square's global marketing efforts, driving brand awareness, customer engagement, and market growth around the world, all in service of the company's mission to empower businesses and entrepreneurs worldwide.Before joining Square, Irvine was CMO at Benchling, pioneer of the R&D Cloud powering the biotechnology industry. Prior to that, she spent nearly a decade at Salesforce, where she held several leadership roles, including global CMO for MuleSoft, and played a key part in developing go-to-market strategies across IoT, industry verticals, and cloud solutions. She is credited with driving high-impact global marketing strategies and helping position Salesforce as a leader in the enterprise software space. Lindsey Irvine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseyirvine/ Resources Square: https://squareup.com/us/en The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow Catch the future of e-commerce at eTail Palm Springs, Feb 23-26 in Palm Springs, CA. Go here for more details: https://etailwest.wbresearch.com/ Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.showCheck out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As we're increasingly inundated with AI-generated content and algorithm-driven ads, what's more powerful: yet another new technology, or the authentic voice of the small business owner on the corner?Agility requires not just reacting to market shifts, but deeply understanding the very fabric of the communities you serve and having the conviction to amplify their voices over your own. It's about finding strength not in shouting louder, but in listening closer.Today, we're going to talk about how a brand can cut through an increasingly crowded market by turning its most loyal customers into its most powerful advocates. We'll explore the strategy of reasserting brand relevance through authentic, community-driven storytelling, and what it takes to execute this when competitors are focused on features and scale.To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Lindsey Irvine, Chief Marketing Officer at Square. About Lindsey IrvineLindsey Irvine is the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Square, the technology company that makes commerce and financial services easy and accessible. With nearly two decades of experience in marketing, strategy, and leadership across both large enterprises and fast-growing startups, Irvine is responsible for overseeing Square's global marketing efforts, driving brand awareness, customer engagement, and market growth around the world, all in service of the company's mission to empower businesses and entrepreneurs worldwide.Before joining Square, Irvine was CMO at Benchling, pioneer of the R&D Cloud powering the biotechnology industry. Prior to that, she spent nearly a decade at Salesforce, where she held several leadership roles, including global CMO for MuleSoft, and played a key part in developing go-to-market strategies across IoT, industry verticals, and cloud solutions. She is credited with driving high-impact global marketing strategies and helping position Salesforce as a leader in the enterprise software space. Lindsey Irvine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseyirvine/ Resources Square: https://squareup.com/us/en The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow Catch the future of e-commerce at eTail Palm Springs, Feb 23-26 in Palm Springs, CA. Go here for more details: https://etailwest.wbresearch.com/ Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.showCheck out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As we're increasingly inundated with AI-generated content and algorithm-driven ads, what's more powerful: yet another new technology, or the authentic voice of the small business owner on the corner? Agility requires not just reacting to market shifts, but deeply understanding the very fabric of the communities you serve and having the conviction to amplify their voices over your own. It's about finding strength not in shouting louder, but in listening closer. Today, we're going to talk about how a brand can cut through an increasingly crowded market by turning its most loyal customers into its most powerful advocates. We'll explore the strategy of reasserting brand relevance through authentic, community-driven storytelling, and what it takes to execute this when competitors are focused on features and scale.To help me discuss this topic, I'd like to welcome Lindsey Irvine, Chief Marketing Officer at Square. About Lindsey Irvine Lindsey Irvine is the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Square, the technology company that makes commerce and financial services easy and accessible. With nearly two decades of experience in marketing, strategy, and leadership across both large enterprises and fast-growing startups, Irvine is responsible for overseeing Square's global marketing efforts, driving brand awareness, customer engagement, and market growth around the world, all in service of the company's mission to empower businesses and entrepreneurs worldwide.Before joining Square, Irvine was CMO at Benchling, pioneer of the R&D Cloud powering the biotechnology industry. Prior to that, she spent nearly a decade at Salesforce, where she held several leadership roles, including global CMO for MuleSoft, and played a key part in developing go-to-market strategies across IoT, industry verticals, and cloud solutions. She is credited with driving high-impact global marketing strategies and helping position Salesforce as a leader in the enterprise software space. Lindsey Irvine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseyirvine/ Resources Square: https://squareup.com/us/en The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow Catch the future of e-commerce at eTail Palm Springs, Feb 23-26 in Palm Springs, CA. Go here for more details: https://etailwest.wbresearch.com/ Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstromDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.show Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company

In this episode, we discuss MuleSoft and Camel similarities and take a brief tangent on the prevalence of XML as a data format, vibe-coding, SaaS fatigue, subscription overload, and Illuminated Cloud's support for GraphQL.

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.Welcome back to another episode of Venture Unlocked, the podcast that takes you behind the scenes of the business of venture capital.In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Mercedes Bent about her fascinating journey from a tech-driven upbringing to becoming a leading venture capitalist. We discussed how her unique background informs her investment philosophy and the importance of originality and non-consensus thinking in today's VC landscape. Our conversation also covered the challenges and opportunities in consumer technology, the transformative impact of AI, and strategies for portfolio construction. One of my key takeaways was the critical role of intuition in identifying exceptional founders, as well as the value of building compounding networks and staying ahead of platform shifts. It was an insightful discussion that offered practical lessons for anyone interested in the future of venture capital. We hope you enjoy the conversation.Thanks for listening to another episode of Venture Unlocked. We hope you enjoyed our conversation with Mercedes. If you'd like to get Venture Unlocked content straight to your inbox, go to ventureunlocked.substack.com and sign up, or go to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and subscribe. Thanks again for listeningAbout Mercedes BentMercedes Bent is a Venture Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners and Co-Founder of venture firm Premise. At Lightspeed, she focused on early-stage investments in consumer, fintech, multicultural markets, and Latin America. She began her career at the Federal Reserve and Goldman Sachs before moving into the education technology sector with General Assembly. At General Assembly, she helped expand one of the company's key product lines from $2M to $100M in revenue over four years. She joined Lightspeed in 2019 after developing a strong investment perspective in areas such as edtech, VR, and multicultural consumer products. At Lightspeed, she has invested in and worked with companies including Stori, Honeylove, Forage, Magic Eden, Outschool, and Flink. She has also been recognized in industry publications for her contributions to venture capital and efforts to broaden access to entrepreneurship.Lightspeed Venture Partners, founded in 2000, is a global venture capital firm managing over $25 billion in assets with offices across the U.S., Europe, Israel, India, and Southeast Asia. The firm invests from seed to growth stage across enterprise, consumer, fintech, healthcare, and emerging tech. Over the years, Lightspeed has backed more than 500 companies, including Snap, MuleSoft, Affirm, Carta, and Anthropic, and has been part of notable exits like AppDynamics and Nest. With a strong record of helping founders scale and succeed, Lightspeed is recognized as a leading partner for building category-defining companies.During the conversation, we discussed:* Mercedes's Background, Upbringing, and Early Career (1:45)* How Background Informed Firm Values/Culture (4:19)* The Gap in Consumer Technology Investing & Identifying Founders (8:40)* Non-Consensus Investing in Early Stage VC (10:01)* Startup Mentality and KPIs in Fund Management (15:06)* Sourcing vs. Winning Seed Deals – What Matters? (16:19)* Seed Manager vs. Large Fund Business Models (21:21)* Gifted TVPI vs. Earned TVPI, Portfolio Philosophy (26:22)* Consumer Sector's VC Downturn & New Tech Cycles (32:21)* The AI Consumer Technology Wave & Opportunity (35:33)* Identifying Product-Market Pull and Early Leading Indicators (37:08)* Shifts in Distribution Channels in AI (40:09)* Future-casting, Platform Shifts, and AI Companions (43:50)* Lessons from Years in VC & Trusting Intuition (44:27)* Final Thoughts and Takeaways (47:46)I'd love to know what you took away from this conversation with Mercedes. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #venture unlocked. If you'd like to be considered as a guest or have someone you'd like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on X. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

Morgan runs a public relations and marketing agency called Firebrand. They raise awareness of technology brands to build awareness, create demand, drive lead generation and close sales. Prior to Firebrand, he was the founder in the US of LEWIS , a global communications firm, which we grew to $35m in revenues and 250+ staff in the US, and $75m with 600 staff globally. He has over 30 years' tech experience, both consumer and B2B. He has advised a range of companies including start-ups such as Amount, Prophecy and Weaviate; non-profits, such as AARP, Mozilla and VSP Vision Care; and public companies, such as BT Group, Equinix, MuleSoft, Splunk and Sky. At LEWIS, he lead the acquisition of three companies - Page One Power which they integrated and rebranded as LEWIS Pulse; the Davies Murphy Group, a 65-person PR and marketing consultancy; and Piston, a 50-person full-service digital advertising agency.

[00:01:00] - When you think about your own journey, what pulled you into product marketing in the first place, and how has that perspective evolved across Salesforce, Box, MuleSoft, Google Cloud, and now Canva?[00:06:00] - Can you unpack what your LinkedIn bio quote means: "A good platform is a good story and a good story is also a good platform"?[00:10:00] - Two-part question:In some ways this means that the company has to be at a certain level, right? Early stage startups aren't really gonna have ecosystems - is that something you look for in your next role?What is ecosystem? Break it down - what does ecosystem marketing entail, maybe your day-to-day or week to week of what that's like to be an ecosystem marketer?[00:17:00] - Let's talk about building a product marketing team in a global environment, multiple offices around lots of time zones. How do you approach that? How do you even think about that? And has anything changed in how you think about this coming out of Covid?[00:22:00] - What's one piece of advice that you wish you had earlier in your product marketing career? Or what would you wish you could go back and tell yourself 10, 15 years ago?[00:30:00] - What's inspiring you right now, outside of marketing, maybe outside of Canva?Want more insights from Indy? Check out her Sharebird Profile.Looking to connect? You can find Indy here on LinkedIn.

Dans cet épisode, PPC nous embarque dans les coulisses du RAISE Summit 2025, un rendez-vous d'exception au Carrousel du Louvre, où l'intelligence artificielle s'est imposée pendant 2 jours. Pas de slides sur scène, mais des idées fortes et des visions tranchées.PPC a assisté à une table ronde passionnante avec des figures de proue de la tech :Olivier Pomel, CEO de Datadog,Naveen Rao, VP AI chez Databricks,Ross Mason, fondateur de MuleSoft,Andrey Khusid, CEO de Miro,Modérée par Mark Minevich de Mayfield.Ce qui en ressort ? L'entreprise IA n'est pas une simple mise à jour logicielle, c'est un changement de paradigme. On parle de confiance, de vitesse, de culture, et surtout d'un futur où les généralistes augmentés pourraient bien prendre le pouvoir.Dans cet épisode, PPC nous partage ses réflexions, ses doutes, et 4 extraits clés de cette conférence pour mieux comprendre la transition en cours. On y parle rythme d'adoption, résistance au changement, transformation des rôles et nouveaux rapports au travail.Bonne écoute !Pour suivre les actualités de ce podcast, abonnez-vous gratuitement à la newsletter écrite avec amour et garantie sans spam https://bonjourppc.substack.com Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Indy Sen, ecosystem marketing lead at Canva, shares his journey through tech giants like Salesforce, Box, MuleSoft, Google, and now Canva, where he's applying his unique "messaging as an API" philosophy to build an ecosystem that serves as a powerful multiplier for the entire company.• Canva's mission of empowering the world to design has evolved from consumer beginnings to enterprise solutions• The ecosystem functions as a multiplier, helping source innovations from third-party developers and technology partners• Growth from zero to approximately 700 apps in just two years demonstrates the platform's appeal as a distribution mechanism• Design principles encourage developers to create experiences that can be completed in no more than five steps• The human connection will remain the ultimate competitive advantage even as AI transforms technology• Technical enablement must be paired with commercial enablement for ecosystem success• Creating psychological safety enables teams to work at their highest point of contribution• Zen leadership balances strategic thinking with empowering teams to navigate ambiguity• Building trust requires making decisions rather than prolonging indecision• Small acts of kindness cost nothing but are remembered far longer than professional achievementsWhat makes a technology ecosystem thrive in today's rapidly evolving landscape? For Indy Sen, the answer lies at the intersection of technical excellence and human connection.At the heart of his philosophy is what he calls "messaging as an API"—treating company messaging like clean, well-structured code that can be consistently deployed across an organization. This approach has proven incredibly effective in creating clarity around ecosystem value, both internally and externally. As Indy explains, "Ecosystem is a multiplier. It helps engender brand new innovations, source them from third-party innovators like developers and technology partners, and it's also a multiplier for the business."The conversation goes through practical go-to-market strategies, from Canva's developer experience principles to Indy's legendary "Cha-Ching" program at Salesforce that transformed how sales teams engaged with partners. We explore how modern platforms balance technical enablement (making APIs accessible) with commercial enablement (helping partners achieve business success), all while nurturing genuine human connections.Perhaps most compelling is Indy's perspective on leadership in the age of AI. His "Zen leadership" approach emphasizes psychological safety, decision-making amid ambiguity, and helping team members work at their "highest point of contribution." As he puts it, "Ambiguity is okay, indecision is not."Whether you're building a platform, leading a team, or simply interested in how technology ecosystems evolve, this conversation offers valuable insights into creating lasting value through human-centered innovation. Plus, don't miss Indy's surprisingly impressive performance in our Batman trivia challenge!Indy Sen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/indysen/Indy's Sen started on the ground floor of the Salesforce AppExchange.  From there, he helped Box take on SharePoint, led developer relations at MuleSoft, did a tour of duty at Google Workspace, and even helped WeWork completely overhaul their product marketing before helping Matterport go public.Website: https://www.position2.com/podcast/Rajiv Parikh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajivparikh/Sandeep Parikh: https://www.instagram.com/sandeepparikh/Email us with any feedback for the show: spark@postion2.com

Welcome to episode 307 of The Cloud Pod – where the forecast is always cloudy! Who else is at a conference? Justin is coming to us this week from sunny San Diego where he's attending FinOps – so we have that news to look forward to for next week. Matt and Ryan are also on hand today to share the latest news from Kubernetes, Salesforce acquisitions, and the strange case of Azure making AWS more cost effective. Titles we almost went with this week: The Great Redis Escape: One Year Later, Valkey is Living Its Best Life Cache Me If You Can: How Valkey Outran Redis’s License Policies Tier Today, Gone Tomorrow: AWS’s New Storage Class That Moves Your Data So         You Don’t  Hey AI, Deploy My App: AWS Makes It Actually Work AWS Finally Calculates What You’ll Actually Pay The Price is Right: AWS Edition From List Price to Real Price: AWS Gets Transparent Red Hat and AWS Sitting in a Tree, R-H-E-L-I-N-G Dockerfile? More Like Dockefile-It-For-Me with Amazon’s New MCP Server Elementary, My Dear Watson: Amazon Q Becomes Sherlock Holmes for AWS CUD You Believe It? Red Hat Gets the Discount Treatment Committed Relationship Status: It’s Complicated (But 20% Cheaper) RHEL Yeah! Google Drops Prices on Enterprise Linux Disk Today, Gone Tomorrow: Azure’s Vanishing OS Storage ATL1: Where GPUs Meet Sweet Tea and Southern Hospitality AWS Launches Operation Cloud Sovereignty The Great Firewall of Europe: AWS Edition Amazon Builds a GDPR Fortress in Germany General News  01:46 What Salesforce’s $8B acquisition of Informatica means for enterprise data and AI | VentureBeat Salesforce just dropped $8 billion to acquire Informatica.  This purchase was really about building the data foundation needed for agentic AI to actually work in enterprise environments – we’re talking about combining Informatica’s 30 years of data management expertise with Salesforce’s cloud platform to create what they’re calling a “unified architecture for agentic AI.” This acquisition fills a massive gap in Salesforce’s data management capabilities, bringing in critical pieces like data cataloging, integration, governance, quality controls, and master data management – all the unsexy but absolutely essential plumbing that makes AI agents trustworthy and scalable in real enterprise deployments. The timing here is fascinating, because Informatica literally just announced their own agentic AI offerings last week at Informatica World, so Salesforce is essentially buying a company that’s already pivoted hard into the AI space – rather than trying to build these capabilities from scratch. There’s going to be some interesting overlap with MuleSoft, which Salesforce bought for $6.5 billion back in 2018, but analysts are s

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.Welcome to another episode of Venture Unlocked. In this episode, I had the pleasure of welcoming Villi Iltchev, founder and managing partner of Category Ventures. Villi has had a long history in tech, both in operating roles at companies like Box and Lifelock, as well as investing roles at August Capital and Two Sigma, where he departed in 2024 to launch Category Ventures.We covered a lot of ground in our conversation, including his inspiration for starting a new firm and the experiences that informed his true north. We also spoke about the fragmentation of the market and what it means to win in early-stage investing in a heavily crowded market of dedicated seed funds & larger funds who are active in see and Series A. I really enjoyed the authenticity of the conversation and hope you do as well.About Villi IltchevVilli Iltchev is the Founder and Managing Partner of Category Ventures, an early-stage venture firm focused on backing category-defining enterprise software companies. With over two decades of experience as both an operator and investor, Villi has held leadership roles at Box, LifeLock, and Salesforce, where he led investments and acquisitions in companies like HubSpot, MuleSoft, Gusto, and Zapier. As a General Partner at August Capital and later at Two Sigma Ventures, he backed standout startups like GitLab—turning a $20M investment into over $900M in returns. Originally from Bulgaria, Villi brings a global perspective and a founder-first mindset to every partnership.Category Ventures is an early-stage venture firm founded in 2024 by veteran investor Villi Iltchev, focused on backing category-defining enterprise software startups. With a $160M debut fund, the firm invests in pre-seed and seed-stage companies across infrastructure, dev tools, AI, and applications. Drawing on Iltchev's track record—including early investments in GitLab, Zapier, and Gusto—Category Ventures brings deep technical and go-to-market expertise to help founders build enduring businesses. Their approach centers on hands-on support and founder-first partnership to shape the future of enterprise software.In this episode, we discuss:* Villi's Background and Journey (1:50)* Lessons from Venture Capital Firms (5:35)* Market Fragmentation in Venture Capital (8:47)* Flexible Investment Strategy (12:24)* Challenges with Traditional VC Models (13:26)* Product Market Fit and Founder Support (17:35)* Counterpoints on Large VC Firms (21:40)* Winning in Venture Capital (24:07)* Kindness and Community (26:24)* Components of Success (30:00)* Decision-Making Process (33:21)* Intellectual Honesty in Investments (36:16)* The Role of Fresh Perspectives (40:08)* Acting on Great Ideas and Final Thoughts (42:27)I'd love to know what you took away from this conversation with Villi. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you'd like to be considered as a guest or have someone you'd like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on X. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com

Discover the journey of Interface as they revolutionize the home furnishings industry by integrating AI and data-driven strategies. In this episode, James Pope, global head of digital marketing and analytics at Interface, shares how the company leverages Salesforce products like MuleSoft, Marketing Cloud, and Sales Cloud to both B2C and B2B customer experiences.  Learn the pivotal role of data governance and AI in their strategic initiatives, and how Interface's approach to blending traditional and digital methods boosts commercial productivity while fostering trust and compliance with global data privacy standards. Join us to explore the future of home furnishings in the digital age. Show Highlights: Interface's innovative use of the B2C brand, Flor, to optimize B2B operations and enhance customer experiences Integration of Salesforce products for seamless, personalized customer journeys in B2B and B2C contexts Emphasis on data governance, AI integration, and global data privacy compliance as critical components of Interface's strategy Use of Salesforce Commerce Cloud as a central hub for dynamic order management and AI-driven recommendations The role of AI agents in improving customer service and commercial productivity at Interface 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. Supporting Resources: James Pope on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamespope/  Interface: https://www.interface.com/US/en-US.html  Learn more about Agentforce for Commerce: https://www.salesforce.com/commerce/ai/  Join the Commerce Cloud Community: https://sforce.co/commerce-crew Attend Connections 2025: https://www.salesforce.com/connections/ *** 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 of Between Product and Partnerships, we sit down with Indy Sen, Product Marketing Manager for Ecosystem at Canva, to explore what it really takes to build a thriving SaaS platform and developer ecosystem.Indy shares hard-earned lessons from his career shaping ecosystems at Salesforce, Box, MuleSoft, Google, and now Canva. From launching on the early Salesforce AppExchange to scaling developer engagement at global companies, Indy dives into what's changed (and what hasn't) when it comes to partnerships, platform strategy, and developer marketing.By the way, Indy is running the London Marathon and raising funds for cancer research. Support the cause here:https://secure.acsevents.org/site/STR?fr_id=109250&pg=personal&px=59788306--To access more resources and content on technology partnerships, integrations, and APIs, check out our blog and resources page belowBlog: https://www.pandium.com/blogTech Partnerships & Product Management Resources: https://www.pandium.com/resource-center

An airhacks.fm conversation with Colt McNealy (@coltmcnealy) about: first computing experience with Sun workstations and network computing, background in hockey and other sports, using system76 Linux laptops for development, starting programming in high school with Java and later learning C, fortran, assembly, C++ and python, working at a real estate company with kubernetes and Kafka, the genesis of LittleHorse from experiencing challenges with distributed microservices and workflow management, LittleHorse as an open source workflow orchestration engine using Kafka as a commit log rather than a message queue, building a custom distributed database optimized for workflow orchestration, the recent move to fully open source licensing, comparison with AWS Step Functions but with more capabilities and open source benefits, using RocksDB and Kafka Streams for the underlying implementation, performance metrics of 12-40ms latency between tasks and hundreds of tasks per second, the multi-tenant architecture allowing for serverless offerings, integration with Kafka for event-driven architectures, the distinction between orchestration and choreography in distributed systems, using Java 21 with benefits from virtual threads and generational garbage collection, plans for Java 25 adoption, the naming story behind "Little Horse" and its competition with MuleSoft, the Sun Microsystems legacy and innovation culture, recent adoption of Quarkus for some components, the "Know Your Customer" flow as the Hello World example for Little Horse, the importance of observability and durability in workflow management, plans for serverless offerings and multi-tenant architecture, the balance between open source core and commercial offerings Colt McNealy on twitter: @coltmcnealy

David Wyatt is the Co-Founder of Celero Ventures and a seasoned revenue leader with an unconventional journey—from electrician to spearheading growth at leading tech companies such as MuleSoft, Databricks, and Aivan. With extensive experience in scaling sales teams and driving multi-million dollar growth, David now leverages his expertise to invest in early-stage software ventures and transform revenue organisations.In this episode, host Matt Milligan and David discuss building resilient, productive sales teams for 2025 by harnessing systematic revenue management, data-driven hiring, and continuous coaching. David's unique career path and deep commitment to talent development cement his reputation as a leading authority on scaling revenue and transforming sales organisations.00:00 – Introduction & Theme00:01:10 – David Wyatt's Background00:02:30 – Early Career Lessons from an Electrician00:03:15 – Transitioning to Tech & Sales Leadership00:04:00 – Learning from Industry Pioneers at MuleSoft & Databricks00:05:00 – Scaling Sales Teams: Data-Driven Hiring & Performance00:06:15 – Building a Culture of Continuous Coaching00:07:00 – Strategic Revenue Management for Growth00:08:15 – Aligning Talent with Market Opportunities00:09:00 – Embracing Innovation: From Operator to Investor00:10:00 – Final Thoughts & Contact

Episode Notes/Resources: In this episode of Salesforce Simplified we're talking with Ad Victoriam Solutions Salesforce Technical Architect, Jitin Chatlani, about inheriting a Salesforce org and key considerations admins need to heed.  Resources: How to Keep Your Salesforce Org Secure and Up-To-Date: https://tinyurl.com/bdhd9myv Set Up Your Salesforce Org for Integration with MuleSoft: https://tinyurl.com/2fvux5w3 Jitin Chatlani on LinkedIn:  https://tinyurl.com/bdpncha6

Shaun Clowes is the chief product officer at Confluent and former CPO at Salesforce's MuleSoft and at Metromile. He was also the first head of growth at Atlassian, where he led product for Jira Agile and built the first-ever B2B growth team. In our conversation, we discuss:• Why most PMs are bad, and how to fix this• Why great AI products are all about the data• Why he changed his mind about being data-driven• How to build your B2B growth team• How to choose your next career stop• Much more—Brought to you by:• Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth• BuildBetter—AI for product teams• Wix Studio—The web creation platform built for agencies—Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/why-great-ai-products-are-all-about-the-data-shaun-clowes—Where to find Shaun Clowes:• X: https://x.com/ShaunMClowes• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaun-clowes-80795014/• Website: https://shaunclowes.com/about-shaun• Reforge: https://www.reforge.com/profiles/shaun-clowes—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Shaun's background(05:08) The state of product management(09:33) Becoming a 10x product manager(13:23) Specific ways to leverage AI in product management(17:15) Feedback rivers(19:20) AI's impact on data management(24:35) The future of enterprise businesses with AI(35:41) Data-driven decision-making(45:50) Building effective growth teams(50:18) The evolution of product-led growth(56:16) Career insights and decision-making(01:07:45) Failure corner(01:12:32) Final thoughts and lightning round—Referenced:• Steve Blank's website: https://steveblank.com/• Getting Out of the Building. 2 Minutes to See Why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbMgWr1YVfs• OpenAI: https://openai.com/• Claude: https://claude.ai/• Sachin Rekhi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachinrekhi/• Video: Building Your Product Intuition with Feedback Rivers: https://www.sachinrekhi.com/video-building-your-product-intuition-with-feedback-rivers• Confluent: https://www.confluent.io• Workday: https://www.workday.com/• Lenny and Friends Summit: https://lennyssummit.com/• A conversation with OpenAI's CPO Kevin Weil, Anthropic's CPO Mike Krieger, and Sarah Guo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxkvVZua28k• Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/• Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/• Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira• Ashby: https://www.ashbyhq.com/• Occam's razor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor• Breaking the rules of growth: Why Shopify bans KPIs, optimizes for churn, prioritizes intuition, and builds toward a 100-year vision | Archie Abrams (VP Product, Head of Growth at Shopify): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/shopifys-growth-archie-abrams• Charlie Munger quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/11903426-show-me-the-incentive-and-i-ll-show-you-the-outcome• Elena Verna on how B2B growth is changing, product-led growth, product-led sales, why you should go freemium not trial, what features to make free, and much more: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/elena-verna-on-why-every-company• The ultimate guide to product-led sales | Elena Verna: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-product-led• Metromile: https://www.metromile.com/• Tom Kennedy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-kennedy-37356b2b/• Building Wiz: the fastest-growing startup in history | Raaz Herzberg (CMO and VP Product Strategy): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-wiz-raaz-herzberg• Wiz: https://www.wiz.io• Colin Powell's 40-70 rule: https://www.42courses.com/blog/home/2019/12/10/colin-powells-40-70-rule• Detroiters on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80165019• Glean: https://www.glean.com/• Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Kick-Ass-Without-Humanity/dp/1250103509• Listen: Five Simple Tools to Meet Your Everyday Parenting Challenges: https://www.amazon.com/Listen-Simple-Everyday-Parenting-Challenges/dp/0997459301• Empress Falls Canyon and abseiling: https://bmac.com.au/blue-mountains-canyoning/empress-falls-canyon-and-abseiling—Recommended books:• The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses: https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898• Inspired: How to Create Products Customers Love: https://www.amazon.com/Inspired-Create-Products-Customers-Love/dp/0981690408—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Marc Benioff is the co-founder and CEO of Salesforce, the second-largest software company in the world. He started programming at age 15, selling his first program for $75, and went on to build Salesforce into a company worth more than $300 billion that also owns Slack, Tableau, Quip, and MuleSoft. Marc is known as a marketing legend, and is now leading Salesforce into the era of AI agents. In our conversation, we discuss:• The importance of maintaining a beginner's mind• His approach to product launches and marketing• Managing through tough times and layoffs• His relationship with Steve Jobs and lessons learned• Why Salesforce is betting big on AI agents• Many stories from his entrepreneurial roller coaster• Much more—Brought to you by:• Cloudinary—The foundational technology for all images and video on the internet• Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth• Coda—The all-in-one collaborative workspace—Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-founder-marc-benioff—Where to find Marc Benioff:• X: https://x.com/benioff• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbenioff—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Marc Benioff and Salesforce(03:54) Marc's early career and domain names(05:59) The App Store story and lessons from Steve Jobs(15:18) Lessons from launching Salesforce(22:03) The importance of keeping a beginner's mindset(29:53) Why Marc calls Salesforce the “25-year startup”(31:47) Agentforce(36:09) Why Marc says AI is the defining technology of our lifetime(40:12) AI's impact on the workforce(42:31) Entrepreneurs need to be like conductors(46:02) Failure corner(50:32) The future of AI agents(56:34) Final thoughts and farewell—Referenced:• Bill.com: https://www.bill.com• App Store: https://www.apple.com/app-store/• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com• Oracle: https://www.oracle.com• Larry Ellison on X: https://x.com/larryellison• Siebel Systems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siebel_Systems• Saba Software: https://talentedlearning.com/lms-vendor-directory/saba-software• Tom Siebel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomassiebel• Avon: https://www.avon.com• Salesforce Chief Has Pulled Some Crazy Stunts: https://www.businessinsider.com/marc-benioff-salesforcecom-chief-has-pulled-some-crazy-stunts-2012-3•  Matthew McConaughey on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officiallymcconaughey• Woody Harrelson on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/woodyharrelson• “Ask More of AI” with Matthew McConaughey: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnobS_RgN7JaxOsLD8WH0I9E6osK3UrfI• Marc's tweet about the ad with McConaughey and Harrelson: https://x.com/Benioff/status/1866175950062239784• Chris Rock on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisrock• Sushi Iwa: http://www.sushiiwa.jp/en/• Ryoanji Temple Rock Garden: https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/1145/• Neil Young Archives on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neilyoungarchives• Mount Tam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tamalpais• Spirit Rock: https://www.spiritrock.org• Jack Kornfield: https://www.spiritrock.org/teachers/jack-kornfield• Agentforce: https://www.salesforce.com/form/agentforce/demo• Minority Report on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Minority-Report-Tom-Cruise/dp/B00A2FSSHK• Peter Schwartz on X: https://x.com/peterschwartz2• UCSF Health: https://www.ucsfhealth.org• A.I. Chatbots Defeated Doctors at Diagnosing Illness: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/health/chatgpt-ai-doctors-diagnosis.html• Does AI improve doctors' diagnoses? Study puts it to the test: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/11/241113123419.htm• A.I. Will Transform the Global Economy—if Humans Let It: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/special-series/ai-transform-global-economy.html• Wargames on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Wargames-Dabney-Coleman/dp/B0011EQBOS• Her on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Her-Joaquin-Phoenix/dp/B00KATY250• AI (Einstein) at Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/in/artificial-intelligence• Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Airkit.ai: https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/salesforce-signs-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-airkit-ai• Salesforce Buys Big Data Startup RelateIQ for Up to $390M: https://techcrunch.com/2014/07/11/salesforce-buys-big-data-startup-relateiq-for-up-to-390m• Salesforce to cut workforce by 10% after hiring ‘too many people' during the pandemic: https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/04/salesforce-to-cut-workforce-by-10-after-hiring-too-many-people-during-the-pandemic• Michael Dell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdell• Bret Taylor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettaylor• Akio Toyoda: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akio_Toyoda• Kaizen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen• TRS-80: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80• CLOAD Magazine: https://archive.org/details/cload_newsletter—Recommended books:• Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War: https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Fleet-Novel-Next-World/dp/054470505X• Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Company—and Revolutionized an Industry: https://www.amazon.com/Behind-Cloud-Salesforce-com-Billion-Dollar-Company/dp/0470521163• Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change: https://www.amazon.com/Trailblazer-Business-Greatest-Platform-Change/dp/1984825194—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Aptean announced the acquisition of Indigo Software Limited, a provider of purpose-built warehouse management and logistics software solutions. QAD Redzone, QAD's connected workforce solution for the manufacturing sector, announced the launch of Champion AI, a suite of capabilities designed to empower the frontlines with predictions, recommendations, proactive problem-solving, and enhanced productivity. ECI Software Solutions announced its acquisition of Avid Ratings, a Madison, Wisconsin-based provider of customer experience solutions designed specifically for the homebuilding industry. MuleSoft announced the general availability of full lifecycle AsyncAPI support, enabling organizations to power AI agents with real-time data through seamless integration with event-driven architectures.Connect with us!https://www.erpadvisorsgroup.com866-499-8550LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/erp-advisors-groupTwitter:https://twitter.com/erpadvisorsgrpFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/erpadvisorsInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/erpadvisorsgroupPinterest:https://www.pinterest.com/erpadvisorsgroupMedium:https://medium.com/@erpadvisorsgroup

Join us as we discuss event-driven architectures (EDA) with MuleSoft's latest capabilities with Alex Martinez. The discussion will explore the integration of AsyncAPI specifications, which streamline the transition from REST to event-driven systems, enabling high-volume asynchronous communications and improved API lifecycle management.  The conversation highlights tools like Anypoint Studio and Anypoint Code Builder that simplify complex integrations using messaging technologies such as Kafka, Solace, and Salesforce Platform Events. Whether new to EDA or an experienced developer, this episode is packed with valuable information and resources to elevate integration strategies and deepen understanding of the future of software development. Show Highlights: Transitioning from REST to event-driven systems using async API specifications. Exploration of MuleSoft tools like Anypoint Studio and Anypoint Code Builder for API design and management. Benefits of using MuleSoft for integrating messaging technologies like Kafka, Solace, Anypoint MQ, and Salesforce Platform Events. Importance of API governance for maintaining compliance and consistency across specifications. Links: Build Real-Time AI Experiences with MuleSoft - https://www.salesforce.com/plus/experience/dreamforce_2024/series/it_at_dreamforce_2024/episode/episode-s1e24 AsyncAPI Support to Implement Event-Driven Architecture - https://docs.mulesoft.com/release-notes/platform/event-driven-api

“The OOOps methodology from the science of happy accidents are optionality, opportunism, and optimization.” Stephen Fishman and Matt McLarty are the authors of “Unbundling the Enterprise: APIs, Optionality, and the Science of Happy Accidents”, a book from IT Revolution. In this episode, we discuss the transformative power of APIs, the importance of optionality in technology and business, and the intriguing science of ‘happy accidents'. We delve into the “OOOps” of the science of happy accidents, which are optionality through API unbundling, opportunism through value dynamics, and optimization through feedback loops. Stephen and Matt share real-world examples of how companies like Amazon, Google, and Cox Automotive have successfully unbundled their enterprises and leveraged optionality for growth and innovation. Also, hear the story and impact of Jeff Bezos's legendary API mandate at Amazon, which revolutionized Amazon to become the giant it is now. Towards the end, we discuss the role of AI in the future of work and how we can use AI along with APIs to embrace more optionality and create more business value. Listen to the full episode to learn more about how you can apply these concepts to your digital transformation journey and benefit from the power of APIs and optionality.   Listen out for: Career Turning Points - [00:01:51] “Unbundling the Enterprise” Book - [00:05:21] Amazon API Revolution - [00:08:39] What Drove Jeff Bezos's Mandate - [00:14:10] Optionality Through API Unbundling - [00:17:36] Happy Accidents - [00:23:59] Opportunism Through Value Dynamics - [00:26:59] Value Dynamics - [00:30:55] Optimization Through Feedback Loops - [00:38:03] Embracing AI - [00:45:24] 4 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:52:02] _____ Stephen Fishman's BioStephen Fishman (Fish) is the NA Field CTO for Boomi. He is a practicing technologist who brings creativity, rigor, and a human-centric lens to problem-solving. Known as an expert in aligning technology and business strategy, Stephen places a premium on pushing business and technology leaders to embrace iteration and the critical need to collaborate across disciplines. In addition to consulting with large organizations, Stephen is an in-demand speaker and advisor. Stephen has led multidisciplinary teams to deliver amazing results at Salesforce, MuleSoft, Cox Automotive, Sapient, Macy's, and multiple public sector institutions including the US Federal Reserve and the CDC. Matt McLarty's BioMatt McLarty is the Chief Technology Officer for Boomi. He works with organizations around the world to help them digitally transform using a composable approach. He is an active member of the global API community, has led global technical teams at Salesforce, IBM, and CA Technologies, and started his career in financial technology. Matt is an internationally known expert on APIs, microservices, and integration. He is co-author of the O'Reilly books Microservice Architecture and Securing Microservice APIs, and co-host of the API Experience podcast. Follow Stephen: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/stephenhfishman Email – stephen.fishman@boomi.com Follow Matt: LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/mattmclartybc Email – matt.mclarty@boomi.com Book & Podcast:

With a few dozen software exits under his belt (including Box, Square, Mulesoft & JFrog), nobody knows enterprise investing like Sapphire Ventures' President + PartnerJai Das. Likewise, Floodgate co-founder + Partner Mike Maples Jr. is often credited with pioneering seed investing as we know it, with names like Twitter, Twitch and Lyft in his portfolio. Together, they join Nick Chirls, GP at Asylum Ventures,  and Beezer Clarkson, LP at Sapphire Partners, to share how they pick winners at their respective stages. What does it take to spot someone who sees the future before it's here? How do inflection points like AI impact an investor's thesis? And are there more opportunities in the market for VCs today? Plus, Jai and Mike discuss the one throughline from seed to growth to lead to a successful exit: the management team. Learn more about Sapphire Partners: sapphireventures.com/sapphire-partners Learn more about OpenLP: openlp.vc Learn more about Asylum Ventures: asylum.vc Learn more about Sapphire Ventures: sapphireventures.com Learn more about Floodgate: floodgate.com Subscribe to the OpenLP newsletter for a monthly roundup of the latest venture insights, including the newest Origins episodes, delivered straight to your inbox. CHAPTERS: 0:00-Introduction & the Burning Question4:08-Intro to Sapphire Ventures 6:02-Intro to Floodgate7:56-Setting the Stage at Seed 10:30-Inflection Points: We're Going Through a Sea Change of Mass Cognition 13:43-What's Happening at the Growth Stage 15:17-More Choice in the Market 16:10-Importance of Management Team 17:44-Mike's New Book “Pattern Breakers” 23:09-The Three Things Floodgate Looks for in a Founder 25:25-Founder Future Fit & Pivots 27:56-In Enterprise Software, You Don't Always Have to Build a New Category29:52-AI: Over-Valued? Under-Valued? 32:50-Is There Anything Left in AI Non-Consensus? 34:37-How Sapphire Approaches GenAI Investing 37:31-The Exit Market Today 44:10-How to Approach Founder Liquidity

Daryl Martis of Salesforce and Rashna Chadha of AWS share how Amazon Bedrock integrates with Salesforce to enhance AI applications, highlighting the partnership's strategic benefits, AI model customization, and secure deployment options.Topics Include:Introduction to Amazon Bedrock and Salesforce partnership.Overview of Amazon Bedrock as an API-based generative AI service.The strategic collaboration between AWS and Salesforce.Salesforce Data Cloud and its integration with Amazon Bedrock.Overview of Salesforce Einstein and its use of Amazon SageMaker.Recent AI launches between Salesforce and AWS, including Slack AI and MuleSoft.Use cases of AI services like Amazon Textract within Salesforce.Bringing Your Own Large Language Model (BYO LLM) with Bedrock.Foundation models offered by Amazon Bedrock (Anthropic, Cohere, Llama).Overview of security, privacy, and compliance in Bedrock AI services.Salesforce Data Cloud's unified customer data and real-time AI capabilities.Bedrock's support for custom AI model evaluation and metrics.Consumption models in Bedrock: on-demand vs. provision throughput.Bedrock's agent capabilities for real-world applications like scheduling.Demo of using Amazon Bedrock models within Salesforce.Participants:Daryl Martis – Director of Product Management, Einstein AI - SalesforceRashna Chadha – AI/ML Specialist – Principal Solution Architect – Amazon Web ServicesSee how Amazon Web Services gives you the freedom to migrate, innovate, and scale your software company at https://aws.amazon/isv/

In this episode, we sit down with expert Akshata Sawant to discuss MuleSoft Intelligent Document Processing (IDP). Akshata delves into how IDP uses AI to extract and organize data from a variety of unstructured documents, such as purchase orders, invoices, and driving licenses, using AWS Textract for exact information extraction. The discussion highlights IDP's seamless integration with multiple systems via REST API endpoints and its application in automating the processing of daily invoices received via email.  Learn about IDP's ability to handle different document structures without needing multiple templates and the crucial role of human oversight when the AI's confidence ratio falls below 80%, ensuring accuracy and reliability. This episode offers a comprehensive look at how IDP can revolutionize document workflows, balancing automation with human intervention, and provides valuable resources for further learning. Show Highlights: Using AI to extract and organize data from unstructured documents Integration of AWS Textract for exact information extraction and seamless integration via REST API endpoints Accessing and using IDP through the Anypoint Platform with ease Managing different document structures without multiple templates and the role of human oversight for accuracy Links: Getting Started with Intelligent Document Processing: Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi160vy7gg4 Getting Started with Intelligent Document Processing: Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGvAypuzAvw How to Get Started With Intelligent Document Processing - https://blogs.mulesoft.com/dev-guides/how-to-get-started-with-intelligent-document-processing/  

Why is it that when someone says self-care, I have to keep my eyes from rolling into the back of my head? Why does it feel like it doesn't mean what it's supposed to mean anymore? Is it really the answer to ALL of our problems? And does it even help to tell women who are already exhausted and already have more shit than they can handle to do more self-care? I don't know, friend. But we're going to talk about it. Our guest is Dr. Christine Coleman, the Founder and CEO of POC Thriving, a private practice specializing in the intersection of mental health and inclusion, as well as the Executive Director of Sol Sisters Inc., a nonprofit with a mission to help diverse women overcome societal barriers by providing educational and empowering experiences that promote their personal and professional evolution. Working with companies like Pinterest, Business Wire, Mulesoft by Salesforce, and the Major League Baseball Network, Dr. Christine focuses on mental health, inclusivity, and belonging initiatives so organizations can better prioritize the psychological well-being and retention of their employees. Prioritizing yourself, and taking time to care for yourself sends you and others a message about your self-worth. You're teaching yourself and others how you deserve to be treated. And it radiates into all areas of your life. We're not meant to be running on fumes… we get to find the fuel we need. Connect with Dr. Coleman: Website: https://www.drchristinecoleman.com/  IG: https://www.instagram.com/drchristinecoleman/  LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drchristinecoleman/  Complimentary 30 min coaching session: https://www.drchristinecoleman.com/booking We'd love for solsisters.org to receive donations for under-resourced women to receive a free membership to our courses on mental health, physical health, creative expression, and professional development. Here is the link to the Enrich program https://www.solsisters.org/enrich-membership  Like what you heard? Please rate and review  Thanks to our This Is Woman's Work Sponsor: Visit  https://www.heyfreya.co/ and use promo code TIWW for 25% off Quench to keep yourself hydrated, as well as all their other products!

Join us as we welcome Alex Martinez to discuss the latest updates on Anypoint Code Builder (ACB), a new IDE based on Visual Studio Code, which is set to replace the old Eclipse-based Anypoint Studio. Alex sheds light on the significant release that occurred on June 4th, 2024, bringing notable improvements to DataWeave and MUnit. You'll hear about the benefits of transitioning to a modern IDE, the enhanced capabilities for running MUnit tests, and the introduction of the DataWeave Expression Builder. Listen in as we explore the recent enhancements in the MuleSoft ecosystem, including the ability to select different Java versions within Anypoint Studio and Anypoint Code Builder (ACB). We'll discuss the dual flavors of ACB — local and web-based IDEs — and their respective advantages, such as ease of configuration and flexibility for specific projects. This episode promises an exciting look ahead at future updates and the ongoing evolution of MuleSoft tools, sure to spark your interest in revisiting and exploring these new capabilities further. Show Highlights: Overview of ACB as a Visual Studio Code-based IDE  Enhancements in DataWeave and MUnit within ACB User-friendly features of the DataWeave Expression Builder Dual options of local and web-based IDEs in ACB Support for different Java versions in both Anypoint Studio and ACB New features, including async API support and improved API kit configurations Links: MuleSoft Anypoint Code Builder (ACB) Release Notes - https://docs.mulesoft.com/release-notes/code-builder/acb-release-notes Anypoint Code Builder June '24 Release Playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiONnRuKRuJCtQBGW9Qcrp_tCMgBmg0-F  

What if you could use the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform your business operations? In this episode, we welcome Dave Norris to discuss the profound impact of Salesforce's strategic acquisitions — such as ExactTarget, Pardot, Heroku, and Slack — on the developer ecosystem. We cover the intricacies of integrating diversified data systems and emphasize the importance of centralized data management through MuleSoft. We'll explore how Data Cloud handles structured and unstructured data, enhancing AI functionalities with tools like Prompt Builder and the newly released Data Cloud Vector Search. This episode sheds light on how grounding AI with enterprise-specific information can significantly boost productivity and deliver accurate, context-rich responses. Listen in for a detailed description of data and AI within the Salesforce ecosystem! Show Highlights: Centralizing data with MuleSoft and the role of Data Cloud in data ingestion, mapping, and security Using AI capabilities like Einstein AI within the Salesforce ecosystem Integrating structured and unstructured data using Data Cloud for enhanced AI functionality Practical insights and use cases, including predictive AI in animal adoption data General availability of Data Cloud Vector Search and its impact on semantic searching Enhancing enterprise productivity by grounding AI with specific enterprise data for more accurate responses Links: Data Cloud + Einstein AI: The Developer's Pocket Guide - https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2024/05/data-cloud-einstein-ai-the-developers-pocket-guide Bring Your Own Large Language Model in Einstein 1 Studio - https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2024/03/bring-your-own-large-language-model-in-einstein-1-studio

In this episode, we dive into the remarkable story of Rochester Electronics, whose leaders, Tracey Corbitt and Linda Monroe, transformed the company into a vital supplier of semiconductors for medical devices during the global pandemic. Through a digital transformation powered by Sales Cloud and MuleSoft integrations, the company not only streamlined real-time inventory management during a semiconductor shortage but also enhanced the customer experience through self-service options.  We also explore Rochester's strategic shift from dealing exclusively in obsolete parts to including active products, a move that bolstered its resilience against supply chain disruptions. Additionally, we discuss the integration of AI and automation, which has revolutionized customer service and hints at the vast potential of AI in both professional and personal contexts. Show Highlights: Digital transformation with Sales Cloud enhancing customer engagement and service. Managing real-time inventory and overcoming semiconductor shortages with Salesforce and MuleSoft. Transitioning from obsolete parts to active products to diversify and stabilize customer supply. Downsizing the customer service team through AI and automation, reallocating staff to more strategic roles. Upcoming integration of Salesforce marketing technologies for better customer insights and engagement. Potential future applications of AI in various business processes like RMA and guided selling. 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. Supporting Resources: Join the Commerce Cloud Community: http://sforce.co/commercecrew *** 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 the early years of Scott Henderson's career, the dotcom bubble burst, leaving the tech industry in turmoil and many young professionals uncertain about their futures. Despite this chaotic climate, Henderson decided to take a calculated risk by joining another dotcom venture. This time, the company was a modest enterprise with 300 employees and $25 million in revenue. At the time, it was known as Salesforce.com. Henderson's gamble paid off handsomely. As Salesforce grew from a promising start-up into a global tech giant, Henderson's role within the company expanded significantly. He ascended through the ranks, eventually managing a team of 600 people across 13 countries. During his tenure, he played a pivotal role in integrating major acquisitions like MuleSoft and Tableau, helping to navigate the complexities of these integrations while driving corporate planning and strategic initiatives. In 2022, Henderson took on a new challenge as CFO of DISQO, a brand experience platform company. Stepping into DISQO, he was greeted by a smaller team and the economic headwinds of a post-pandemic world. Henderson immediately set about understanding the company's structure, focusing on areas for improvement and leveraging his extensive experience to bolster DISQO's finance operations. One of his key initiatives was to enhance Revenue Operations (RevOps), positioning it as the crucial link between the front and back offices. This strategic focus helped DISQO to navigate economic uncertainties while preparing for durable growth. Under Henderson's guidance, DISQO transformed its finance function into a strategic partner, enabling better decision-making and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Henderson's career journey, marked by calculated risks and strategic foresight, underscores the importance of adaptability and vision in the ever-evolving tech landscape.

Chris Johnson is Co-founder & Managing Partner of Artisanal Talent Group, a highly specialized boutique executive search firm known for building some of tech's most talented executive teams. Chris leads the Product and Engineering Leaders Practice, and is one of the most highly sought-after search consultants in the field for these critical roles at tier-1, high profile, VC backed and public companies. Over the past few years, Chris has completed Product and Engineering searches for Rippling, Notion, Rubrik, Airtable, ServiceNow, Databricks, Figma, UiPath, Confluent, Mulesoft, Starburst, GitLab, Splunk, Harness, New Relic, Elastic, dbt Labs, MessageBird, Postman, Coalition, Loom, Pendo, Procore, etc. In this episode, Chris shares deep insights on how executive recruiters work and how to work with them. He also shares advice on how to be deliberate and thoughtful about mapping your career journey. Highlights: * Case Study of a CPO Search* How do accomplished executive candidates stand out* Hiring trends - FAANG candidates, Domain relevance* Are you a wartime or peacetime leader* Does a company really need a CPO* How recruiters assess candidates for "fit"* How can candidates craft a strong narrative about themselves* How to balance the use of "I" vs "We" in interviews* How to talk about weak spots on the resume* How to build relationships with exec recruiters* Are you playing Career Chess or Checkers* Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in exec searches* How recruiters think about exceptions to the job spec

My guest today is an Account Executive at Mulesoft and a member of the Untap Your Sales Potential gold program. In the past year and a half he has gone from the highly velocity startup space to a completely strategic SaaS sales role, and he just wrapped the fiscal year well over plan as the #1 rep on his team. Introducing, Nitin Mehta. In this episode we talk about:   ⁃His winning formula for leading his team in new logos ⁃How he consistently secured executive sponsorship in his deals ⁃How to ethically implement “Challenger” Selling into your sales process    

Epicor announced it has surpassed $1 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR), realizing 42% year-over-year SaaS-based cloud revenue growth in its fiscal year 2023. Infor announced the launch of Infor GenAI and ESG Reporting. Salesforce announced AI-powered enhancements to its MuleSoft automation, integration, and API management solutions to help business users and developers improve productivity, simplify workflows, and accelerate time to value.Connect with us!https://www.erpadvisorsgroup.com866-499-8550LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/erp-advisors-groupTwitter:https://twitter.com/erpadvisorsgrpFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/erpadvisorsInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/erpadvisorsgroupPinterest:https://www.pinterest.com/erpadvisorsgroupMedium:https://medium.com/@erpadvisorsgroup

Join the conversation with Akshata Sawant from MuleSoft as we unlock the combination of MuleSoft's integration prowess and Salesforce Data Cloud. Hear Akshata's takeaways from TrailblazerDX, where she delves into MuleSoft's transformative capabilities for data handling. It's a masterclass in leveraging the dynamic DataWeave for schema generation, tailored for developers grappling with diverse data formats. Experience firsthand how MuleSoft shapes the future of data integration, all while ensuring the highest security and compliance standards. We then discuss MuleSoft APIs with Salesforce's Einstein Copilot. Don't miss out on this dialogue filled with the excitement of what's to come as we integrate Data Cloud, MuleSoft, and Einstein Copilot. Show Highlights: Data ingestion, querying, and record deletion through MuleSoft connectors, and schema generation with DataWeave. The collaboration of MuleSoft APIs with Einstein Copilot to enable complex operations like data updates and automated email notifications. Importance of built-in security and compliance in integrating third-party systems with Salesforce's AI capabilities. The versatility of MuleSoft in handling various data formats and facilitating complex integration tasks. Future discussions on the potential of integrating Data Cloud, MuleSoft, and Einstein Copilot for enhanced efficiency and operations. Links: Power Up Data Cloud with MuleSoft - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqvqfOjvHiY Intelligent Integration with Copilot Actions, APIs, and MuleSoft - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhfliR2meoc

“Data Cloud is a binding layer that binds all of these different siloes in which you engage with your customers,” Rahul Auradkar, Salesforce's executive vice president and general manager of the Data Cloud and Einstein businesses, explains to Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Technology Analyst Anurag Rana. The two break down the importance of having a unified data layer when leveraging generative AI, and discuss how the Data Cloud can be complementary to other third-party data lakes and warehouses. Topics include the handling of structured and unstructured data, MuleSoft, Tableau and the broader go-to-market selling motion.

Shaun Clowes Riffs on Waymo, Legos, and Process Advancement This week, Fareed welcomed co-host Joff Redfern, Principle at Menlo VC and former CPO at Atlassian and guest Shaun Clowes, CPO at Confluent and former CPO of Mulesoft at Salesforce, CPO @ Metromile, and Head of Growth @ Atlassian. This week's Deep Dive drops Wednesday and we're focused on Reddit & Cognition Lab's Devin, but our riff this week is simply a classic happy hour conversation. Fareed, Joff and Shaun cover a wide range of topics dropping some brilliant nuggets along the way. Enjoy! For a summary of their takeaways, join us at UnsolicitedFeedback.co.

Gerry Gadoury is the Founder and Managing Director of Redbeard Solutions, Speaker and author of the #1 Best-Selling Author of Destination Employer: Attract, Recruit, and Retain the Top Talent in Your Market https://a.co/d/j8Retue   He shares his 25+ years of experience attracting, recruiting, and retaining top talent. Learn how to build long-term relationships with employees and view hiring as more than just filling roles. Gerry discusses aligning career goals, providing growth opportunities, and creating an environment where people can thrive. He also shares stories from his unconventional career path - from the Marines to technical recruiting to building a $9M consulting company. Discover practical strategies to stop bad hires, quiet quitting, and high turnover.     Life experiences, military service, and career transitions. (8:06) Hiring and employee retention in the modern workplace. (15:16) Career growth and retention in a consulting company. (20:14) Hiring, management, and leadership insights. (24:53) Marketing and sales strategies with a comedian and CMO. (31:44)         Guest's calls-to-action Website: https://www.redbeardsol.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerrygadoury Destination Employer: Attract, Recruit, and Retain the Top Talent in Your Market https://a.co/d/j8Retue   Episode sponsored by ZUPYAK - The first search optimized AI writer. Zupyak.com → promo code → SWEAT by SQUARESPACE website builder → https://squarespacecircleus.pxf.io/sweatequity by CALL RAIL call tracking → https://bit.ly/sweatequitycallrail by LINKEDIN PREMIUM - 2 months free! → https://bit.ly/sweatequity-linkedin-premium by BLOOM.io → https://bloom.cello.so/aZBXRYS22rB by OTTER.ai → https://otter.ai/referrals/AVPIT85N ---   Sweat Equity

Join us in this episode with Simone Geib, Director of Product Management at MuleSoft, as she shares her serendipitous foray into the world of computer science. Listen in as Simone takes us back to her formative years in 1980s Germany and walks us through the trials and triumphs of entering a male-dominated field, her subsequent move into artificial intelligence, and the enriching experiences that shaped her path. Explore the revolutionary world of cloud-hosted development environments with us, focusing on Anypoint Code Builder and the Anypoint extension for Visual Studio Code. Simone elaborates on how this tool offers developers a flexible and secure solution that fits perfectly into their workflows, regardless of location or device restrictions. She also sheds light on the integration of generative AI, which promises to transform how we approach initial flow designs.  Remember to connect with us for more developer insights and stories, and don't miss the chance to experience innovation and community at TDX '24. Show Highlights: Simone's unexpected discovery of computer science and her journey from learning MS-DOS to embracing AI at university. Transition from a developer working with Visual Basic and C++ to a product manager role at MuleSoft. Advantages of cloud-hosted development environments and the role of MuleSoft's community in the evolution of Anypoint Code Builder. Preview of the Einstein for Anypoint Code Builder's generative AI pilot for flow designs from natural language prompts. Links: Simone at LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonegeib/ Anypoint Code Builder: https://www.mulesoft.com/platform/api/anypoint-code-builder Register to attend TrailblazerDX 2024  

Gil Allouche is the Co-founder and CEO of Metadata, a company with patented technology that combines predictive scoring and programmatic advertising to deliver a predictable pipeline of opt-in lead-qualified leads for B2B enterprises. Metadata's customers include Cisco, UserVoice, Mulesoft, Salesforce, Infoblox, and Aerospike. Gil is a software engineer turned data-driven growth marketer who founded the company to make demand generation easy for non-technical marketers.  In this episode… As a B2B marketer, are you trying to free yourself from mundane tasks so you can focus on doing the work that matters the most? How can you do so and spend more time on the big things like strategy, creativity, and driving revenue? After doing marketing for three B2B companies, Gil Allouche discovered he was dealing with too many manual and repetitive tasks. As a software engineer turned data-driven growth marketer, he started looking for ways to drive more revenue without getting bogged down by all the manual work. He shares his journey of building a platform to automate repetitive marketing tasks to give marketers time to focus on revenue-generating activities. In this inspiring episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz welcomes Gil Allouche, Co-founder and CEO of Metadata, to discuss ways to automate your marketing. Gil talks about Metadata and what it does, the evolution of its product, customer success stories, and its ideal client profile.

Today on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we talk to Deon Louw, Financial Planning and Analysis Manager at City and Provincial Properties, triple-star Ranger, MuleSoft mentor, and avid Composer enthusiast. Join us as we chat about MuleSoft Composer, why the community is such a good resource, and how integrations can lead to a digital transformation snowball. […] The post Deon Louw on Using MuleSoft Composer to Integrate Systems appeared first on Salesforce Admins.

Rich Liu is the CRO @ Everlaw and a unicorn GTM exec having scaled five multi-billion dollar tech unicorns across two IPOs, a successful acquisition, and numerous funding rounds. Prior to Everlaw, Rich architected the GTM motions for companies like Navan (TripActions), MuleSoft, and Meta (Facebook). As a result of his incredible success, Rich has been recognized as a 2021 Top 100 Global Sales Leader. In Today's Episode with Rich Liu We Discuss: 1. Entry into the World of Sales: How Rich made his way from biochemistry into the world of sales? What is 1 takeaway from his time at Navan, Meta and Mulesoft that has shaped how he thinks about sales today? What does Rich know now that he wishes he had known when he entered the world of sales? 2. Sales Today: What is Happening? What are the biggest sales leaders saying today about price sensitivity and deal cycles? What has changed in the way companies buy software with the macro downturn? What do companies need to do to get deals over the line today? How do startups need to change the way they message to enterprises in order to sell today? How has the renewals process changed? What does this mean for customer success teams today? 3. PLG vs Enterprise: When and How? Is it possible to do both PLG and enterprise at the same time? Is it easier to start with enterprise and move to PLG or visa versa? How does the type of sales leader you need change dependent on the motion? When is the right time to move from founder-led sales to sales team? How does one know whether to hire a junior jack of all trades or a senior sales leader? 4. How To Hire The Best in Sales: How does Rich structure the hiring process for all new reps today? Does he use case studies to determine their depth and ability? Is the case study of the company they are interviewing at or a fresh company? What questions does Rich ask every candidate for a new role? What are some of the biggest red and green flags in how candidates talk in interviews?