Ultimate Partner Experience

This weekend I’m exploring the sights, sounds and tastes of my ancestral home, Puglia, Italy. Life here has changed dramatically since my grandfather came to America, but I’m reminded of some of the values he brought to the promised land. One early observation is the respect for family on display on every street corner. I see old and young joyfully engaged. I also see less technology in the hands of children here. This reminded me of the respect for family and others rooted in our upbringing. Perhaps it is why partnerships that transcend the transactional have been at the root of how we conduct ourselves at Ultimate Partner. I believe that what we sow, we reap and a life in service of others, of an extended family defines true success. To all colleagues, friends and business family, my wish is that we deliver on that promise to all of you in the days ahead!

That moment when you realize your dream when a friend gives you a construction hat and calls you a builder, Brea Starmer 🙏 Is your adversity a blessing or a curse? I spent my first 14 years, as the fattest kid in school. Dejected and lonely. Through sheer willpower, grit, and determination I overcame obesity and never looked back… My first company was not a big tech giant, but a small, also-ran. We exploited our strengths, grew exponentially, and went public. Afterwards, a risky move led to a turnaround situation, boy did I walk into a shit storm. I turned lemons into lemonade, starting a new division through partnerships with organizations like CDW. It required mindset, executive commitment, maniacal focus, brand and story and drive to results! We sold 26 months later through my partnership with General Dynamics. Microsoft called, my nine years as GM were a doctorate in ecosystem led growth. During a reorg, I chose a path least traveled, least expected by my management and it has made all the difference. I could have chose a role that would have bored me and turned me into a beaurocrat OR I could share to help others decode the secrets to successful partnering. We turned a podcast into an events, media, and advisory in one year. We still have miles to go! Don’t let others decide your fate, you decide! We only get one shot at life, is yours aligned to your purpose and superpower? Will you share your experience with the world or worry about your golf game? Ultimate Partner mission is to empower leaders like you, will you join us? We want the passionate, the disenfranchised, the ones who know and want to help others know to join us! Many other like-minded leaders are listening to our podcasts and recognize the value of joining our events, and community. Ultimate Partner is here to help navigate the tectonic shifts, the change in buying behavior, the dominance of hyperscalers, the transformation in buying through marketplace and the power of AI. We are bringing leaders together to spark the ecosystem, will you be one of them?

Excited to have my friend, Trunal B., CEO & Co-founder of Clazar, join UPX on 9/10 at 3 PM EST for his viewpoint on marketplaces, tectonic shifts and the three body model. What's the three body model - the confluence of the hyperscalers, ISVs, and their ecosystem partners. You do not want to miss this session and this opportunity to grow your business with this transformative thought leader:

On the latest episode of Ultimate Guide to Partnering, I had an always insightful conversation with Chief Analyst at Canalys and good friend, Jay McBain. -AWS Marketplace is now a top 10 distributor, joining the ranks of TD SYNNEX and Ingram Micro. -ISVs like CrowdStrike, Snowflake, Palo Alto Networks, and Splunk are running billion-dollar businesses on Marketplace. -The future of marketplaces and distribution is rapidly evolving, with significant growth expected. Tune in to hear more about how these trends are shaping the future of the channel and distribution. Come join us for the Ultimate Partner LIVE Executive Summit on October 22nd and 23rd. We will enable, activate, and teach you not just the what and why, but HOW to accelerate your business in this age of tectonic shifts in the ecosystem! Register here:https://lnkd.in/e5PgEvbY

It looks like I'm going to Texas, US, in October! I registered for the Ultimate Partner Executive Summit in Dallas, Oct 22-23. For a little while, I've been a part of the Ultimate Partner Experience community, and I'm excited to meet its founders and members in person in 50 days from now. Ultimate Partner has a fantastic purpose—creating an ecosystem where companies thrive in partnership, stay connected, learn from each other, and do business together rather than compete. In addition, the community is not limited to the Microsoft partner channel; it welcomes all partners working with various hyperscalers. Looking forward to this John Menzione and Vince Menzione! Per Werngren and Christine Bongard, I believe both of you will be there, along with many others I have yet to meet. For those interested in the event, check it out on the link—the early bird pricing expires today EOD, so hurry up. 👉 https://rb.gy/8x719f I'm sure you won't regret this decision. #MicrosoftPartners #UPX #ExecutiveSummit #SparktheEcosystem

We are excited to share that Ultimate Partner Experience (UPX) Executive Member, Trunal Bhanse, CEO & Co-founder of Clazar, will be hosting a live Executive Session on Tuesday, 9/10 at 3 PM EST! Trunal will be sharing his thought leadership and expertise around co-selling and accelerating your growth through cloud marketplaces. Register here: https://lnkd.in/dFnP_q6W

We are excited to share that Ultimate Partner Experience (UPX) Executive Member, Trunal B., CEO & Co-founder of Clazar, will be hosting a live Executive Session on Tuesday, 9/10 at 3 PM EST! Trunal will be sharing his thought leadership and expertise around co-selling and accelerating your growth through cloud marketplaces. Register here: https://lnkd.in/dFnP_q6W

Ultimate Partner LIVE early bird registration has been extended until September 15th! Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to connect, learn, and grow with top Microsoft and partner industry leaders. Register now and secure your spot at the premier Microsoft and hyper-scaler event of the year. Register here: https://lnkd.in/egWpnT3t #UltimatePartnerLIVE #EarlyBird #Networking #IndustryLeaders #Growth

Can you say, "Seven-Timer ❓ I am excited to welcome back a friend and industry leader to Ultimate Guide to Partnering for this enlightening discussion on how Millennials are redefining Tech Buying Behavior during this time of tectonic shifts? Jay McBain needs no introduction as an accomplished speaker, author, innovator in the IT industry, and seven-time guest to Ultimate Guide to Partnering. In this compressed interview, Jay and I discuss the Tectonic Shifts and the changes in buying behavior we have been seeing. Whether you're a CEO, partner, or industry professional, this is your opportunity to understand better the modern landscape we all have been seeing and reporting upon.

What is Your Why, Your Purpose? And what do you do to fuel it? I did a post last week about my why, my purpose and what motivates me. One of the things that fuels me is my immigrant grandfather who lived the American Dream. He came to America with $20 in his pocket, the address of a relative in NYC and the grit and determination to make his dream a reality. His dream was not completely unique, it is shared by countless immigrants who come here looking to make their dreams real. Today, I leave for a bucket list trip to Puglia in the south of Italy, returning to his birthplace and retracing his steps. It’s become a fashionable destination, but it was a place of abject poverty when he left in the early part of the 20th Century. I am his namesake, and I feel his drive and his ambition pulsing through my veins each and every day. I wished we had spent even more time together when I was young, my questions today would be better shaped. Instead, I will retrace his steps and put myself into his world, to better understand his burning desire, his why! And in doing so, I hope to better connect to my why, my burning desire. My wish for YOU this Labor Day holiday, is to look at what drives you, your why, your burning desire. And I hope through this process, you get the juice, the desire and determination for another day. We are each going to need that juice, that desire and that determination as we stare squarely at the last four months of 2024 in this time of tectonic shifts!