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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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