Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Head of Hyperscaler Business Development and Alliances – Microsoft at VMware Joins Ultimate Guide to Partnering®
Are you a partner looking to tap into the massive opportunity to partner with hyperscalers like Microsoft? Are you struggling to achieve your greatest results and wish there were easy answers? Do you want to learn from someone who has dramatically impacted the success of one of the world’s largest technology partnerships? Then you have come to the right place.
Neeti Gupta, the Head of Hyperscaler Business Development for the Microsoft Partnership at VMWare. VMWare is one of the largest independent software vendors, an ecosystem juggernaut. Neeti divulges her strategy for transforming VMWare’s monumental partnership with Microsoft. She unpacks how she leveraged key principles for successful partnering, discusses why she is optimistic about Microsoft’s pivot to Marketplace, and offers actionable advice that could fuel your partnership growth in Microsoft’s Fiscal Year 24.
In Neeti’s Words
Neeti Gupta is an adept ecosystems and platform partnerships professional with a proven track record in leadership and strategic initiatives. As the Head of Hyperscaler Business Development and Partnerships at VMware, focusing on Microsoft partnerships, Neeti has demonstrated her ability to drive business growth and foster strategic partnerships. Her strong leadership skills and a strategic mindset have been instrumental in negotiating significant agreements and achieving noteworthy industry awards and business milestones.
Neeti possesses strong business acumen and a comprehensive understanding of cross-functional domains and was named CRN 2023 Women of the Channel. Neeti’s educational background includes degrees in Comparative Media Studies from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US), Business Analytics from Harvard (US), and Design from the Indian Institute of Technology, De Montfort University and School of Planning and Architecture (India and UK), complementing her practical experience and providing a holistic perspective to her work.
What You’ll Learn
- Neeti’s Mission & Role at Vmware?2:20
- How do we tie in with Microsoft?10:05
- The scale of the ecosystem.15:54
- What to do differently to drive incremental results?21:15
- Invest and hire great experts.25:32
- The importance of thinking like a CEO. 31:40
- Where do we go from here?37:50
Hold the Date – November 13-15 – Dallas, TX
I’m excited to preannounce my next event in partnership with Microsoft, stay tuned to my website next week for more details to come.
A Word from AG1
“Winning with Ecosystems” – Now OnDemand
Ultimate Partner’s first live digital event, “Winning with Ecosystems” Is Now Available OnDemand
Why Ultimate Partner?
Over six years ago, I embarked on a mission to empower partners struggling to navigate the complex world of tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and AWS. Today, I’m thrilled to announce the launch of Ultimate Partner, an extraordinary media, events, and advisory company dedicated to transforming your Cloud Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy and fostering Ecosystem Led Growth.
Having witnessed the industry from multiple perspectives – leading a $4.6 billion Ecosystem at Microsoft, spearheading partnerships for a billion-dollar company, and hosting 200 episodes of the Ultimate Guide to Partnering®, I’ve gained invaluable insights and crafted a manifesto of principles to guide your success.
In an era defined by tectonic shifts, such as the global pandemic, economic headwinds, and the rise of AI, the role of hyperscalers has become increasingly critical. With investments of billions of dollars in ecosystems, technology, and customer acquisition costs, they have secured over $200 billion in customer commitments to durable cloud budgets. We stand on the precipice of a marketplace moment where simplifying and streamlining economic models associated with co-selling and ecosystem-led growth will shape the decade ahead.
Yet, as vendors and organizations demand more from us while resources diminish, we ask, “Where do we go? How do we navigate these seismic shifts? How do we thrive during this decade of the ecosystem?”
If you’re a partner, you’re likely grappling with these questions. The watering holes of the past no longer offer the guidance required to transform into a Cloud GTM and embrace Ecosystem Led Growth. That’s why Ultimate Partner exists – to be your trusted compass amidst the noise.
Transcription – by Otter.ai – Expect Many Typos
UGP Video Podcast – Neeti Gupta v6
Wed, Aug 30, 2023 3:16PM • 42:28
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
microsoft, vmware, cosell, partnerships, partner, marketplace, people, work, organization, internally, team, ultimate guide, ag, drive, talk, focus, navel gazing, ecosystem, craft, conversation
SPEAKERS
Vince Menzione, Announcer, Neeti Gupta
Vince Menzione 00:00
Are you an organization looking to tap into the massive opportunity to partner with the hyperscalers like Microsoft? Are you struggling to achieve your greatest results? And wish there were easier answers? Do you want to learn from someone who has dramatically impacted the success of one of the world’s largest technology partnerships, then you’ve come to the right place. This is the ultimate guide to partnering the top partnership podcast. In this podcast, Vince Menzione, a proven partner sales executive shares his mission to help leaders like you achieve your greatest results through successful partnering. And now your host Vince Menzione. Welcome to or welcome back to The Ultimate Guide to partnering. I’m Vince Menzione, your host and today I will needy Gupta, the head of hyper scalar Business Development for the Microsoft partnership at VMware, one of the world’s largest independent software vendors, and an ecosystem powerhouse in their own right. In this episode, Didi shares her secrets to transforming this massive partnership, how she’s applied some of the principles I share for successful partnering, why she’s bullish on Microsoft’s pivot to marketplace, and advice you can take to grow your partnership in fiscal year 24. I hope you enjoy and learn from this discussion, as much as I enjoyed welcoming needy Gupta,
Neeti Gupta 01:31
needy. Welcome to the podcast. Hi, man, thank you so much for having me on your podcast today. I’m really excited to be here. I am so excited to welcome you as a guest on Ultimate Guide to partnering. You’re the head of hyperscale or business development for the Microsoft partnership at VMware. And aren’t we worked at Microsoft at the same time. So it’s so great to welcome you today. Thank you so much. So for our listeners, maybe the one or two people out there that don’t know you personally, can you describe for them your role and responsibilities at VMware? Absolutely. So I’ve been at VMware two years. I am the Senior Director for Public Cloud partnerships at VMware with a focus on hyper focus on Microsoft partnerships. For VMware worldwide. I have a small team of all women team that manages this relationship. And the way we think about our role for organization that’s VMware is that we are the CEOs of the Microsoft business for VMware, which means we manage this relationship end to end. We scale, of course, we scale through our cross functional teams. And my responsibility includes managing this great team of business development and partnership leaders, we forge and maintain any agreements between the two companies. We identify cobuild efforts, like ones that we’re doing with AI ml now. And we also craft effective cloud GTM strategies, like goes out incentives and novel route routes to market like the marketplaces. So there’s a lot, but this is the end to end. And that’s what managing the mix of partnership in an ISP looks like?
Vince Menzione 03:14
Yeah, I think it’s really great for our listeners, many of which may not really understand like what goes in on in a large organization, like VMware, you have several different product categories or groups. And you have you have a team of people. And I noticed that you mentioned a women led team or a team made up of women maybe want to dive in a little bit more on that as we get further in the conversation. But tell us what goes into the roles like how do you separate like roles and responsibilities on your team?
Neeti Gupta 03:43
Yeah, so we, obviously with Microsoft manage this relationship globally. So we have focused on what we call Americas, then EMEA and APJ. But then we also have dedicated focus on causal and marketplace. And that was much needed. And then we also have focused on doing the agreements, which I do primarily, as well as on the cobuild motion, kind of finding the right people across product management, as well as engineering as well as our our office of the CTO and making sure that they all come together and make the partnership successful. So that that’s part of the charter. So I would say summarize it as kobold goes out, go market and all those things coming together.
Vince Menzione 04:32
I love the way you separate that cobuild co market cosell together. And you know, I do a lot of work as well in the ISP community in which the independent software vendor community in which you live as well. And you built a formidable cosell relationship with Microsoft. But it wasn’t always that way. Can you tell us about that journey?
Neeti Gupta 04:52
Yeah, it’s actually a really good journey. And I was reflecting on this just a few days back. So I started at Veeam With two years back, and when I took this role at VMware, we had just started our cosell journey with Microsoft. And as you know, when that Microsoft started the coastal program, and structured it in 2017, right. And fortunately for us, my colleagues had already spent a little bit of time and investing in building a few fundamentals, like the data integrations were there when I arrived. And I’m really grateful for those prior colleagues that they had done that foundation work, because that gave us a kickstart what had not happened was that there was no focus, right? There was no structure. And to drive focus and structure, we had to do three things. So I think number one, we had to make sure that cosell or joint selling with Microsoft was seen as an important part of the relationship building with Microsoft. And I don’t think many people in the organization’s an ISV organization see it that way. And that’s a problem, right? So you have to kind of explain and educate and make sure that we are focusing on the course and program. And there is the compensation and how the sales teams are measured is all tied together. So pulling that together was kind of part of that journey. The second thing is kind of also clarifying that cosell is part of the VMware Cloud go to market motion. So we had to educate our executives and talk about the program and how that has impact on VMware as revenue and help the sellers understand that. So there was a lot of this kind of work on what I call the sales enablement. And that’s the third piece of this puzzle. But we had to really get focused on how cosell is part of driving what I call a data driven sales, engagement enablement, right. So we are able to actually look at what is in the pipeline, we are able to now look at what we have been able to close. And then we are able to share that with each of the regional sales leads. And also the seller, just like these are the accounts we’ve made some traction on. And if you can’t measure, then it’s hard to drive that behavior as well. So I think those were the three things that we had to really pull up our sleeves and do. And also the focus was because we have a first focus lead for cosell at VMware. Right? She goes and drives that end to end reporting, make sure that people know about the program. And then when it goes out, the word itself becomes confusing, then we kind of use the language of joint selling and what does that mean? And go in and kind of sell it that way. But it’s constantly framing, right? It’s it’s kind of what is in it for the sellers? What’s in it for VMware? What’s in it for the partnership?
Vince Menzione 07:58
I want to dive in a little bit because what I thought I heard you talk about was some of the well, let’s say the internal challenges, right? It sounded like you need to get leadership involved, get that executive commitment, the conversation internally, maybe about changing the approach and why co selling was additive to the selling efforts of VMware. And if I understood you correctly, and then also using data to drive the conversation to say this is how many more at bats we got. I’ll use my terminology here right? More at bats we had we had a greater velocity or deal close win ratios, right. These are the things that cosell people don’t often understand. Like, why should I do this is so much extra work. Right? What were the challenges from your side? And what did I uncover some of them here or were there others?
Neeti Gupta 08:48
Yeah, I think those were the key, right, I think kind of telling the story of why cosell was the most important one. And I think that’s what I was saying that how the way we reframe that was, with this notion of that causal is important part of the relationship building with Microsoft. If we don’t do causal, the partnership kind of fizzles through, right, because the resources that we have on the partner development side, the partner marketing side, as well as the technical specialists that we get as part of our kind of team at Microsoft, who helps us do all the things on a daily basis and help us navigate the 300,000 people at Microsoft comes with this tie in with the program. Right. So I think that is not clear internally. And that was kind of important part of making sure that hey, if we need to build that relationship with Microsoft, this is the gateway, right cosell program is the gateway. And I think that kind of building on that is that for VMware, it’s important because we are trying to get to that cloud go to market motion, which is very he honed in for the VMware products. But what about products that we jointly sell with Microsoft? So how do we tie that? With? You know, how do we go about doing that? And how do we do that with our sales teams, and our customer success teams. So that tie in didn’t exist in a formal structured way? We did a bunch of things that allowed us to do that.
Vince Menzione 10:23
And for our listeners that don’t understand this, you also have what are called first party offerings, are they still refer to that as first party offerings? Microsoft has a nomenclature around this. But it’s an offer where VMware and Microsoft stand up an offering that is sold by the field team at Microsoft. That’s correct.
Neeti Gupta 10:40
That’s correct. So we have both first party solution, which is Azure VMware solution. And as well as we have our third party solutions, which, again, that nomenclature is confusing. By the way, I’ll tell you what that means, means something when I go and have a conversation with Microsoft, but when I turned back, and my team goes and has a conversation internally, our first party that that that different sellers don’t see that difference, right? Because we compensate our sellers on both the first Microsoft first party and third party offers, as long as they are selling any of these joint solutions, we are good. And same for Microsoft, right? We have that tie in on the sales compensation side. So make sure as you lead with Azure VMware solution, which are the Microsoft first party solution, we tie in all these other solutions that we also joined these,
Vince Menzione 11:33
you know, you kind of stuck on something here is I call it the decoder ring, right? Because you you brought many years of Microsoft experience into VMware, and I think you’re able to translate internally some of that language and methodology back to your organization.
Neeti Gupta 11:47
Yeah, I think that could be the other title, which partnerships people could have as the chief translator officer. You’re constantly doing the translation of not only just cultural nuances, but also the acronyms and abbreviations that are used across two organizations. And often, you know, we find ourselves doing that is, this is what the Microsoft team man, this is what the VMware team meant. Now, let’s kind of can we get to that next step? Because I think there’s the translation is not happening properly. And we can move to the next step. But yeah, I think that’s exactly what our role is, many times.
Vince Menzione 12:31
Well, and in addition to being a call on Microsoft expert, because you spent many years at Microsoft, and understood coming into VMware, how to make that happen, how to build the cosell methodology, you also leaned on some expert guides to help you with your methodology and improving it. What was that experience? Like? What worked and what didn’t work and some of the improvements that you made?
Neeti Gupta 12:54
Absolutely, I mean, we my team constantly relies on experts, that are both VMware experts, as well as Microsoft experts. And in fact, we have actively reached out to a lot of leaders I fortunately had to work with at Microsoft who are running some consulting firms right now to kind of engage with them. As you know, our friend, Aaron helped us with the causal, kind of making sure that the operational nitty gritty of day to day work that needed to be done could be done. And we had to outsource that, right, that that’s not something a full time resource on my team could have managed because of the large scale, like, we have 1000s of leads in the pipeline that have to be managed across multiple business units at VMware. And so we needed that, you know, support. We also reached out when we were working on messaging and positioning, and how do we go talk to Microsoft sellers, we engage a lot of experts, right? Our friend, Larry, and they came and helped us create those superpower slides, so that we could have that conversation. And internally, again, you know, we’ve been engaged with the VMware enablement team, make sure that we’re doing the translation internally, as well. So it takes a variety of consultants and experts to make this work. And if someone thinks I can just do it, and I’ve heard these stories in the partnership community that, you know, a new leader comes in, tries to do it everything by themselves. And no, you can’t like especially if you’re talking about to large organizations, you need other translators to help you with this job.
Vince Menzione 14:37
It’s so true. And I want to dive in a little bit more on this too, because you kind of struck on this right? What do you believe to be true but is overlooked in partnering with Microsoft?
Neeti Gupta 14:50
Yeah, I think this is a realization I had when I was at Microsoft that Microsoft business model is partner led, right so it is an ecosystem strategy. GE at the core of their business model, and I think once you recognize that, and that’s not the case for other public cloud vendors, right, they are still learning those, that that aspect of the business model. And once you kind of dial into that what it means and you can tap into the ecosystem, you know, Microsoft has an NG, someone gave me this number, like 5 million partners. So if you’re able to figure out how to start scaling your business through not only the connection with Microsoft directly, and the Microsoft sellers directly, but also engage this ecosystem that Microsoft has from a professional services, vendors for system integrators, the other ISVs, and are able to start packaging some of your solutions with other, you know, customer value added opportunities. I think that scale can be immense. And I would say that even at VMware, we just barely starting this, to scratch the surface. As we brought in the marketplace agreement, we did that marketplace agreement, and started kind of really deep going deep into how we do this.
Vince Menzione 16:11
And you know, what you were alluding to here, I mean, the VMware has built a very strong we Skoll channel back in the day, right? So yeah, you have a strong capability, which is now an ecosystem supporting VMware. And how does that overlap with the Microsoft ecosystem, it’s pretty, pretty closely aligned. And
Neeti Gupta 16:27
it’s happening is pretty close. I mean, majority of VMware, system integrators, as well as resellers and distributors are the same partners. And that’s an advantage, which we take, we know we have been taking advantage of as well, because we know that these same partners would want to do business with both companies, it’s just a matter of now making sure that their internal VMware teams, talk to the Microsoft Teams, you know, the work that we need to do. But once that work is done, and I know I make it sound very easy. But once that work is done, then it starts kind of really getting the scale motions, move faster.
Vince Menzione 17:10
Yeah. And it’s, that’s not easy work, do we can spend a whole podcast episode talking about that, both internally within your organization, getting the teams to talk together. And then on the Microsoft side, getting those different teams that manage the different partner types talking with one another,
Neeti Gupta 17:25
I think that’s the the beauty or the curse, whichever way you want to look at f large organizations, whether I think that’s the job as well to make sure that we can coordinate in connect the dots where those dots are not connecting. And when it’s done effectively, and in some cases, we have been able to do that it really drives the business forward, you know, in a scale and the way that is, you know, people don’t don’t that can be done,
Vince Menzione 17:54
you touched on it. And I want to appeal back on it right now or amplify the conversation because of Microsoft’s inspire conference, just it’s almost a month ago, there was a lot of buzz around marketplaces. In fact, I called it the marketplace moment, because Microsoft made some big investments. Let’s talk about marketplaces. And are you bullish on them?
Neeti Gupta 18:16
Absolutely. I would say yes. 100%. If you’re not on Azure Marketplace, or any marketplace that these cloud vendors have, then you you’re going to lose out. I’ll tell you why. I mean, two years back, when I started, the first thing I did was, hey, do we have an Azure Marketplace agreement, if now, let’s go do that. And that meant I had to build a business case, make sure that we could tell the story of why marketplace was important. And then do the DDoS agreement negotiations with Microsoft to make sure that we were on Azure Marketplace, right. And then after that, there was a lot of work on making sure that each of our business units had solutions that can meet the requirements of Azure Marketplace could be listed. And then on the other side, on the buyer side, making sure the customers knew we were listed. And we could drive campaigns and kind of make that connection. And then we had a way to get the pipeline get the private offered in close those deals. And in fact, last year, the largest marketplace deal was VMware as deal, right? Wow. Exactly. So I think we are definitely looking at marketplace as a way to generate more revenue for a company. It is also a place we have a lot of learning to do as well as Microsoft has a lot of learning to do, as you kind of as Microsoft launch, as you know, when it’s launched the MPO program. And there’s a lot of work on you know, making sure now each partner, Microsoft partner and VMware partner knows about this program can go and take advantage of that and especially we have all the listings that we already have, and then internally making sure that we continue to To create continuous innovation, and continue to list more solutions that we can also bring to the Azure Marketplace, as well.
Vince Menzione 20:09
And for our listeners that don’t know what MPO is, that’s the multi partner offer that Microsoft now allows. Were before it was only the ISV partner, the VMware partner, as an example. And Microsoft selling to a customer. NPO allows VMware to leverage that ecosystem, and bring those partners whether it’d be called channel partners or s eyes, whatever category is used, and then cosell together, right? And then everyone wins in that equation. Would you agree?
Neeti Gupta 20:43
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, obviously, proof is in the pudding, we want to see revenue. And we want to make sure that we can get the education that’s needed. And so that’s some of the work that we’re doing with Microsoft right now.
Vince Menzione 20:56
So you get to sit in an enviable spot. Right. VMware is one of Microsoft’s top partners, and you have done an amazing job driving incredible success. Congratulations on all the work you’ve done, achieving top partner status and all the awareness that you’ve built within your organization and at Microsoft. But what about the other organizations that you see out there the other independent software vendors that are looking to achieve top cosell status or drive incremental results? Why do you think that so many don’t achieve these great results? And what would you tell those that would like to achieve top results to do differently today?
Neeti Gupta 21:34
Yeah, I think I have three things that I can share from my experience. One is build a great team, I’ve had a lot of ISVs, who, you know, have reached out to me and they say, we’ve had one person while one person is not going to get you through what you really need to drive write it. And I’m not saying you need to hire 40 people or 50 people just to manage the max of relationship. But you do need to have dedicated focus, especially if you aim to scale from Geo because time zones become a challenge, right? And then the cosell program and the marketplace programs, they require dedicated focus, the CO building requires dedicated focus. And if you are like VMware, you have multiple agreements, you need someone who could be paying attention to that, right. So I think that’s the number one kind of build a great team and hire good people, because that just kind of makes that scale possible. And the other thing is don’t do navel gazing. And what I mean by navel gazing is just look at what you and you want to do. And I think that’s part of the puzzle. But you have to understand the Microsoft playbook. And if you don’t understand the Microsoft playbook, you’re never going to get the outcomes that you want. Because you will constantly be saying, This is what I want, this is what I want. And Microsoft is going to say, well, there are millions of other ISPs who also are saying, This is what I want. But this is these are the things you know, for our fiscal year, and Max is very structured, right? So they set the strategy, then that’s what they execute across the year. So if you miss the window of planning, and you haven’t gotten some of your ideas in with Microsoft, then don’t expect them to make that changes, once July hits, right. So then go into execution mode. So I would say, understand the Microsoft playbook. Don’t do navel gazing. And then And then the third one, which we touched upon, is hire great experts to complement some of the work you need to do. But you may not have the expertise in house or even on your own team, and then leverage your cross functional teams. I mean, they’re a great resource. I can’t tell you how many people have raised their hand and say, hey, I want to do a project with you because I want to get to know Microsoft and take advantage of that. So I think those are the things that if you really want to drive, and these are software skills, right, I’m not talking about the mechanics of what you need to do to get to the core sell and get your IP cosell in do all of that work. I think these things are the levers that we used, which are more on the softer skills side but are equally important.
Vince Menzione 24:23
I’m so excited to announce our continued partnership with ag one. Many of you know I made taking a green drink supplement, part of my health ritual for over 21 years now. And it has made all the difference to my health and well being over six years ago I found athletic greens and now their product ag one became my go to supplement. Ag one is the first thing I take every morning to power my day. It covers all of my nutritional bases, supports my gut health gives a boost to my immunity and energy levels. If you want to take ownership of your health, try ag one and get a free one year supply of vitamin D, and five free ag one travel packs with your first purchase, go to drink, ag one.com forward slash Vin Sam, that’s drink ag one.com forward slash Vince M, check it out. So hire great team hire. In other words, also invest I think is what I heard you say don’t just have one person, especially if you’re a larger ISP. And you’ve got a big organization supporting a billion dollars, ISPs are driving a lot of revenue through their, their systems. And then you mentioned the navel gazing, I really I really like because I see so many ISPs that are more in the I’ll call it it’s a scarcity mentality, or that there’s a mindset around Microsoft needs to do things my way. Yeah, as opposed to aligning to Microsoft, which is what I think I heard you say, and then hire great experts as well, because you’re not going to have all the resources or all the answers yourself. In your case, you’re talking about 1000s of transactions, integrating across Microsoft’s partner center, your CRM solution back and forth, lot, there’s a lot of data going back and forth. There’s a lot of handling that needs to happen. So you need the tools to do the job. Right?
Neeti Gupta 26:27
Exactly. Especially if data is not always clean. So you there is that manual work? That still happens? Because some of them like, Okay, we’ll just buy this tool and make this tool is going to make it all work. And I was like, no, no, no, that means you haven’t really done the job. Because the tool is not when you make it work is the people who actually even now and you know, when the data becomes really clean the and then you can get to that point where you are just able to do the, the automation of those through those tools. So it’s a combination still. And that’s the reality.
Vince Menzione 27:01
And the other piece I heard you say earlier I want to reiterate is you’ve got to do the internal selling within your own organization, right, you’ve got to, you’ve got to set the stage as the you’re the Microsoft expert internally, I would say at VMware, help the leadership really understand why they need to invest, why they need to do things a little bit differently to support the journey, because it’s good for both organizations.
Neeti Gupta 27:24
Yeah, I think some of these lessons are also applicable to other cloud providers as well. So some of the things we talked about today are not just how you can manage Microsoft, I think I’m also starting to see that as I talked to my peers who are managing other cloud vendors, it’s similar, right? It’s just different cultures. And of course, that is still a piece of kind of understanding what makes these other cloud providers tick. But the fundamentals of the building blocks remain the same. Right. And so I would say, some of the things ideas we’ve talked about here are applicable, as ISVs, manage, you know, participate in other ecosystems as well.
Vince Menzione 28:08
Yeah, I think what you said is, is right on here, right, specifically, this is not just a Microsoft conversation, this is a hyper scalar conversation. And you and I both know that the way that these other organizations have built out their programs and their strategy and their partnering teams. I mean, it all goes back to I always talk about the Boca Raton moment like Microsoft created the partner ecosystem many years ago, it was the first one to have a co selling motion. And others have played fast cat catch up, some of even surpass them in some areas, and marketplace in particular. But they all play from a very similar playbook, there might be differences. But culturally, and some of the necessary things you need to do are the same no matter who you’re working with.
Neeti Gupta 28:51
Exactly. That’s exactly true. And so if you can figure it out, working with one hyper scalar, I think you could at least use that playbook at 80% of that playbook with other Aqua scalars do
Vince Menzione 29:07
such a great car, we could spend all day here. And you know, we’re gonna have more conversations together. Anita, you know that we’re going to talk more about the future. And you’ve got such a great story to tell. And it can help so many of our partners out there to better understand how to be successful here. But I also want to talk about you and your career journey. You’ve had an amazing career. And I love to learn from you like was there a spark that set you off on your path to success?
Neeti Gupta 29:35
And I think we touched on that a little bit. And when when I had just started working at Microsoft, you know, I started on the product side. And there was a moment where I realized that the business model of Microsoft is partner partners. And that was kind of a spark, if you will, when I realized that if I want to take my career, any In the future, and you know, you’re talking about 15 years back, right that, that amazing in that and you know, partnerships was not a domain then right? I said, if I really want to do well, in my career, I do need to understand the craft of partnerships, because that’s how Microsoft is making money. And that’s how every vendor in future is going to be able to scale their business, because they won’t be able to go on this journey alone. And I think once I had that realization, I then actively look for experiences. And some of it was just, you know, I fell into those jobs, but I was actively seeking those experiences to hone my craft. Because once you get better at what you do, then you can apply it, especially because they are not, I mean, there are some certifications now. But back in the day, there was no one teaching you partnerships really no, nobody was even talking about partnerships, as it was you were learning by doing. And I think that has served me well. And I think that has helped me get the roles that I’ve been doing now. And I’m really excited, because every day I can hone my craft. And I can do it even better.
Vince Menzione 31:16
You know, you touched on this. But there was a time when partnership was not exactly the most glamorous role in the organization, right? It was a place where sometimes you put people that weren’t necessarily successful, I inherited some of those folks. And you know, that was one of the things I feel I brought to Microsoft was getting top sellers, to become partner leaders, because they brought that skill set that was so much needed in the role.
Neeti Gupta 31:40
Absolutely. And I think, you know, as we’ve done different roles at Microsoft and elsewhere, I’ve learned that you truly have to be the CEO for that relationship. And you have to think left to right, you know, sales, marketing, product engineering, customer success, user experience, they’re all kind of parts of the playbook that you need to make that partnership successful. And the moment you start thinking like a CEO, I do think that it kind of just changes the dynamic of the partnership and the relationship, whether it’s one on one or three way, four way relationships, I think you have to kind of start looking at I am the owner, and I have to kind of figure out how this end to end journey works in what will build a relationship that will help us accrue to the revenue potential that hasn’t been unlocked. Yet? And I think so that that thinking has definitely helped me.
Vince Menzione 32:41
Yeah. And I, you know, I know that from some of the work, I’ve seen some of the work that you’ve done, I mean, you’re driving relationships at the CEO level of both organizations, right. So that requires a set of skills, and executive presence and executive set of skills to drive that. And I think that’s something often missed in the conversation.
Neeti Gupta 33:00
Absolutely. Totally agree with.
Vince Menzione 33:04
So this is a fun question. I love to ask almost every single one of our guests now because it’s so much fun to dive in here, needy. So you are hosting a dinner party, and you can host this dinner party anywhere in the world, you got to ask any three guests from the present, or the past to join this amazing dinner party? Only three, though? Whom would you invite? And why?
Neeti Gupta 33:29
Yeah, I think it builds on something that we were talking about earlier. And I would say the three people that three amazing women that I would invite to the dinner table would be my mom, if very famous architect named Zaha Hadid, also, Oprah Winfrey. And I’ll tell you why. My mom because she has taught me the value of hard work and being persistent in pursuit of a mission or a goal that you set for yourself. And I don’t I do think that trade comes from her. She and she She’s been an amazing mentor supporter. She’s the one who’s probably going to watch this video, or the pot hear the podcast, I’m so grateful for some of the skills. And the second one is the I admire her for the love of her craft in the amazing work in the field of architecture that she’s done. And I think the key thing is when you know what craft you want to focus on, and it can be anything. And then you can really pursue it with that passion and that commitment that she was able to do. It just yields amazing results. And so that’s why I think you know, she would be the other person on my dinner table. And then the last one, giving back to the community. So once you found a craft and you get really good at it. And I think Oprah Winfrey kind of is that example. Then giving back to the community in, you know, really thinking about what have I learned? How can I tell, share that and bring other leaders on that journey with me, is kind of her. So I think if I apply back to what we do, you know, you have to have some kind of grit. It’s not for the faint hearted you and I joke about that, right? This is not for the faint hearted. And you need some passion for this craft. Because every day you will have different challenges. And as you’re only going to get better as you can work through those challenges. And then lastly, you know, you have to give back to the community. And this is what this podcast is really about, right? You’ve looked we’ve learned you and I’ve learned a few things that we can now share so that not everyone has to learn partnerships the hard way. Yes. These are the people I would bring to my dinner table and why
Vince Menzione 36:01
this sounds like a wonderful, first of all, I’d love to meet your mom, I’m going to come by and bring dessert or something I need to come by Zaha Hadid Yeah, how I pronounce it. Yeah. And then Oprah. I mean, Oprah. I mean, we all know Oprah, I mean, just the amazing story of her success, but also where she came from her roots and her background and how she overcame so many things to then give back, as you say, just really terrific. cigniti as Microsoft enters its fiscal year 24. Right? It is month, two now, we all know Microsoft summer, right? So it’s really just kicking in, right. But as a Microsoft leader, what new habit or mindset Are you embracing? To accelerate your path for this successful new fiscal year?
Neeti Gupta 36:47
Yeah, I think one of the things that I’ve been talking to my team about is also mindfulness. And, you know, we all have very active minds when you work in partnerships, because you have, you’re constantly thinking of all these ideas and things and how you can move the business forward. But I found that stepping back, writing things down, doing some self reflection on what you’ve done, and just helps thing to do things better. Yes. And I think when applied to partnerships, it’s a very powerful tool, which is, I don’t think many partnerships, leaders use that tool effectively. And I would encourage everyone who’s kind of starting this new year with Microsoft, thinking of what’s the new habit, it’s every few weeks, I would say every six weeks, write down what you’ve been doing, share it with people at Microsoft, your contacts, share it with internally, and just kind of get into that habit of reflecting on, hey, we did this, what can we do better? Where do we go from here? Which will, it will because we just don’t go go go. And I speak from experience. I’m like that, like, I’m just on the move. But the more I’ve been able to practice that, you know, mindfulness in different ways, I’ve been able to even do better. So I would leave you with that thought.
Vince Menzione 38:10
I think it’s it’s an incredible thought we talked about meditation as a as a mindfulness practice. Before we started recording today, that’s I know another area. But what I think I internalized from what you just shared, is that you need to you need to sit back and also be grateful for the results that you’ve achieved apps at the same time, you know, ensure that you are headed in the right direction, right? If there’s any course correction, I like to refer to agility as being a skill that we all need to have. But then you’re just taking that time out. Otherwise, you could end the year and be in the wrong set of results, I guess.
Neeti Gupta 38:47
Yeah. And sometimes it’s forced in organizations. But I think as a leader, the more you can do it yourself and make time for that. The better it is, and the some of the tools, you know, writing things down, whether you’re journaling, whether you’re just, you know, writing notes to yourself, whatever works for you, just reflecting on what’s been done and using that reflection with the team as well. What have we achieved? Where do we need to go and create a routine around that. So six weeks quarter, whatever works for your teams, I would highly encourage that we found some good, good nuggets from that, which we were not able to do when we just were on the move constantly just doing things and not stepping back.
Vince Menzione 39:30
So just one more question here. So do you ask each of the people in your organization to do it as well? And then you do do a one on one with them? How do you share that information?
Neeti Gupta 39:41
So one on one, I one of the things is kind of doing a very structured one on one with the key stakeholders. I know it’s project management one on one, but not many people do that. So you do a 360 and you just go to interviews and say hey, this is what we’re seeing. What do you think and getting that feedback and then kind of consolidating that and then stepping back and saying this is what I’ve heard from the organization, is this what’s needed to be done? Or is there something else that we need to go influence? And then go do that round of one on ones again? Right. And so that’s, that’s a constant three feet 360 kind of feedback loop. Every leader, whether it’s partnerships or not, it needs to constantly do it, because then you know, what’s happening in the business, where people’s heads are at and what you need to do to influence them. Yes, yes. So I think that’s why I said, step back, write things down, engage in the way that’s most most productive.
Vince Menzione 40:42
So many great nuggets today, so much great advice, learnings, and sharings that you’ve given with us today. needy, I want to thank you so much for being such an amazing guest. So glad to finally welcome you to ultimate guide to partnering. And thank you for joining and sharing with our listeners today.
Neeti Gupta 41:01
Yeah, thank you, Vince, thank you for everything that you’re doing for the community. This is a great podcast, and I’ve learned a lot. So I’m very grateful for what you’ve been able to bring to the community.
Vince Menzione 41:11
Thank you so much. So there you have it. Another amazing guest joins Ultimate Guide to partnering. And I hope you enjoyed this interview as much as I did. Odds are if you’re a technology partner, executive, and hearing my voice, chances are you too, are looking to accelerate your success through partnerships. I mean, let’s face it. We all have seen partnerships that look good on paper, but never live up to their expected results. There are a lot of reasons why partnerships fail. And at ultimate partnerships, we help you get it right by applying a proven set of best practices and framework that’s used by leading partners working with Microsoft, and other technology giants. If you want to learn more, follow the link in the show notes, or visit our website at Ultimate Guide to partnering.com.
Announcer 42:07
Thanks so much for listening to this episode of The Ultimate Guide to partnering with your host Vince Menzione online at Ultimate Guide to partnering.com and facebook.com/ultimate Guide to partnering. We’ll catch you next time on The ultimate guide to partnering