What’s the hardest part of your 2026 partner plan?

A quick programming note: I’ve been coaching and advising partner leaders behind the scenes, and I’m now opening a formal 2026 offering with limited capacity. Want early access? Join the waitlist.

I'm seeing the same patterns with partner leaders trying to land a new role, succeed in their first 90 days, or execute a successful launch to partners. We want to change that in 2026. 

This week I shared open partner roles at Anthropic, ServiceNow, Dropzone AI, and Anaconda. DM me on LinkedIn if you need an intro while you job search. I know it’s hard right now, hang in there.

As many of you have noted, this Weekly Rundown series is a bit different. It is more of a playbook for partner and GTM leaders than a traditional news recap. It looks at the levers that drive growth, it tracks new models, trends, and shifts so you know where the market, your peers, your competitors, and the big innovators are headed. All without hours of reading and 250 tabs open (that’s me).  

Today, I’ve included a few questions that will help shape your partner GTM in 2026. Let’s dive in.

This was bound to happen. OpenAI is turning ChatGPT into an app platform. Developers can now submit apps for review, be listed in an in‑product app directory, and eventually monetize usage and workflows that run inside ChatGPT.

Becoming ‘a partner’ has become easier than ever.

OpenAI has created a new channel. A new marketplace. A new way to reach the user. 2026 promises to be an exciting year.

Google Cloud introduced the Google Cloud Partner Network, a major refresh that goes live in the Q1 2026 with new tiers, a dedicated competency framework, and tighter alignment to outcomes across Google Cloud, Workspace, and industry solutions. The program uses AI at the core to automate tracking of tier and competency progress, apply every eligible customer engagement automatically, and sharply reduce partner admin work.

“This new program marks a fundamental shift in how we measure success and reward value. Applicable to all partner types and sizes – ISVs, RSIs, GSIs, and more – the new program reinforces our strategic move toward recognizing partner contribution across the entire customer lifecycle.” said Colleen Kapase, VP, Channels and Partner Programs, Google Cloud.

The program “…. represents the next evolution of the partner economy—transparent, causal, and designed for high-impact.”, said Philip Larson, Managing Director, WW Partner Programs, Google.

My take for partner and GTM leaders​

Google Cloud is prioritizing partners who prove impact, confirming a trend that sees companies move from ‘partner activity’ to outcomes. Precision is what programs are moving toward. Here’s what I see:

Outcome over activity. Moving toward metrics like pre‑sales influence, co‑innovation, and post‑sales success. This tells partners exactly where to invest: practice depth, repeatable offers, and validated wins.​

AI as the program engine. Automated crediting of “every successful customer engagement” across tiers and competencies means cleaner telemetry and less admin.

This announce is another strong cue that automation and telemetry are now table stakes in large vendor programs. Those just getting started with a partner program can build with cleaner data, clearer outcome metrics, and more automated partner reporting as their objectives. It also raises the bar on co-sell expectations, because Google will have a more complete view of which partners move deals.

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OpenAI rolled out an “Academy for News Organizations” initiative with partners in journalism enablement. While it’s media-focused, the underlying move is classic: reduce adoption friction with training, playbooks, and governance guidance, delivered through credible ecosystem partners. If you build partner programs, this is a useful pattern to steal for your own agent rollouts.

​The academy gives OpenAI a scalable way to enable and standardize AI usage patterns across hundreds of newsrooms. I think it also reinforces trust and a sustainability narrative. Both topics matter to regulators and the public.

Microsoft is ‘driving thought leadership with partners’. This update shows how the partners with the right competencies strengthen your GTM and amplify the impact of your campaigns. In its latest industry update, Microsoft highlighted Microsoft Agent 365 as the control plane for AI agents and Azure Copilot enhancements to help partners embed agents in industrial and manufacturing workflows. This is framed explicitly as a partner powered transformation, showcasing ecosystem solutions rather than single vendor wins.​

My take for partner and GTM leaders​

—> How many campaigns are you planning in 2026 with your top partners?

—> Are you developing repeatable playbooks?

The strategy that positions you for success is investing in repeatable, agent centric blueprints that can scale.

For those in the Microsoft ecosystem, start mapping one or two agent use cases where you can bring your domain IP, data (and change management) on top of Agent 365. We can expect additional future partner incentives and competencies to follow.

For partners, this is a blueprint for services led ecosystems around foundation model providers, where advisory, integration, and managed services wrap agent platforms. If you are a smaller SI or specialist partner, look at this and ask, in which micro industry can your firm be the “Accenture equivalent,” with a focused suite of agentic offers and references, then align that with at least one hyperscaler or AI platform.

Oracle and Google Cloud expanded their Oracle Database@Google Cloud offering into the Asia South 1 (Mumbai) region, bringing Oracle Exadata Database Service, Autonomous AI Database, and Autonomous AI Lakehouse to customers directly inside Google Cloud’s India footprint. Customers can now keep regulated workloads in region, tap Vertex AI, BigQuery, and Gemini against Oracle data, and still meet data residency and sovereignty requirements.

My take for partner and GTM leaders​

I believe the most important part is the “industry first” reseller program that rides on Google Cloud Marketplace, where partners that belong to both Google Cloud Partner Advantage and Oracle PartnerNetwork can buy Oracle Database@Google Cloud via private offers, resell it, and bundle it into multicloud modernization solutions. This gives SIs and VARs a clean way to use existing Google Cloud commit, align Oracle estates with Google AI surfaces, and lead with a multicloud plus agentic AI story for Indian enterprises that want choice, compliance, and acceleration.

Cisco’s new 360 Partner Program changes how smaller partners can make money and compete. Anurag Agrawal, Founder and Chief Global Analyst, Techaisle, shares his comprehensive analysis and frames this as a shift from volume to value in how partners are rewarded. The program works like a value based meritocracy. Smaller, focused partners that double down on specialization, lifecycle services, and tight program alignment can now reach profitability levels that used to be reserved for large resellers with big volume.​

My take for partner and GTM leaders​

These are great best practices: transparency, showing the levers that drive profitability, and making customer value more relevant. This is also one of the few examples where a vendor is not only rolling out a new partner model, but also sharing the economic blueprint that sits underneath it, so SMB partners can see exactly which behaviors and investments will pay off.

Palo Alto Networks is signaling a very partner-centric 2026, anchored in platform integration, embedded AI and ecosystem-led growth, and your segment can mirror those themes in a concise, executive voice.​

In a blog post by Michael Khoury, VP, Global Channel Programs, Palo Alto Networks just laid out a very clear partner thesis for 2026: 1) integration beats complexity; 2) AI must be embedded, not bolted on; and 3) the ecosystem itself is the growth engine. The company is doubling down on platformization across network, cloud and SOC, asking partners to lean into consolidation plays, zero trust architectures and AI-powered detection to cut through tool sprawl and improve time-to-value. Under the “partnering with precision” banner, they are also framing AI as a built-in advantage via Precision AI. They also announce new enablement and program changes aimed at helping partners build repeatable, profitable services that tie security outcomes directly to business value.​

My take for partner and GTM leaders​

For partner leaders, the interesting shift is how the ecosystem is being positioned as an economic and growth engine, not just a route to market. Palo Alto Networks is pushing deeper integration and co-innovation with technology alliances, while investing in empowered enablement and simplified engagement. Partners can wrap their AI-driven platform with differentiated services and managed offerings. Therefore there is margin, stickiness and strategic relevance to be captured in 2026.

Helping your partners understand how they make money with your solutions is a best practice. Some of us have created calculators to show partners what their profits look like 1-3 years out. Hit reply if you wish to see a an example. For now, hare are some great questions for partner leaders to consider:

—> Does your partner program use a ‘Partner Value Index’ to weigh partner capabilities, engagement, services maturity, and revenue contribution?

—> How does that align with your overall GTM and your customers?

—> What do you value in your partners?

—> How do you communicate partner program economics to partners?

—> Do you believe that revenue is the key driver in partnering?

Even if you’re just starting to build your ecosystem as a startup, the answers to these questions help define your GTM and partner strategy. And if you think revenue is the key driver, ask yourself, what about efficiency? Meaning, the biggest ROI for the time and resources you invest. Revenue and ROI aren’t the same thing.