IAMCP Profiles in Partnership

The episode contains a genuine cluster of useful data points and frameworks - 6.3 trusted partners per customer, 28 buying moments, 35.3% growth rate, SMBs in 'wait mode' - but these are surrounded by significant macro-narrative setup, Taylor Swift era metaphors, and a long post-interview host recap that adds zero new information.

“We're obsessed with the $267,000,000,000 of tech services that this is gonna generate in the next couple of years. And and the 35.3% growth rate that the best Microsoft partners are seeing today in AI.”

“Microsoft has moved two thirds of its channel incentives post sale. It it's more important for Microsoft to get 108% renewals”

The 'SMB is in wait mode for AI to arrive through existing tech stacks' observation is genuinely underappreciated and useful; the car-buying-as-B2B-sales analogy and 'business outcomes over features' advice are well-worn frameworks that circulate widely in channel/partner circles. The guest restates standard consulting wisdom more often than it challenges it.

“They are waiting right now. And they're waiting for the tech stack that they've invested in to bring generative and then agentic AI to them.”

“it's not a tech confusion. It's a business or a delivery confusion.”

Jay McBain is a credible, senior analyst at Omdia with 32 years in the channel and a research base of 25,000 Microsoft partners - his numbers are backed by real survey work, not speculation. He scores below the top tier because he is an analyst-observer rather than an operator who has built and scaled a partner business himself.

“we get to pull pretty close to 25,000 Microsoft partners around the world”

“I've been, in the Microsoft channel for thirty two years now”

The episode is notably data-rich for its genre: named percentages from actual research, named competitor comparisons (AWS outgrown 27 quarters straight), named SMB software stacks (ConnectWise, Kaseya, Toast, Square), and specific market-size figures. A few numbers are cited without a clear methodology, preventing a top-tier score.

“94 percent of people now are using ChatGPT or Gemini or Anthropic or something...to start the search. It used to be a few years ago, 81% of people would start with a Google search.”

“They've also outgrown AWS, their lead competitor on cloud, 27 quarters in a row.”

The hosts ask broad, setup-style questions that let Jay monologue at length; there is no pushback, no probing of methodology behind the statistics, and no productive disagreement. The multi-minute post-interview host recap that simply paraphrases Jay's points is dead airtime with zero added value.

“What do you see as an just in your research as, like, what's maybe holding them back from doing that? Is it the training issue?”

“Wow. That was an amazing interview. I felt like I drank from a fire hose.”