Episode Overview
🇳🇱 Amsterdam stop on the PL European Tour!
Chris Samila and I caught up along the canal as we rolled into Amsterdam for stop #4 of our whirlwind PL European Tour — and the passion for partnerships in this city is just as vibrant as the tulips and bike traffic!
Before landing here, we wrapped up an amazing event in Manchester — smaller in scale, but overflowing with insights and connections. Chris and I reflected on our panel with Anna Townsend (AWS), Dan Baddeley, and Brendan Kemp, where one theme stood out: the unique complexity of building partnerships across EMEA. Anna, for example, manages partner strategy across 100 countries. The cultural fluency and operational range required is immense — and deeply impressive.
Each city has had its own flavor, and yet the energy is consistent: partner pros eager to learn, connect, and build lasting impact. In Manchester, one attendee even flew in from Dublin just to be there. That kind of dedication says everything.
Tonight, we’re expecting 80+ people for a sold-out Amsterdam gathering, and then on to Berlin Thursday to wrap up the tour. If you’re nearby — come join us! Links in the comments 👇
And of course, this all builds toward Catalyst in Denver, August 21–23. We’ve already met so many EMEA partner leaders planning to fly in for it — proving this is truly a global movement.
Let’s keep elevating the role of partnerships across the world 🌍
#PLTour #PartnershipLeaders #PartnerLedGrowth #AmsterdamPartners #EcosystemLeadership
Podcast
Guest
Chris Samila
Co-Founder, Chief Partner Officer at Partnership Leaders
Episode Transcript
Chip Rodgers 0:05
Okay, we are here Asher's on the other side of the camera here, and I'm here with Chris. Chris, similla, Chris, awesome to be with you. So good to be here. Chip so we are here in Amsterdam, and just had this gorgeous shot coming down from under the canal. This is our hotel, actually, and we've been walking around the canals, and we went to the museum yesterday, that was on Sunday, that was beautiful and really exciting to see. And what did we What Did We Learn at the museum? Yeah, I
Chris Samila 0:38
mean the history of Amsterdam. And just like the richness of painters and artists and stuff, I mean, it's just esthetically, walking around here is just gorgeous too. Obviously, anybody's been here, all the canals, so walkable, gazillion bikes. It's a very cool city. It
Chip Rodgers 0:53
is cool Rembrandt and all the all the amazing art from from Amsterdam. So we just came from. We were in Manchester. We had a great event. Well, we had an event in Paris and then London and Manchester, but we haven't really talked about Manchester and had a had a great event there. Te just helped us pull it all together. And we had a panel with Anna Townsend and Dan Baddeley and Brendan Kemp, Kemp as well. So some interesting takeaways, uh, Chris from from the panel, and,
Chris Samila 1:28
yeah. I mean, I think so particularly, one of the things that kind of stood out for me, for for with Anna, uh, she works at AWS, and she manages EMEA. When you're in a North American market, you're sort of, you know, you forget how big of a region that is. She said that she's covering 100 countries in her territory, crazy. And the depth of understanding she has to have culturally for all those different places, how partnerships works and all those different destinations, is, like, very impressive. So I have a lot more respect for the level of just difficulty and challenge and opportunity that comes with being in partnerships in this part of the world. Yeah,
Chip Rodgers 2:01
yeah, it's, it really is amazing, and just really great takeaways from that, from that session, and and we have some great sessions coming up. So we're in Amsterdam, here tomorrow, in in here in Amsterdam, and then, and then Berlin on Thursday, yeah.
Chris Samila 2:18
I mean, it's been a jam packed event. I mean, we filled the house for Paris, London, a great showing from Manchester, which is a smaller partner community, but the intimacy of the people meeting each other many times. For the first time, we had somebody fly over from Dublin just to be at the Manchester event. So I think people are very, very eager to meet each other. We're going to have a blowout event here in Amsterdam, expecting somewhere close to 80 people, and then finishing up, as you mentioned, in Berlin. So really, really grateful for the showing of how many passionate partner people wanting to get together in this region. Yeah,
Chip Rodgers 2:49
fantastic. So gosh, if you're, if you're in Amsterdam, or if you're in Berlin this week, make sure you come by. Check it out. We'll put the links in the in the post below, and well, I guess we'll recap it here and and we'll see you then, yeah, and
Chris Samila 3:05
most importantly, a lot of us are gonna be a catalyst, of course,
Chip Rodgers 3:09
well, that's the whole thing. I mean, we're all, it's all leading up to catalyst. So Don't, don't, don't forget that in in August, in Denver, and we have, we talked to a bunch of people here in the region that are planning to fly over and be in Catalyst, because it's a global event, and everyone's coming coming together then,
Chris Samila 3:25
yeah, it's actually very cool to see how many people were raising their hands and they bought tickets. How many flying over? So that's a huge commitment, but I think it just shows that there's a lot of people that are really passionate about their careers and partnerships, so really grateful that we get a chance to spend time with all of them. Yeah,
Chip Rodgers 3:40
all right, I think that's it, and we will see you tomorrow in Amsterdam and on Thursday in Berlin, see you then you.
Chip Rodgers
🚀 CMO | Chief Partner Officer | B2B SaaS Growth & GTM Leader | Ecosystem Strategy | Demand Gen | Podcast Host 🎙
