---
title: Turning Partner Marketing Into a Growth Engine | Unreal Digital Group
description: Partner Marketing Leader Ryan Shonts from Wiz joins Cari & Dana to discuss scaling authentic partnerships, co-branding myths, and growth through collaboration.
image: https://www.unrealdigitalgroup.com/hubfs/Ryan%20thumbnail.png
---

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 October 23, 2025

# Turning Partner Marketing Into a Growth Engine

In this episode, hosts Cari Baldwin and Dana Harder sit down with Ryan Shonts, Partner Marketing Leader at [Wiz](https://www.wiz.io/), the world’s fastest-growing cloud security company. Together, they dig into what it really takes to build partnerships that scale: going beyond co-branding, past checkboxes, and far beyond the “just slap a logo on it” approach.

Over the course of this in-depth, candid conversation, Cari, Dana, and Ryan explore how to transform partner marketing from a reactive support function into a core business growth engine. They share real-world insights on what makes partnerships work, why authenticity always wins, and how culture and creativity power collaboration, even in the complex world of cloud security.

If you’ve ever wondered how to make partner programs perform and maximize their potential for both sides — and still hang onto your sanity while doing it — then this one’s worth a listen for you!

   
Some key takeaways include:

- The framework of marketing *to,* *through*, and *with* partners
- Understanding that co-branding alone doesn’t build value (and what actually does)
- How to identify and empower champions who move partnerships forward
- What Wiz’s hyper-growth culture teaches us about creativity, agility, and authenticity
- Why being your authentic self is the real differentiator that drives lasting relationships

| [![spotify](https://www.unrealdigitalgroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/spotify.png?width=184&height=69&name=spotify.png)](https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ATKcnLnf6e07K8Wn5oD7D) | <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be4gdTTbFRY>[![youtube](https://www.unrealdigitalgroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/youtube-1.png?width=200&height=69&name=youtube-1.png)](https://youtu.be/SI6a9IXbF74) | [![apple](https://www.unrealdigitalgroup.com/hs-fs/hubfs/apple.png?width=166&height=69&name=apple.png)](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/turning-partner-marketing-into-a-growth-engine/id1601299591?i=1000733114153) |
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