Accelerate 2026: the day partnerships got a room of its own.
On Wednesday 28 October, more than 130 partnership operators from over 100 companies filled the Horizon Room at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne for the first summit in Australia built entirely around partnerships. Here is how the day went, and what people took home.
Why we ran it
Partnerships teams carry more of the revenue line every year, yet most partnership operators spend their working lives as the only person in the building who does what they do. A year ago Accelerate was an idea: put the people who run partner programs across APAC in one room, give them real benchmarks from their peers, and let them leave with a plan.
The day was built around one goal, getting companies to 30% partner-sourced revenue, and around the people in the room as much as the people on stage. Live polls ran on every phone all day, and the afternoon finished with eight roundtables where people tested their own strategy against their peers.
Partnerships has always been the loneliest seat in the room. Today in Melbourne, it had a room of its own.Hugo Bieber, Pointer
How the day ran
Doors open
Badges, coffee and the Revenue Gap desk. The room filled fast.
Welcome and meet the room
Shuba Paheerathan, MC
Every phone became a live poll from the first minute, and every table met the people next to them.
Why partnerships, why now
Bryan Williams
Bryan opened with where the region's partner ecosystems really sit, using the room's own Revenue Gap Calculator results, and one goal for the day: getting companies to 30% partner-sourced revenue.
Realising partnership potential
Joseph Ferrar (moderator), Jo Gaines, Angus Mansfield, Chase Gardner, Basem Emera. Presented with PartnerStack.
Why partner programs stall between stated potential and measured revenue, and what it takes to remove the friction for partners.
Built on Stripe
Hayley Hopwood, Stripe
A practitioner's view of building partnerships on Stripe.
State of Sales and evolving partnership teams
Fallon Savery (moderator), David Fastuca, Ricky Pearl, Jennifer Hankin
How sales is changing, and what that means for the way partnership teams work with it.
What does this mean for me
Neda Tesic Raward (moderator), Hannah Udina, Nick Martinez, Dinesh Kumar
The morning turned into what to change in your own partner motion, from Shopify, Airwallex and Serko.
AI in partnerships
Rob Moyer and Bryan Williams, in conversation
After lunch, an hour on where AI is taking partnerships and what it means for the people who run them.
Partnerships, accelerated through agents
Bryan Williams and Matt Taylor
A live look at HockeyStick AI and the agents behind it, working on real partnership problems.
Ecosystem-led GTM in an AI world
Laura Sully, Charles McKay, Josh Licence, Charlotte Michalanney
HubSpot and its services partners on joint go-to-market, and how those relationships change as AI arrives.
Your strategy, pressure-tested
Eight roundtables, hosted by Keith Chan, Christine Rodrigues, Danielle Gormley, Alex Wilson, Talia Hickey, Will Glover, Jason Cormier and Mark Samlal
Chatham House rules. People brought their own partnership strategy and had it challenged by peers before they left.
Wrap up
Bryan Williams
The day tied back to what everyone committed to build.
Networking reception
Drinks, the stadium view, and the conversations that kept going until close.
What people took home
The ideas that came up again and again, on stage, at the tables and in the posts people wrote in the days after.
Activation is the job
Activating partners came up as the room's biggest challenge this year, well ahead of recruiting them.
Signing a partner is the easy part. Getting them to do something with it is the job.Joe Carter, Tracksuit
Say no to protect focus
Partnership people are wired to say yes. The advice that stuck was to decide what you won't do first.
Fewer yeses, done properly, beat a long list done halfway.Addison Mincham
Choose partners carefully
More partners is not the goal. The right partners, built into real mutual value, are.
Partnerships will die of indigestion not starvation so be smart with partner selection.Jack Morgan, Australia Post
Systems have to match ambition
Programs grow when it is easy for partners to do business with you, and that takes investment.
You can't build a successful partner program overnight, even with AI.Jo Gaines, Asana
AI gives time back for people
AI took the operational load off the conversation, leaving more room for strategy and relationships.
AI gives us more capacity to focus on strategy and building relationships, rather than spending time on operational tasks.Abdul Rehman, Australia Post
APAC needs its own playbook
Global strategies don't always fit the region, and local teams need the authority to adapt them.
Enter each market with an entrepreneur's mindset, even when you've got a global business behind you.Murray Warner, Emburse
In their words
Speakers and attendees on camera at Accelerate. Pick any video, and each one rolls into the next.
Now showing
What the room said
This is the most senior partnership room ever put together in Aus.Ricky Pearl GTM ANZ community
I've been fortunate to be around a lot of world class events and communities over the last decade, and yesterday was a top three highlight for me.Geoffrey Pyman
I was in a room with people like me.Christine Rodrigues APAC partner leader
Bright, articulate, curious people who weren't just there to listen. They leaned in, challenged ideas, and shared what was actually working.Rob Moyer Bluethread
That's the new standard of event.Charles McKay
I've been to plenty of events over the years, but this was the first dedicated entirely to partnerships, with every session relevant to my day-to-day work.Jon Melloy
The APAC partnerships community obviously wants and needs someone to bring us all together for collaboration, brainstorming and learning.Noam Horenczyk Simpro
Exceeded all expectations (which were high!). Amazing content and an a* audience.An attendee in the live poll on the day
Thank you
To everyone on stage
Bryan Williams, Shuba Paheerathan, Joseph Ferrar, Jo Gaines, Angus Mansfield, Chase Gardner, Basem Emera, Hayley Hopwood, Fallon Savery, David Fastuca, Ricky Pearl, Jennifer Hankin, Neda Tesic Raward, Hannah Udina, Nick Martinez, Dinesh Kumar, Rob Moyer, Matt Taylor, Laura Sully, Charles McKay, Josh Licence, Charlotte Michalanney, and our roundtable hosts Keith Chan, Christine Rodrigues, Danielle Gormley, Alex Wilson, Talia Hickey, Will Glover, Jason Cormier and Mark Samlal.
To everyone in the room
The questions, the table conversations and the willingness to share what is actually working made the day. Thank you for coming.
To our partners
