Onyx Data

Built and scaled a Microsoft Data & AI consultancy serving enterprise and public sector clients across the UK, UAE, and US.

Highlights:
Microsoft Fabric Featured Partner & Microsoft MVP (5x)
Delivered Azure AI-powered solutions across finance, education, and government
Launched FabOps – a Microsoft co-sell solution for Fabric observability
Enabled 3 enterprise clients to scale Fabric & Copilot across departments
Regularly featured at Microsoft Build, FabCon, and global MVP events

Founder / Chief Executive Officer

Forbes Technology Council

Thought Leader

LinkedIn

As a LinkedIn Learning Instructor specialising in Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI), I am dedicated to creating and delivering high-quality educational content that empowers learners to advance their careers in data and AI. My role involves developing comprehensive courses, engaging with the learner community, and continuously updating course materials to reflect the latest industry trends.

Key Achievements:

- Expert Content Development: Created and delivered high-impact courses that received positive feedback and high engagement from learners.

- Curriculum Innovation: Developed innovative and comprehensive curriculam that facilitated structured learning paths for students, enhancing their understanding and application of data and AI concepts.

- Effective Knowledge Transfer: Simplified complex technical concepts, making them accessible and engaging for a diverse learner base, resulting in improved learner outcomes.

- Community Building: Fostered an active and supportive learning community through regular engagement in user groups, helping learners overcome challenges and succeed in their educational journeys.

- Continual Improvement: Actively sought and integrated learner feedback, leading to continuous improvement of course content and instructional methods.

LinkedIn Learning Instructor

The AI Journal

Contributor

AI4C

The key aim of the AI4C is to help charities embarking on AI/ML deployments with pro bono insights/advice - all in a confidential, collaborative sales-free, vendor neutral environment. 

Over 30 charities have joined and gained value with their strategic thinking, user stories, design, deployment and operations. 

AI 4 Good / Tech 4 Good 

If you are a charity leader looking to get the most for the people you serve, feel free to contact the AI4C Chair Paul Excell paul.excell@member.wcit.org.uk

Member

Global AI Hub

Brainz Magazine Official

Executive Contributor

Pomerol Partners

Partner

Reassured

Head Of Data And Insight (Freelance)

Redkite

Principal Power BI Consultant (Freelance) 

Microsoft MVP | AI & Fabric Specialist for Business Transformation | Helping Enterprises Unlock ROI with Azure, Copilot & Power BI | Forbes Tech | Keynote Speaker | CEO, Onyx Data

Your data shouldn't just inform decisions, it should transform your business.

I’m Leon Gordon a Microsoft MVP, keynote speaker, and founder of Onyx Data, where we help enterprises turn Microsoft Fabric, Azure AI, Power BI and Copilot into measurable ROI.

I’ve spent the past 13 years leading enterprise data and AI transformations. From being a hands-on technologist to now heading up a global team, I’ve seen how the right data strategy, aligned with business goals, drives massive ROI.

Clients turn to Onyx Data when they need:
• End-to-end Microsoft Fabric & Copilot implementations
• AI strategy and deployment with Azure OpenAI
• Power BI governance, optimisation & adoption frameworks
• Executive training to build data culture from the top down

Real-world outcomes we’ve delivered:
• £3M in new revenue from insight-driven selling
• 187.1% reduction in data latency
• 35% increase in data accuracy
• 50%+ boost in data literacy
• Featured by Microsoft at Build, FabCon, and global case studies

Recognitions:
• 5x Microsoft MVP
• Microsoft Data & AI Solutions Partner
• Microsoft Digital & App Innovation Partner
• Microsoft Fabric & Real-Time Intelligence Featured Partner
• Microsoft Training Services Partner
• LinkedIn Top Voice
• Founder of #DataDNA – global monthly analytics challenge

Featured by Microsoft at Build, FabCon, and global case studies. Speaker at top industry events across the UK, US, and Middle East.

Latest launch - FabOps – our co-sell-ready Fabric observability solution designed for enterprise-scale efficiency and impact → https://fabops.ai

👉 Ready to move beyond insights and into action?
→ Book a strategy call → https://bit.ly/46MgPHM
→ Try FabOps free → www.fabops.ai
→ Join 28,000+ global pros in #DataDNA → https://www.linkedin.com/groups/9075495/
→ Subscribe to my weekly AI and Data insights → https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/ai-and-data-tech-trends-6933659594284023808?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base%3BxNISbSHFTkGWI32ogCOB4Q%3D%3D

Leon Gordon

For years, our data architecture looked like a complex web of disconnected services. We spent more time moving data than actually using it. 

This "engineering teardown" of Microsoft Fabric brilliantly visualises the end of that era.

Look at the foundation (Block #1). That’s OneLake.

Notice how the different compute engines, Data Engineering (#2), Data Science (#3), Warehousing (#4), and Real-Time (#5), aren't siloed in separate buildings? They are distinct modules sitting on the same foundation.

No copying. No movement. Just different lenses on the same data, governed by Purview (#8) and served up via Power BI (#7).

This isn't just a platform update, it's a fundamental shift in how we build data estates.

Is your organisation ready for the OneLake approach, or are you still managing silos?

#MicrosoftFabric #DataEngineering #OneLake #DataArchitecture #Synapse #PowerBI

Turn Microsoft Fabric, Copilot & Azure AI into safe, real‑time business value in weeks, not months | Data & AI Transformation Leader @ Onyx Data | Microsoft MVP | Global Speaker | Forbes Tech Council

No alternative text description for this image

The client: "Can you just quickly throw together a report by EOD?"

The reality beneath the surface: 🛠️⚙️👇

It’s easy to forget that a seamless Power BI report isn't just drag-and-drop magic. It's a finely tuned engine of interconnected components.

This "engineering teardown" perfectly visualises the ecosystem we build daily.

1️⃣ It starts with raw materials (Connectors)
2️⃣ Gets processed in the factory (Power Query)
3️⃣ Is structured into a robust foundation (Data Model)
4️⃣ And finally, shipped out for consumption (Service, Mobile, Embedded)

If your "quick report" is slow, chances are the engine block (The Data Model) needs a tune-up.

Which part of this machine do you spend the most time wrenching on? Let me know in the comments. 👇

#PowerBI #DataEngineering #Analytics #Microsoft #BusinessIntelligence #DataViz

Hardcoding Secrets? Stop It. 🛑

It is the #1 rule of secure data engineering... 𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

If your Fabric notebooks or functions contain lines like schema = "dev_db" or exposed API keys, you are creating a security risk and a deployment nightmare.

Microsoft Fabric just released Variable Libraries for User Data Functions, and it is the fix we've been waiting for.
- 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗴: Keep your logic clean and environment-agnostic.
- 𝗘𝗻𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆: Reference secrets securely without exposing them in source control.
- 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗖𝗜/𝗖𝗗: Swap values automatically as you deploy from Dev -> Test -> Prod.
- It’s time to mature your pipelines.

𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗩𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆.

#MicrosoftFabric #DataEngineering #DevOps #DataSecurity #Python

No more hardcoded secrets in your Fabric code. Preheader: Manage environment configurations securely with the new Variable Libraries for User Data Fun

Open article: Goodbye, Hardcoded Secrets - Variable Libraries for Fabric User Data Functions by Leon Gordon • 2 min read

Goodbye, Hardcoded Secrets - Variable Libraries for Fabric User Data Functions

𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗜𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴.

There are so many features to focus on.

- Agent mode
- App builders
- AI video creation
- Cross-app workflows
- Pricing tiers

There are definitely some features that matter more than others.

Here are my 5 key Copilot Microsoft Ignite announcements so far this week.

1. Agent capabilities that replace manual work - Excel agents now build full dashboards with one prompt. No sidebar tools needed. Charts, formulas, and insights appear automatically.

2. Seamless data flow between applications - Excel data becomes Word reports, then PowerPoint presentations. Three apps working as one workflow without exports or copying.

3. No-code app building that actually works - App Builder created a complete team ideas app in minutes. Changes happen through simple requests, not coding.

4. AI video generation with transparency - Sora 2 creates professional videos in seconds. Every output shows clear AI labels, keeping content honest.

5. Accessible pricing for small teams - At $21 per month for teams under 300, Copilot is finally within reach for businesses that couldn't afford the $30 tier.

And it is working for me.

The future of productivity isn't about learning every feature.

It's about knowing which ones actually change how you work.

If you’re planning how to roll this out responsibly, I’ve built a 2-week Copilot adoption playbook, complete with use cases, guardrails, and adoption steps.

👉 Comment “Copilot” and I’ll send it straight over.

Have you been keeping up with the Microsoft Fabric November updates?

Ignite happened this week and honestly, the pace of innovation is incredible.

I've just watched the latest update and there's a wave of features rolling out across the platform, from data engineering to Power BI and Copilot.

Here's what caught my attention:

1. Mirroring support for SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and Cosmos DB - bringing all your data straight into OneLake
2. Warehouse snapshots - giving analysts a consistent source of truth while ETL jobs are running
3. Data clustering in Fabric Data Warehouse - cutting query times from 40 seconds down to just 1 second
4. Read/write permissions in OneLake - enabling real collaboration without compromising governance
5. Copilot getting smarter - now identifying anti-patterns in your code and suggesting optimisations

The warehouse snapshots feature is particularly interesting. Imagine running hourly ETL jobs while your analysts query data without worrying about inconsistencies. The data engineer creates a snapshot, analysts query against it, and once ETL completes, the snapshot rolls forward seamlessly.

And the data clustering demo was impressive. same query, same data, but 97% less data scanned and a fraction of the CPU time used.

What strikes me most is how Microsoft is making Fabric more accessible without sacrificing governance or performance. Features like customer-managed keys at the workspace level and enhanced Copilot capabilities show they're thinking about both security and developer experience.

If you're working with data at scale, these updates are worth exploring.

Question - which of these November features are you most excited to try out?

Join our Microsoft Fabric - UK User Group for our latest webinar.

This session we are excited to announce our host Microsoft MVP Leon Gordon and co-host Microsoft MVP Pragati Jain will be introducing Microsoft MVP Andy Cutler.

Join the Microsoft Fabric UK - User Group on -

Microsoft Community - https://lnkd.in/dtrfGvy

LinkedIn - https://lnkd.in/dX_Ziaz

MeetUp - https://lnkd.in/d6wteZBn

Session Abstract -

Materialized Lake Views (MLVs) in Microsoft Fabric Lakehouses offer a declarative approach to building data loading and data materialization pipelines. This session introduces how MLVs simplify data loading piplines, automate refreshes, and visualize data loading lineage across the process. Attendees will learn how MLVs support integrated data quality rules, enabling trend analysis and alerting for violations, all without manual pipeline orchestration. We'll also cover current limitations and the roadmap for new feature support.

Biography

Andy Cutler is a Microsoft Azure Cloud & Fabric consultant, Data Platform MVP, and runs a UK consultancy Datahai. With over 20 years experience in Microsoft data technologies, Andy has worked with SQL Server, Azure Data Platform, Synapse Analytics Power BI, and Fabric.

Andy’s consultancy Datahai offers a range of services including assessments and reviews, architecture guidance, end-to-end data platform solutions, bespoke projects, training, & helps clients leverage existing technology investments, optimize costs and maximize the value of Azure, Fabric, & Power BI.

Social Media / Website Links

https://lnkd.in/eW69uSs9

Can Fabric Materialized Lake Views Deliver Low Effort Data Engineering?

Most data teams aren’t struggling because of skill.

They’re struggling because of complexity.

Pipelines with too many moving parts.
Manual fixes that eat entire mornings.
That constant feeling of: “We’re one error away from another fire drill.”

If you’re leading a data team, you’ve lived this:

- Late-night messages when a job fails
- “Quick requests” that are anything but
- Pressure to deliver faster with zero tolerance for mistakes

Here’s the part we rarely say out loud:

It’s not the work that’s breaking teams.
It’s the invisible steps, dependencies, and rework behind the scenes.

That’s where Copilot for Data Factory actually matters.

Not because it magically “automates everything”…
but because it strips away the friction that slows everyone down.

When complexity drops, your team finally gets space to:

- Think instead of react
- Design instead of patch
- Deliver outcomes instead of chasing errors

This isn’t about replacing people.
It’s about giving them their bandwidth back.

If your team could use more clarity in how they build and run pipelines, comment “CLARITY” — I’ll share examples, frameworks, and real-world Copilot for Data Factory workflows that actually help.

#DataLeadership #DataTeams #AIinData #MicrosoftCopilot #DataFactory #DataEngineering

Your data team isn’t overwhelmed…

Dr. Nicole Wieberneit

Valtech

Kin + Carta acquired by Valtech is a global digital transformation consultancy committed to working alongside our clients to build a world that works better for everyone. 

We’re a technology business with trust and human connection at its heart. As a Certified B Corp, our triple bottom line focus on people, the planet and profit is at the core of everything we do.

Senior Director - Global Microsoft Azure Partnerships

Scalelium

Advising startups and their founders in the growth stage on GTM topics

Co-Founder and GTM Advisor for AI Startups

aheadCRM

Nicole founded aheadCRM Ltd a CRM boutique consulting company. 
➣ Spearheaded strategic management, sales and daily operations
➣ Increased revenue with existing clients winning new projects and acquiring new clients
➣ Strategic IT/CRM consulting and implementation
➣ Responsible solution architect and team lead for several projects during her active time in New Zealand
➤ 15 contractors and FTE | Number 1 SAP CRM Consulting Company in NZ

Co-Founder and ex Co-CEO

International LEAP Network

LEAP is a private exclusive network for members of the #LeapAcademy Program: executive leaders, entrepreneurs, and high achievers from around the world who inspire and drive growth and impact on themselves, their work and their communities.

Executive Member

Microsoft

➣ Designed and executed cross-solution GTM approaches based on the principals’ customer focus, simplifying sales and AI at the core driving significant customer wins 
➣ Spearheaded a shift towards a founder’s mentality encouraged creative thinking in GTM models, challenging the traditional mindset. 
➣ Implemented a new operational model based on a hypothesis and data-driven approach, faster decision making, and plan adjustment were achieved.
➤ Roll out to the global field the first cross solution motion led to deal sizes multiplied by up to 4x, improved deal velocity (up to 3 times faster) and increase in close rates (up to 10%).
➤ 9 direct Team, +50 indirect Team | $ 250M pipe generation | customer-focused, business value, simplify | Team Operationalization

Managing Director Sales Strategy / Business Architecture Cross Solutions

➣ Drove sales strategy for the incubation solutions of Low Code/No Code, MarTech, Fraud and Mixed Reality.
➣ Collaborated on GTM to achieve the revenue goals with Finance, Marketing, Product and Sales during the yearly planning cycles, landing them in the field and providing insights and recommended actions in monthly ROB.  
➣ Crafted a visionary plan to scale the business by moving the team from a product to solution focus using the cross solutions growth potential; initiated  jump start kits focused at targeted, low friction use cases by industry 
➣ Implemented a supportive operational framework to successfully transitioning solutions from incubation to mainstream to drive clarity.
➣ Set up a data-driven feedback system across all Business Application to engineering using customer signals combined with opportunity-loss-analysis; influencing development priorities, resource allocation and headcount requests.
➤ Led the “Big Bet GTM plan” cross selling Low Code together with Azure platform. Executed the plan in close collaboration with the product, marketing and sales partners. Achieved exceptional results within 5 months growing pipeline 400% and closing 17 wins earning her a Hall of Fame Award - People.
➤ Her leadership fostered cross-collaboration, consistency, and a learning culture resulting in a high-performing, innovative team resulted in a Hall of Fame Award - People.
➤ Team 9, indirect impact 500 sellers | Product Incubation from $1M to $50M, Scaling Low Code to $800M | Sales Transformation

Managing Director Sales Strategy- Emerging Solutions Business Applications

➣ Realigned team's focus towards first-party products and changing organizational set up between sales strategist and MarTech  sellers 
➣ As the trusted advisor to the leadership team, played a pivotal role in the overarching GTM strategy for our new MarTech product addition impacting product strategy, use cases, marketing messaging and pricing
➤ Executed the second-best product launch for our CDP product supported by a Cross-Sell Sales Campaign achieving 205% of its target, while Dyn365 Marketing saw a 227% YoY growth rate (113% attainment).
➤ Ran a launch sales campaign for Customer Journey Orchestration via thought leadership webinars and creatinginternal groundswell saw a 121% growth rate for the Marketing product portfolio. 
➤ Team 5 | $150 M Revenue impact with Adobe Co-Sell | New Product Launch

Managing Sales Director - MarTech Worldwide Global Sales

➣ Led the content development for the Adobe Co-Sell GTM strategy across our primary industries. 
➣ Built a community of 'Marketing Ninjas' and conducting hackathons to collect demo and pitch assets
➣ Drove worldwide enablement efforts for the Adobe Co-Sell content, speaking as Thought Leader in internal and external events
➣ Spearheaded the technical facets of our integration requirements for a new Adobe contract, effectively representing field and customer-specific real-life use cases.

➤ Excellence Technology Solution Award for Culture for my Community Building
➤ Hit 300% (Adobe Co-Sell) and 125% (Adobe Influenced) of worldwide quota. 
➤ Industry-specific customer journey pitch deck and supporting documents widely adopted incl. customer facing event like Adobe Summit, doubling internal content download rates and top ten of BizApps Assets

CTO - Microsoft Marketing Solutions Worldwide Sales: Adobe Co-Sell and Dynamics 365 for Marketing

➣ Established as a trusted advisor in the ecosystem based on my thought leadership and 16 years of implementation experience
➣ Used a consultative selling combined with a challenger approach to streamline business processes and leverage new technology to deliver substantial business value to clients and stakeholders.
➤ Orchestrated a strategic sales campaign using a customer experience message resulting in a robust triple digit YoY revenue growth in Public Sector and Higher Education.
➤ Exceeded sales targets and quota attainment by over 150% in every year

Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Lead

Epikonic Ltd

Epikonic enables the dialogue between customer and company by delivering the tools, technologies and processes to enable and foster this dialogue. Our solutions are fun to use and improve the ability to "get the job done" while helping companies transitioning into the digital era. 

We believe in best-of-breed and in deep integration - and we believe that these principles are not in conflict with each other. Our software works platform independent while deeply integrating itself into and extending the existing system.

Co-Founder and Strategic Advisor

Auckland City Council

➣ Aligned newly designed process and system to the core values of back to standard, unified processes over all channels including web, contact and service center and using best practice for significant savings. 
➣ Turned project around that was lacking focus, strategy and integrated design by establishing a final base for the transformation and end-to-end thought through business process that have simplicity and user friendliness in its core. 
➤ Drove Implementation live on revised time and budget after project reset
➤ Team 10 | Budget $150M | End-to-end processes, user experience, best practice | Project turnaround

CRM Solution Architect and Team Lead

Fonterra

Responsible to drive business cases and design as well as implementation for SAP CRM projects

CRM Solutions Architect/Lead Consultant

Ciber

➣ Built up the CRM practice in Australia and New Zealand to 10 people; designed the product mix and service portfolio to offer to prospective customers; 
➣ Participated in pre-sales activities, wrote white papers, set up demos systems to drive reputation as the go-to-party for SAP for any topics regarding CRM consulting. 
➤ Successfully broadened the industry footprint from Retail to Consumer Products, Manufacturing and Utilities.

Solution Architect

Nicole Wieberneit Consulting

➣ CRM and strategy consulting for
- Eastman Chemical, Kingsport, TN, US
-  L’Oréal Montreal & Toronto, Canada
-  Molson Breweries Montreal, Canada

Independent Consultant

I am an award-winning Global Sales & Strategy executive and have a Doctor in Economics with over 20 years of international experience and proven track record of leading worldwide revenue growth in incubation products in highly complex matrix organizations like Microsoft or SAP. Some of my career highlights include:

•	At Microsoft, I spearheaded the growth of various emerging solutions, implementing innovative GTM strategies leaping revenues for MarTech from $2 million to $50 million, Mixed Reality to $20 million and scaled Low Code to $800 million. 
•	 Directed a transformative field sales experiment, pivoting from product-focused to AI-centered solution selling, which significantly contributed directly to a $150 M revenue increase.
•	Won several awards, such as Hall of Fame Award - People & Collaboration by partnering with and influencing leaders from other divisions to design and execute several cross-sell programs.

My personal mission and Northstar is to lead with authenticity, integrity, and courage paired with a passion for innovation and people. I strive to inspire others to join me on this journey:

I build successful teams by establishing a clear vision of aligning customer and employee experience and use low-cost efforts to scale like driving community building and worldwide enablement efforts through internal and external thought leadership activities. My goal is to capitalize on our solutions and growth opportunities and strategically scale the business with a forward-thinking plan, while promoting a founder’s mentality and encouraging creative thinking in GTM models. 

Let's connect to discuss ways to drive the success of your sales organization, increase win rates, and deliver sales excellence.

Director Sales Strategy / Business Architecture Cross Solution

A few years ago, we said, “One day, we’ll live on a boat.”

This year, we decided not to wait any longer until the perfect situation finally arrives.

Meet Be Happy, our #Excess11 catamaran, now based in #Tahiti and ready for charter this December. 🌴⛵

We didn’t sell everything or retire early. We just made a strategic move: we traded “someday” for “start now”.

Strategy still matters even when it involves turquoise water and champagne sunsets. But done is better than perfect! 

💡 Learn more about December availability → https://lnkd.in/gTQ3JSBa

#DreamsWithStrategy #LeadershipJourney #SailingBeHappy #FrenchPolynesia

Sales and GTM executive | Strategies for AI and Data Solutions | Leading high performing teams to accelerate growth | Startup advisory & strategy

Something big has been happening behind the scenes… and no, I didn’t secretly win the lottery, sell everything, or accept a mysterious $10M Chief AI Evangelist position (although if you’re hiring, call me 🤓).

We made a bold life decision, one that mixes:

✨ Adventure
✨ Strategic planning
✨ A dash of “are we really doing this?”
✨ And a whole lot of “yes, life is too short” energy

Think: ocean sunrises, turquoise water, family memories, and a new chapter where joy, experience, and salty hair are part of the career plan. 🌴⛵

And before you ask. 
No, we did not move onto a boat full-time (yet). 
No, I didn't quite my job at Valtech. 

We did however take a major step toward that dream in a way that fits real life, kids, careers, and a massive love of sunsets  and spreadsheets.

Big reveal coming soon. Let's just say its floats. 

Stay tuned. And start imagining where you’d go if you chased your dream… just a little earlier than planned.

#adventureloading #dreamsindraftmode #staytuned

Life of a working mum: Back to High School (Age of Enlightenment edition) ✨

Confession: I got “bullied” by the headmaster into going back to school today to join our teens in their learning. Guess the joy of my youngest one!  😂

AP Seminar ran an Enlightenment panel. Each student became a thinker and debated live. Think Rousseau meets TikTok debate club, but with citations.

Star of the show? Chiara our youngest as Olympe de Gouges..She walked on stage defending Women’s Rights like it was 1791 and 2025, discussing with other thinkers and challenging them with a clear thesis, razor-sharp evidence, and the kind of mic-drop that makes moms pretend they’re “not crying, just enlightened.” 🔥

What lit me up:

- Learning by embodying ideas, not memorizing dates
- Evidence > volume (can we make this a workplace policy?)
- Respectful dissent and actually drive arguments and able to change the mind to better

And yet… hearing “Olympe” argue for women’s education was a gut check. Yes, we’ve come a long way on women’s rights and roles. Just think about boardrooms, labs, cockpits, and codebases, but too often it’s snail-paced (e.g. % of women in board role hasn't moved the last 10 years in Germany) or even slipping backward (e.g. abortion rights imho)

So, here’s my mum/leader pledge:

- Call out bias AND sponsor talent
- Normalize equal pay, shared caregiving, and real parental leave
- Back policies with votes and voices
- Teach our kids (and remind our teams) that reason needs courage and momentum

If the Enlightenment was about turning on the lights, our job is to keep them on and add a few more. Proud of you, Chiara. Olympe would’ve approved. 💪 

P.S. And I now know why you drive your Dad (Thomas Wieberneit) crazy with your back talking. You love to argue. 🤣 

#WorkingMum #APSeminar #AgeOfEnlightenment #WomensRights #Equity #Inclusion #Leadership #Parenting #LifelongLearning

Helping to heal cancer with Torpedo Cells. So humbled to be a mentor for Leonardo Ferreira and Torpedo Bio on such a big mission!

Excited for Catalyst by Beemok to start with their startup event! 10 startups out of 256 going onto stage in the main competition and 3 student groups.

One couldn’t guess we are in Charleston and not Silicon Valley!

Anything worthwhile is hard. 

This was a statement during the Catalyst by Beemok fireside chat, that even several days after, I am still pondering on. 

I would have described myself for a sucker of pain, with doing a Phd in a math subject, scaling incubation products or raising kids while working full-time without family help. However, you knew that the hard work will be paying off. 

I feel like that this assumption is currently pressure tested. We are, or at least I am, currently living in a world that feels upside down: 

- The tech world is laying off thousands of people, job postings on a low and very experienced friends looking for a job since months. They apply for hundreds of jobs, networking like crazy and then getting ghosted without a word. 
- Startups finding real product-market-fit, starting to scale, but your fundraising and exit strategy is gone, if you are "only" playing in the SaaS world and not AI native. 
- Young professionals, just of university with student loans to payoff, finding it hard to get a job or even an internship. It is hard to see your own daughter, getting out of her comfort zone to put herself out there, with minimal return. 
- Having the difficult conversation early on and trying to understand root causes, why one of our big bets didn't work out. Taking yourself accountability for it and important learnings while leaders above yourself pushing any responsibility off and getting away with it. I definitely hear and see corporate politics at a high.   

Hard is the toll you pay for meaningful. It forges clarity, focus, and teams you’d like to go to sea with. The uncertainty around us just makes it harder and the path muddier. 

My opinion how to concur this: Think about the values you want to stand for, live them in your daily life and take the learnings to improve yourself. 

Unfortunately I don't see another way out. There is no instant gratification like on TikTok. If it feels heavy, you’re probably on the right path. 

Pick one hard thing today. Do it badly if you must. Then do it again. This time just better.

What’s your hard thing this week? 
Mine getting the sailboat into the harbor. 😉 

#Leadership #Resilience

If you’re an early-stage founder in Greater Charleston (or Charleston-curious 🌴) and you haven’t checked out The Harbor Accelerator yet… you’re leaving unfair advantages on the table.

Join the Chucktown U Virtual Event Series (link in the comments) about The The Harbor Entrepreneur Center and its accelerator – a cornerstone of our ecosystem that’s helped 200+ companies in the last 10 years sharpen their market validation, customer acquisition, and (yes) that all-important pitch.

What I love about Harbor: it’s built by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs. Real operators, real scars, real lessons. Add in their mentor network and “on call” subject-matter experts, and you’ve got a safe place to pressure-test your ideas before the market does it for you.

If you’re serious about turning your idea into a scalable business, join this session and see if the Harbor Accelerator is your next move.

We need to talk about this “software + services, everybody can do both now” narrative. Because it’s… not true for most of you. And pretending it is will get a lot of perfectly good firms stuck in the mushy middle. 

Yes, AI is collapsing boundaries, vendors are pushing deeper into services to drive consumption, and services firms are shipping more IP than ever. That is the direction of travel. 

But here’s the unpopular part 👇

👉 “Be a hybrid” is not a strategy. It’s an outcome for a tiny slice of the market, namely the hyperscale vendors, the global SIs with real R&D budgets, and the niche firms with a very sharp, productizable use case. For everyone else, “we do services and software” becomes code for “we now have two P&Ls starved of focus.” 

AI makes distribution and consumption the real battleground. The platform owner wants proximity to the customer because that’s where models get tuned and usage gets monetized. So if you’re a partner and you wander too far into “we’re a software company now,” you will collide at one point with your own ecosystem SaaS or AI native vendors. And they will win. They sit on the demand. 

My take:

- Pick a money lane first. Are you optimizing for high-margin, repeatable services… or for product MRR? Don’t mix unit economics.
- Productize delivery before you productize the product. Most firms still have 20–30% of delivery that could be agentized or templatized. Do that first. 
- Stay lovable to the platform. The partner playbook is changing, not disappearing. Don’t build things your vendor is clearly moving into, but extend their motion.

So yes, lines are blurring. But “lines are blurring” ≠ “everyone should blur.” Focused firms will eat the tourist hybrids. 👓⛵

Black Friday is here again. Big numbers, big expectations, and even bigger pressure on retailers to make everything look effortless.

Most retailers are spending more than ever on transformation. Few are seeing the results. What will be the outcome of Black Friday 2025? 

Our new #Valtech report Retail at the Crossroads 2026 exposes a widening gap between transformation investment and impact, unpacking the patterns behind stalled progress and the emerging moves that will define the winners of the next three years. 

Black Friday makes that gap impossible to ignore. The brands that stand out are the ones that have done the groundwork. Not the biggest discounts, but the clearest experiences. The ones that remove friction instead of adding noise.

If you work in retail and feel the strain this week, you’re not alone. The report spells out where things are stuck and what needs to shift by 2026. 

Do you want to be one of these winners for next years? It’s worth a look.
👉 Download the 2026 Retail report (link in comments)

#Retail #BlackFriday #CustomerExperience #Valtech

Emilie Robert Pascal Malotti Jean-Philippe Harrisson-Boudreau, EMBA Matthew Hildon Cami Davis David Mitten

Join us in Zurich for an inspiring, collaborative and insightful afternoon of AI.
 
During this exclusive event co-hosted by Microsoft and @Valtech, we’ll dive into how agentic AI is unlocking new possibilities and driving creativity.
 
🗓️ November 12, 2025
🕒 14:00–17:00 CET
📍 Microsoft Office, The Circle, Zurich
 
What to expect:
✔️ Shark Tank: AI Edition – Pitch your AI-powered product ideas using Microsoft technologies
✔️ Fireside Chat – Explore real-time, audience-driven AI scenarios
 
We’ll close the afternoon with an apéro and thought exchange.
 
Register now: An Afternoon of AI | Valtech & Microsoft | Valtech (registration link in comments)

ARR-per-head is exploding, but margins are whisper‑thin. Founders, here’s how to grow anyway.

Scanning recent benchmarks from #Bessemer, #Accel and #Saastr, one thing is crystal clear: AI‑native companies are redefining revenue efficiency while fighting margin headwinds.

- Revenue per employee is off the charts. Cursor clocks $6.1M ARR/FTE, Lovable $3.4M, OpenAI $1.5M and Anthropic $1.2M, versus $0.46‑0.54M for traditional SaaS . Bessemer’s “AI Supernovas” average $1.13M ARR per FTE,  about 4‑5× a typical SaaS benchmark.

- Yet gross margins lag behind old‑school software. Emerging AI leaders run 7‑40% gross margins  (Accel’s anonymised data shows similar spreads), compared to ~76% for the broader cloud index. Bessemer notes Supernovas average just ~25% gross margin , while “Shooting Stars” achieve ~60% with ~$164K ARR/FTE .

- Margin pressure is temporary. Inference costs are plummeting — GPT‑4 pricing has dropped 97% since 2023 . Model costs will keep shrinking as we shift to smaller, more efficient architectures and specialized chips.

So what does this mean for founders?

1️⃣ Don’t mistake high revenue efficiency for immunity. Massive ARR/FTE doesn’t absolve you from building a healthy business. Design a cost structure that scales as model costs fall; your gross margin should expand over time.

2️⃣ Focus on product‑led growth and user love. Many AI success stories hit $100M+ ARR in months by going viral in developer or creator communities. If your GTM still relies solely on enterprise sales, you’re burning precious cycles.

3️⃣ Pick your lane (and price) wisely. Hyper‑vertical AI or infrastructure play? SaaS solution with added AI, don't get much love nowadays not even the big ones. Supernovas sacrifice margins for growth; Shooting Stars find PMF fast and build durable economics. Know which game you’re playing and price accordingly.

4️⃣ Plan for compute and capacity constraints. CapEx and energy costs will be the gating factor for AI growth. Think about multi‑cloud and edge strategies to mitigate those bottlenecks.

5️⃣ Stay lean and data‑driven. High efficiency is earned through automation, not headcount. Design your GTM across the whole customer journey. Measure performance with metrics like gross margin‑adjusted magic number, ARR/FTE and burn multiple. Test, measure, learn and adjust faster than your competitors.

AI is bending the rules of software economics. The winners will pair revenue-per-head that makes investors swoonwith unit economics that withstand the next cycle of cost deflation.

--------------------
🌟 I am Dr. Nicole Wieberneit
🚀 I post on GTM, AI and authentic leadership
👉 Connect with me via DM or connection request

Everyone in enterprise software says “we’re a platform.” Spoiler: most aren’t.

Here’s what actually shows up in the field, and why it matters.

1️⃣ A real platform is not just “multiple SKUs.”
It’s something customers cannot run the business without. It sits in core workflows, becomes the system of record, and earns the right to keep expanding into adjacent problems. At that point, the customer’s roadmap quietly becomes the vendor’s roadmap.

👉 Partnership impact:
When a customer is already treating a vendor like operating infrastructure, I’m not selling a project — I’m accelerating an outcome they’ve already budgeted for. That’s a very different services motion than trying to justify a net-new tool.

2️⃣ Trust compounds into ecosystem gravity.
True platforms win a weird kind of trust: “If they build it, we’ll buy it.” That creates a flywheel: customers standardize on the platform, then partners (GSIs, consultants, integrators, boutique specialists) standardize around that stack, which makes the platform even stickier inside the enterprise.

👉 Partnership impact:
This is where SIs can move fast and actually be scalable. They can build repeatable industry plays, certifications, accelerators, and co-sell motions because (a) there’s executive air cover, and (b) the work touches multiple functions and not just one team’s pet tool. Translation: less chasing budget, more attaching to strategic spend.

3️⃣ Scale stops being “more users” and starts being “better product.”
In real platforms, every new module, workflow, and integration feeds data back into the core, which then improves the next module. That compounding loop, not just extensibility, but continuous reinforcement, is why these companies break out.

👉 Partnership impact:
An SI can walk into a CFO conversation and say, “You already own 70% of this capability. Let’s light up the rest, unify the workflow, and measure the impact in margin, cycle time, and retention.” That is a board conversation. Not “please approve a pilot.”

4️⃣ AI raises the stakes.
We’re now watching platforms evolve from “system of record + workflow” to “system of execution.” The serious ones aren’t just giving you an assistant that drafts an email. They’re wiring memory, context, guardrails, and action into core processes like resolving tickets, closing loops, enforcing policy, coordinating handoffs.

👉 Partnership impact:
This is the crossover moment for GSIs. Because the work stops being, “integrate Tool A with Tool B,” and becomes, “redesign how work flows across departments and prove the business result.” 

That’s the transformation lane. 

This is the quiet shift in enterprise GTM right now:
Platforms aren’t winning because they have more features.
They’re winning because they’ve become where work actually happens.

And that changes how partnerships are built, funded, and scaled.

Scrolling through this year’s Microsoft Partner of the Year winners & finalists and a few things really stand out! 

1️⃣ AI isn’t a category anymore, it’s the baseline and a must have. From Innovate with Azure AI to Business Apps, the common thread is partners turning Copilot + Azure AI into measurable outcomes, not slideware.  

2️⃣ Deep industry & workload focus wins. Look at the Business Apps awards  Finance, Supply Chain, Sales & Customer Insights, Service as well as the Industry category.  It’s all about partners who live and breathe a domain and wire Microsoft Cloud around real processes, not generic “digital transformation.”  

3️⃣ The ecosystem is a spectrum, not a hierarchy. Global SIs, ISVs, regional specialists and startups all show up in the list. That mix is exactly why the Microsoft ecosystem is so hard to beat. I especially love the startup category and believe this will be a big growth driver not only for Microsoft, but also for ITS providers who bring them into their offerings. 

Huge congratulations to all 2025 winners and finalists! You’re setting the bar for what Frontier Firm capability with Microsoft Cloud & AI actually looks like in the wild.

If you’re in this ecosystem and not treating this page like a GTM playbook, you’re missing a trick 👇
🔗 https://lnkd.in/gJZCQMGc

Open article: Partner of the Year Awards Winners by partner.microsoft.com

Am I missing something? I just walked by the first Xmas tree in a house. 

Are our seasons going upside down? 

I am aware that Costco has them for sales since a few weeks. They want to be ahead if the curbe. However how much is too much for these retailers sales campaigns?

“Welcome to the age of return‑on‑watts”

If you’re a systems integrator or SaaS partner, Accel's 2025 Globalscape report is a gift wrapped in a warning. 

On one hand, AI‑native vendors are scaling ARR per employee faster than we’ve ever seen. On the other, their gross margins are a fraction of classic SaaS, with many looking more like services businesses than software. 

This creates a huge consulting opportunity: help customers turn compute into cash.

Consider the infrastructure: Accel predicts 117 GW of new AI capacity by 2030 and notes that 55 % of that build‑out is already committed. Yet the US faces a 36 GW electricity shortfall for data centers between 2025–28. This is equivalent to 1,530 km² of solar panels or 35 nuclear reactors. 

👉 Energy, not capital, will be the bottleneck. 

As compute costs drop, clients will need architectures that choose the right model at the right cost.

This is where SIs shine. The next wave isn’t about “Can we build this?” but “Should we build this on a frontier model or something smaller?” 

Clients need governance, data plumbing, change management and pricing models that reflect value delivered, not tokens consumed. 

What is interesting Europe’s edge isn’t hyperscale infra; it’s deep domain expertise and local compliance. There are some great companies crashing it in this area.

👉 Partner with hyperscalers for distribution, drive with domain knowledge and partner with industry leaders, but own the customer relationship and semantics.

In other words, stop selling AI as magic. Start selling return‑on‑watts and watch your services pipeline explode.

Proud to see Valtech recognized as a Visionary in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Experience Services. We believe it is a powerful reflection of our belief that experience innovation is the future of transformation, and that AI will unlock what’s next.

We’re entering a new era of digital experience, one defined by AI, accelerated change and rising expectations. 

Being recognized by Gartner® as a Visionary in the 2025 Magic Quadrant™ for Digital Experience Services reinforces what we’re already building with our clients every day.

At Valtech, we’re focused on helping organizations move quickly, design smarter enterprises and unlock new growth through experience innovation. From agentic AI and autonomous design to global, AI-powered delivery models and outcome-based partnerships, we’re shaping what’s next with the brands that are ready to lead.

This recognition is an important milestone, but it’s also fuel. There’s more to build, more to imagine and more opportunities to redefine how people experience the world.

You can read the full announcement here: https://okt.to/w5MOYh

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