Vince Menzione

Founder of Cloud Wave Partners LLC

I help technology leaders thrive in an era of rapid, tectonic change—mastering Microsoft, AWS, and Google partnerships to drive growth, innovation, and impact.

From scaling startups to leading a $4.6B business at Microsoft, I’ve learned one enduring truth: success is built on meaningful connections—between people, ideas, and opportunities. And the multiplier is always trust.

I was raised in a close-knit Italian family in New Jersey. My grandfather arrived in the U.S. with $20 in his pocket and built sustainable businesses through grit and determination. My dad—an Army veteran of WWII—taught me that integrity and trust aren’t “nice to have.” They’re everything. Those lessons became the foundation of my leadership.

I’ve spent my career building—and rebuilding—organizations through partnerships:

In the startup world, I helped scale a company from $6M to $125M and to a successful public exit.

At General Dynamics, I turned around a struggling division—driving exponential growth, securing $20M in defense appropriations, and delivering roughly a third of the company’s revenue by aligning partners around execution.

Then came nearly a decade at Microsoft, where I led the U.S. Public Sector Partner business through a major transformation. We grew revenue from $2.5B to $4.6B, helped shape the modern cloud reseller model, and built high-performing teams known for alignment, results, and credibility.

But along the way, I saw a gap: leaders didn’t just need strategy decks. They needed focus, practical frameworks, and a trusted space to learn from one another.

So in 2017, I founded Ultimate Partner® to be that compass for technology leaders navigating ecosystem-led growth. Through the Ultimate Guide to Partnering® podcast (270+ episodes) and Ultimate Partner LIVE events, I bring together top voices from Microsoft, AWS, Google, and the broader partner ecosystem. I also developed the 8 Principles of Partnering Success—a practical framework leaders use to align strategy and drive measurable outcomes.

My mission is simple: empower leaders and their organizations to grow with clarity, connection, and credibility—building partnerships that scale with purpose.

If you’re building in the hyperscaler ecosystem—and want to grow faster, execute better, and lead with trust—let’s connect.

Founder

Over six years ago, I embarked on a mission to empower partners struggling to navigate the complex world of tech giants like Microsoft, Google, and AWS. 

Having witnessed the industry from multiple perspectives – leading a $4.6 billion Ecosystem at Microsoft, spearheading partnerships for a billion-dollar company, and hosting 200 episodes of the Ultimate Guide to Partnering®, I’ve gained invaluable insights and crafted a manifesto of principles to guide your success.

In an era defined by tectonic shifts, such as the global pandemic, economic headwinds, and the rise of AI, the role of hyperscalers has become increasingly critical. With investments of billions of dollars in ecosystems, technology, and customer acquisition costs, they have secured over $200 billion in customer commitments to durable cloud budgets. We stand on the precipice of a marketplace moment where simplifying and streamlining economic models associated with co-selling and ecosystem-led growth will shape the decade ahead.

Yet, as vendors and organizations demand more from us while resources diminish, we ask, “Where do we go? How do we navigate these seismic shifts? How do we thrive during this decade of the ecosystem?”

If you’re a partner, you’re likely grappling with these questions. The watering holes of the past no longer offer the guidance required to transform into a Cloud GTM and embrace Ecosystem Led Growth. That’s why Ultimate Partner exists – to be your trusted compass amidst the noise.

Visit our website, tune into Ultimate Guide to Partnering and join The Ultimate Partner LIVE events.

Kansas City AI Club

Leading the Kansas City AI Club as President, focused on strategic growth, partnerships, and community impact.

Overseeing board initiatives, sponsorships, and event programming, while strengthening our role as a regional hub for AI collaboration.

Driving efforts to expand access to AI education and workforce development across industries, students, and community groups.

President

Supported founder’s vision for growing Kansas City’s AI ecosystem by leading outreach, education, and partnership initiatives.

Helped organize panels, networking events, and workshops, fostering connections between industry leaders, startups, students, and educators.

Championed AI for good, expanding conversations around ethics, accessibility, and real-world applications.

Vice President

Built and maintained the official KCAIC website (kansascity.ai), ensuring accessibility, SEO optimization, and smooth event promotion.

Launched and managed the KCAIC YouTube channel to amplify community voices and extend event reach.

Provided technical support for event registrations, video, photography, and digital communications.

Webmaster

Dynamic Consultants Group

What started as a short-term consulting project to fix failing paid ads grew into a multi-year journey transforming DCG’s digital engine into a record-breaking lead machine.

In my first 90 days, I rebuilt campaigns from the ground up and quickly uncovered a deeper bottleneck: the website itself. By overhauling landing pages, redesigning CTAs, and guiding UX improvements, I turned a static site into a conversion-ready growth platform. That momentum carried forward as I joined full-time to train the marketing team, scale lead gen, and modernize the tech stack. From 2019 through 2025, DCG has broken lead records every single year with stronger ICP alignment, measurable ROI, and resilient systems that keep compounding.

Key Milestones & Impact

🚀 4× Increase in Qualified Leads – Scaled organic, paid, and referral traffic using full-funnel SEO, high-converting content, and CRO testing

🛠️ Revamped Martech Stack – Integrated ActiveCampaign, Looker Studio, Power BI, Microsoft Customer Insights, and Visual Visitor to unify analytics, optimize targeting, and tighten sales alignment

🌐 Web Rebuilds That Unlocked Growth – Stabilized a broken WordPress site, then migrated to Webflow + Cloudflare for faster speed, uptime, and creative control

🤖 AI-Driven Recovery & Resilience – Leveraged AI tools (ChatGPT and others) to diagnose and patch a critical SQL injection, keeping revenue pipelines alive during crisis

📈 Team Growth & Mentorship – Built new processes, mentored in-house and offshore talent, and created scalable systems that delivered results without bottlenecking on individuals

Results: Transformed a broken funnel into a high-performance growth engine delivering better leads, faster sales cycles, and year-over-year growth that outpaced company targets.

Director of Search

Sunlighten

I had the pleasure to work with an in-house marketing team, focused on building & optimizing multiple websites including their day spa. My responsibility was to target those in need of infrared sauna technology and get those visitors to fill out a lead form for our sales team to contact. 

I managed Facebook, BingAds, Google Ads with a budget of $40,000 - $60,000 per month. 
One of the largest accomplishments had been the reduction of Cost Per Lead from an average of $90 to $300 down to sometimes one dollar with an average of $10 - $40 with high ROI typical $3,000 or more per sale.

Other Responsibilities:

- Wordpress Builds & Maintenance 
- Website Security
- Optimization of Site Speed
- IT Support

Technical SEO / PPC / CRO Specialist

William Rock Consulting

True Geek in every way possible, I enjoy technology and feel it is my destiny to keep companies not only SAFE ONLINE but to help them GROW their Internet Traffic into qualified leads.

Internet Marketing Specialist focused on Leads / Sales

BeyondROI

My Responsibilities included the Management of the Platinum Accounts with a continued effort of optimizing Google Adwords, Google Merchant Center, Bing Ads alongside with identifying low hanging fruit opportunities within Google Analytics.

Lead Semantic Search Analyst

Brandon & Brandon Inc.

I have worked with Brandon & Brandon, Inc. since 2007 as a consultant and in 2013; I made the leap to their main contractor for SEO/Google Analytics and AdWords Specialist.  By working together, we have created complete and affordable packages for all companies local to the Kansas City and Surrounding Areas as well clients all around the USA. 

Currently, we assist clients with their online web presence from webpage build outs, unique content bundles to social media marketing. As well as branded material such as pamphlets, business cards and rack cards for mailers and full Video Production for clients.  
The Brandon & Brandon team are #ROCKSTARS on their Design Eye for Awesome Customizable Solutions    ... 

Many have asked me questions like = Who Do I Trust for a properly built website with a powerful web presence? 

I trust Brandon & Brandon, Inc.  

For more information regarding website design, multimedia assistance and of course creating a stronger Google presence, give Brandon & Brandon a call! They are #ROCKSTARS 
913-663-2569

Internet Marketing Manager

Fishing Tackle Forum LLC.

Fishing Tackle Forum LLC. was created to help find product manufactures and expose their product to the public. This does not only helps them in product distribution but allows us fishermen a chance to fish with new products and test what we do best. We offer a service that helps promote products or services for the fishing industry.

HalfPriceBanners.com

My responsibilities include managing a complete online business selling vinyl banners and other promotion signage. My responsibilities include Paid advertising, SEO, Social Media, Video and develop extensive monthly reports for management to show our gains and or losses. Since I started in July Half Price Banners had very little organic traffic from the search engines and relied only on paid traffic from Google Adwords. Half Price Banners was spending 60 -80K per month on advertising on Google Adwords, I was able to modify the campaign and within 3 month decrease the monthly spend to 30-40k while at the same time increasing conversions. Within a few Months my other accomplishments was to quickly increase the organic rankings on the search engines, allowing us to gain double the business.

eCommerce Director of Marketing

NetStandard Inc.

Developed SEO Strategy and Executed a successful campaign - Managed Content Writers - Maintained All Website Modifications - Produced corporate videos - Developed Trade show material and booth design NetStandard Inc. was at far the most difficult industry, I needed to rank in organic search with most of the keywords being just as hard as the credit card processing. My tasks included maintaining the online website, Social Media Campaigns, Print Media, and Trade Show Design, Video as well as many other duties. I was able to rank for over 1,000K + organic keywords resulting in online lead generation tracked through Microsoft CRM with profits analyzed with Microsoft GP. I ranked for root terms such as “Hosted Microsoft CRM “, “Kansas City Data Center”, as well many other manufacture type keywords putting the company above its competition and showcasing to the partners we are at the top of our game, this bringing us additional marketing dollars to spend generate more leads from the website. I was given the opportunity to acquire a large amount skills focused around conversion analytics and competitive analysis helping my fly by and take the tops results next to the big boys. Another opportunity I had was to shoot videos for both advertisement of the company not only getting the branding out on Google results but was able to bring the same exposure to some fantastic charity groups to help drive awareness to their cause through YouTube. I was given a camera and learned how to optimize video to rank well for very competitive keywords increasing the lead generation. Not only did I shoot the video but edited the film similar to a commercial, as well creating viral videos that would be shown at our Microsoft Partner conference, later being nominated for an award at the Kansas Business Association competing with other local marketing agencies. One of our many goals for ranking in the organic results led to a reduction in paid advertising spending.

Internet Marketing Specialist

Bankcard Central

Developed SEO Strategy and Executed a successful campaign - Managed Content Writers - Maintained All Website Modifications While working with Choppers Apparel Rick Noble offered me a life changing job and moved my family out to Kansas City. Credit card processing is a huge industry and highly competitive. The PPC prices were over the $20 limit and some of the higher ranking words were more. It was imperative that Bank Card Central ranked very high in the organic search to avoid the high priced clicks of Google ad words. My duties were to do a complete redesign with their existing site, do the PPC campaign along with internet marketing and social media. I maintained the site and constantly changed the interior of the site to keep up with the newer technology with credit card processing.

With over 27 years of expertise in technology, digital marketing, and online security, I am passionate about driving business growth, fostering innovation, and nurturing communities. Since starting my career in 1998, I have continuously adapted to the evolving digital landscape, delivering impactful solutions that blend strategy, analytics, and creativity to achieve measurable results.

My approach blends decades of experience in ethical SEO with a deep understanding of Google’s algorithm updates going back to the early 2000s, when keywords could be bought for just a penny. I bring a strong background in marketing-based artificial intelligence and website security, paired with a passion for mentoring the next generation of tech leaders and empowering local businesses through community-driven initiatives.


Core Competencies

Marketing Growth Strategy & Execution

Paid Advertising (PPC, LinkedIn, Reddit, Bing, Google, Facebook +)

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) ICP Lead Generation, Technical SEO, AIO, AI Strategy, White Hat Marketing 

Digital Transformation & Technical Migration

WordPress Development / Designer 

Webflow & Cloudflare Infrastructure Management & Migration to Enterprise 

Cybersecurity Awareness for Digital Assets

Data-Driven Decision-Making & Reporting

Leadership, Mentoring, and Team Development

Privacy Compliance & Email Deliverability Strategy



Innovation & Community

- Patent Holder: US Patent 18/052,691 Sauna System with Communication, Networking & Infrastructure

- Google Product Expert: Platinum-level contributor supporting businesses with Search, Maps, website visibility, and ranking challenges

- Local Guides Community Moderator: Helping small businesses shine on Google Maps

- Mentor @ Blue Valley CAPS: Teaching the next generation of marketers, creators, and analysts



Outside the Office: Fishing & Community Impact

When I’m not immersed in strategy or AI, I’m on the water chasing largemouth bass, white bass, crappie, and a much-needed break from the screen. Rain, wind, or brutal subzero temps, I fish year-round often bundled in my Striker Ice float suit with my Garmin electrics by my side.

I’m passionate about inclusive outdoor experiences, mentoring through youth programs, and supporting community-based fishing education and conservation efforts like FishKS.


Let’s Connect

Whether it’s AI, digital transformation, or reeling in new opportunities, I believe the best results come from innovation, curiosity, and collaboration.

taplio

The Battle

Vince Menzione

William Rock

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?