With autumn now in full swing, it’s that time of year where many of us are starting to focus seriously on planning what it’s going to take to accomplish our business goals in the coming fiscal year. For many of you, that means looking for new ways to drive sales channel growth. Cameron Avery has a take on a powerful strategic direction: “Bear hug your partners,” says Cam.

Cam is currently the SVP of Business Development at Zift Solutions, fresh off of Zift’s acquisition of Elastic Grid, the company he started in his Australian beach house back in 2001. With a serious background in the technology space and an ever-expanding view of the partner world in everything from consumer electronics to the oil and gas business, Cam has a hot take on what it takes to foster meaning sales channel growth.