Otter.ai appoints first channel leader to build global partner ecosystem

Otter.ai has appointed Mike Barnes as its first head of partnerships and alliances, as the AI software specialist looks to build out its global partner ecosystem and accelerate its enterprise growth.

Barnes is tasked with building and scaling the vendor’s channel ecosystem across the US, UK, and Europe, with an initial focus on recruiting technology partners, resellers, MSPs, systems integrators, and distributors.

He joins the business from Gainsight, where he most recently led partnerships, and brings more than two decades of experience across channel and partnership roles in enterprise software and marketing technology.

In an announcement, Otter.ai CEO and co-founder Sam Liang described Barnes’ appointment as an “important step” in the expansion of the company’s enterprise growth strategy.

“Mike has spent his career building successful partner ecosystems and understands what it takes to create value for both partners and customers,” he commented. “His experience will be instrumental as we expand our enterprise reach through the channel.”

Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Otter.ai develops conversational AI designed to capture and structure knowledge from workplace conversations.

The firm’s platform automatically transcribes meetings and calls, generating insights and action items that can be shared across teams and integrated into existing workflows.

With the platform now used by more than 35 million professionals globally, the company is looking to expand its offering beyond meeting transcription towards becoming a tool for capturing institutional knowledge from across the wider enterprise.

Building a channel ecosystem

Barnes’ appointment marks the beginning of Otter’s plans to build a structured partner program from scratch, with the first phase to focus on partner recruitment, foundational go-to-market activity, and early lighthouse partnerships.

According to the vendor, the second phase will expand partner enablement, training, support, co-selling, and co-marketing resources, with the company also planning to develop regional growth opportunities across its priority markets.

Otter said it is looking to work with partners capable of helping enterprises deploy conversational AI across areas including sales, customer success, operations, media, education, financial services, and construction.

Commenting on his new role, Barnes said partnerships will play a key role in helping enterprises connect Otter’s AI capabilities with the systems and workflows they already use.

“As more enterprises adopt AI across their business, those tools are only as valuable as the context they can access,” he explained. “Partnerships will be critical to bringing Otter’s conversational knowledge into the systems, workflows, and teams where work happens. I’m excited to help build the ecosystem that makes that possible.”

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