Keynote speaker on AI, partnerships, and leadership

Cindy Zu speaks about AI, partnerships, growth, and leadership in moments of change. Drawing on more than 15 years across technology, cloud, fintech, and enterprise software, she helps audiences make sense of emerging markets, build stronger ecosystems, and lead with confidence when the playbook is still being written.

AI, Partnerships, and GTM

Running Partnerships at an AI-Native Company

Running partnerships at an AI-native company is not the job you trained for. The category is forming in real time. Your partners may be frontier model labs, and the reference architectures you relied on at your last company may not exist yet.
At an AI-native company, partnership decisions can affect model capability, agent runtime performance, token spend, and unit economics. Cindy shares how to make informed bets when there is no precedent to lean on, and what it takes to build the ecosystem map while the ground is still moving.
Drawing on experience building partner revenue at Highspot, cloud GTM partnerships at Tackle, and AI partnerships at AirOps, Cindy offers an honest view of how the role is being rewritten and how to identify partnership leaders who are equipped for this new world.

Leadership, Resilience, and Community

Thriving in Chaos: Leading Through Change Without Losing Yourself

A practical leadership talk about building resilience, staying adaptable, and moving through personal and professional change with clarity and community.

The Leadership Advantage of Curiosity, Resilience, and Community

How leaders can use curiosity, meaningful relationships, and personal resilience to navigate uncertainty and create opportunity for the people around them.

Women in Technology: Building Influence, Opportunity, and Stronger Ecosystems

A conversation about expanding access, building professional community, and helping more women create influence and opportunity in technology.

Book Cindy to Speak

Cindy is available for keynotes, panels, workshops, executive offsites, and partner events. To inquire, share your event date, audience, format, and the outcome you want the session to create.

Inquire about a speaking engagement

Upcoming speaking engagements

Catalyst 26

There Is No Playbook: Running Partnerships at an AI-Native Company
August 25–26, 2026 , Brooklyn, New York

Cindy will speak about how AI-native companies are making their first partnerships hires, placing bets without an established playbook, and deciding what they need from service partners.

Learn more about Catalyst 26

Thriving in Chaos 2026

Leadership, resilience, and thriving through change
Friday, September 18, 2026
Red Ventures

Cindy will open the event with a leadership-focused session on resilience, embracing change, and building a career and community through dynamic seasons.

Event details and registration

Past Speaking Engagements