Google Partnership Strategy - Build Rapport with Tissa

February 5, 2026 at 5:33 PMstrategyhigh

Situation

Decided to shift the Google contract renegotiation strategy from confrontational to collaborative. Peter will personally meet with Tissa (Google) to build rapport and empathy, framing CIQ's financial pain as a shared problem to solve together. Greg will be excluded from this meeting to ensure a non-antagonistic conversation.

Reasoning

The current contract is underwater and consuming key resources (Skip), making it unsustainable. Confrontational negotiation with a large partner like Google won't work - they have all the leverage. Building a personal relationship with Tissa creates an internal champion who can advocate for CIQ's needs. Excluding Greg is intentional to enable relationship-building without his more direct style.

Additional Context

The Google contract lacks boundaries, forcing CIQ to absorb all scope creep. The RESF's potential halt of SIG Cloud kernel support creates additional urgency - new uncontracted workload looming. Meeting planned for last week of February after Dubai trip.

Observed Evidence

From Fathom summary: 'Strategy: Shift from a confrontational negotiation to a collaborative partnership. Peter will meet Tissa to build rapport and empathy, framing the issue as a shared problem to solve.' Action item: Kelly to schedule in-person lunch with Tissa + Peter (no Greg) for last week of Feb.

Matching Patterns

70%
Executive Sponsorship for Strategic Partnerships(strategic partnership, cross-company initiative, executive-level engagement required)

Confidence Breakdown

30/35
Evidence
25/30
Pattern
18/20
Source
12/15
Corroboration

Reasoning Depth Analysis

Org Signal:Peter is taking personal ownership of the most problematic customer relationship
Who Affected:Skip and engineering team currently overloaded on Google work; Kelly's role changes from negotiator to facilitator
Precedent:Establishes that unsustainable contracts get executive attention and strategic relationship repair, not just complaint escalation
Consequences:If successful, creates path to contract renegotiation with internal Google champion; if unsuccessful, CIQ continues bleeding resources
Timing:RESF kernel support issue adds urgency - new uncontracted workload looming by Feb 7 decision

Source

reflection

AI Confidence

90%

Related Context

🎥
Kelly <> Peter Sync

fathom

Peter's goal is to shift the relationship from transactional to a true partnership. The contract is unsustainable and killing us - not a negotiation tactic.

Outcome

No outcome recorded yet.

Decision ID: 34bf9379-3f6f-4aed-89a3-71320cbf695a