The market has never been better for Cloud GTM

Enterprise buyers increasingly start procurement with “we have cloud commits to use.” Hyperscaler CapEx is expected to reach $550B+ across the Big 3 clouds this year. AI is accelerating cloud consumption and creating new buying paths.

But many teams still struggle to turn marketplace presence into repeatable revenue.

Five patterns that keep holding teams back:

1. They list, but don’t build a system

Getting listed on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud Marketplace is (still!) treated as the finish line. It is only the starting point.

The teams that scale build the full operating system around it: sales process, cloud alignment, marketplace operations, enablement, and channel integration. Listing without GTM infrastructure is like launching a product with no distribution.

2. They chase cloud sellers without a clear ask

Most teams want co-sell support from hyperscalers. Few make it easy for cloud sellers to understand why the deal matters — to the customer and to the cloud provider’s own priorities.

Co-sell works when the ask is specific, structured, and tied to real customer and cloud outcomes. Not “any help is appreciated.”

3. Sales stays on the sideline

Marketplace is still treated as a partnerships initiative in too many companies. That caps growth.

The companies scaling fastest embed marketplace into the sales motion. Sellers know when to introduce it, how to qualify cloud budget, and how to use marketplace to cut procurement friction. Without sales buy-in, marketplace stays a side project.

4. No shared KPIs or internal business case

Cloud GTM touches partnerships, sales, finance, product, legal, and leadership. When each team defines it differently, execution stalls.

The strongest teams align around clear KPIs, realistic expectations, and shared ownership of the revenue role marketplace should play. That alignment starts with one internal business case — not five.

5. Marketplace, co-sell, and channel stay fragmented

Marketplace is not just procurement. Co-sell is not just partner management. Channel is not a separate workstream.

The teams that scale connect these motions into one system — where cloud providers, sellers, internal teams, and partners reinforce each other deal by deal.

These are exactly the gaps we work through in Cloud GTM Leader

Cloud GTM Leader is our 5-week cohort course for alliance and Cloud GTM leaders building repeatable growth across AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud.

Inside the course: marketplace strategy across maturity stages, co-sell motions that work, internal buy-in with CEO/CRO/CFO, sales enablement, KPIs, business case frameworks, and partner-led growth.

Our summer cohort starts tomorrow - June 2

If you want to turn marketplace into a real growth driver — not just push isolated deals through it — this is what we work on for 5 weeks.

Join the June 2 Cohort

Is your team building a Cloud GTM system - or still running marketplace as a project?