Cloud Co-Sell Secrets: Rethinking Partner Sourced Revenue

Is Partner Sourced Revenue the 💎 Holy Grail, or are we missing the bigger picture with hyperscalers?

As Cloud GTM evolves, a crucial question emerges: Should we fixate on Hyperscaler Sourced Revenue, or are Partner Influenced deals already major wins? The answer shapes expectations for both sellers and executives.

Mike Marzano, Head of Global Cloud Alliances at Contentsquare, shared his insights with us.

🏆 Mike has an exceptional track record in Cloud GTM. Under his leadership, Contentsquare has leaned into cloud alliances and, over the last two years, achieved incredible traction on cloud marketplaces:

✔️ It won the Microsoft ISV 2023 Partner of the Year Award.

✔️ Amazon Web Services (AWS) just published a case study showcasing Contentsquare's remarkable cloud marketplace traction.

Mike highlighted three non-negotiables for successful co-selling:

1️⃣ Approach hyperscalers with a clear value proposition, robust pipeline, and registered deals.

2️⃣ Position your product as a solution to specific customer challenges, emphasizing how it helps hyperscalers win more deals or sell more first-party services.

3️⃣ Align with strategic cloud technologies. If you can fit your product into AI or co-pilots narrative, showing how you enhance the value of cloud solutions or drive first-party service consumption, you'll stand out.

💡 But here's where it gets interesting.

Many companies new to cloud marketplaces aim straight for Partner Sourced deals - the elusive 100/100 hit rate. It's tempting, but is it the right approach?

Aim too high, and you risk disillusionment.

Aim too low, and you're leaving money on the table.

The lucrative sweet spot? Partner Impacted Business.

🥇 Hyperscalers have unique superpowers in co-sell, because they can:

Provide insights to your sellers about target customers

Engage directly with customers to drive solutions including your products

Assist in selling your product through the marketplace, benefiting the customer, hyperscaler, and you

Brainstorm joint solutions that will better fit customer use cases and sell faster

💰 The outcome of this:

shorter sales cycles,

increased deal sizes,

closing a higher percentage of deals through the marketplace.

As a result hypercalers can influence a significant portion of your pipeline, making the marketplace route highly strategic for your company.

So, is Partner Sourced Revenue the end-all-be-all? Or are we overlooking the transformative power of Partner Influenced deals?

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