From 0 to Marketplace Partner of the Year in Months

Nadav Tzuker from Wiz, a 2X winner of the 🏆 AWS Marketplace Partner of the Year award, recently shared his insights in our Cloud GTM Leader course about the significant shift towards cloud marketplaces and how ISVs can accelerate their growth with smart co-marketing and co-sell strategies.

🎯 "2024 is going to be the year of the marketplace battles," says Nadav, Cloud Alliance Manager at Wiz, as he shared the incredible success story of Wiz, a leading cybersecurity company that exemplifies marketplace mastery.

Last week at re:Invent, Wiz won the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace Partner of the Year title for the second consecutive year.

Wiz's journey began just in 2020, launching in all three major cloud marketplaces and quickly becoming the fastest SaaS company to achieve $100 million in ARR. The majority of Wiz's revenue is generated via cloud marketplaces, highlighting the immense potential of these platforms.

Wiz excels in co-marketing with hyperscalers. Here are key takeaways for companies aiming to replicate their success:

📈 Embrace the Marketplace Era

The cloud marketplace is rapidly becoming a vital component of ISV partnerships. Deals are increasingly shifting towards cloud marketplaces, driven by customer preferences to simplify procurement and ability to buy with cloud commitments like AWS EDPs and Microsoft MACCs.

📊 Five Pillars of Effective Cloud Alliances

Nadav emphasizes the need to address all 5 pillars of Cloud GTM for successful cloud partnerships:

✔️ Your Role as a Customer

Leverage both your status as a customer and a partner of cloud providers - this dual engagement can lead to benefits in both areas.

✔️ Co-marketing

✔️ Product Integration

✔️ Co-selling

✔️ Marketplace Presence

🗽 Start with Co-Marketing and Co-Sell

“Start with co-marketing because that's something you can do without being one of the top 10 ISVs."

Wiz's strategy of maximizing conference participation, leveraging cloud marketing funds and collaborating with CSP marketing teams underlines the importance of visibility and proactive networking. Their success in gaining significant exposure without direct costs offers a strategic lesson in marketing and relationship building.

🤝 Invest in Dedicated Resources

Nadav stresses the importance of having dedicated individuals or teams focused on cloud alliances to ensure deeper and more effective engagement with CSPs. If your CEO or CTO is spending 5% of their time on it, it’s unlikely to become successful.

The key takeaway? Excelling in the cloud marketplace involves strategic engagement, proactive marketing, and forging strong relationships with cloud service providers from sales to product teams.

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📈 Accelerate your Growth in Cloud Marketplaces

Transform your marketplace strategy with first-hand insights from Cloud GTM leaders in our 5-week cohort course. Learn in a community of great alliance leaders. Join 100+ alums from companies like GitLab, Darktrace, IDC and others.

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