Mastering Cloud GTM: Public vs. Private Offers

In cloud marketplaces, understanding where to use Public and Private Offers is key to unlocking traction.

Let's break down their potential and impact.

💳 Public Offers - PAYG on Cloud Marketplaces

Public offers are essentially self-serve purchases - they are used today by customers who directly buy low-to-mid cost pay-as-you-go (PAYG) products on marketplaces (MPs).

Price: $ to $$

User Personas: An example is a cloud architect seeking quick access to software solutions.

What Users Value: Ease of use and seamless integration with existing PAYG services.

💵 Private Offers: The Revenue Drivers Today

Private Offers are bespoke contracts used on MPs for higher-priced, contract-based commitments.

Price: $$ to $$$

User Personas: Those committing to large 2-3 year contracts differ from smaller PAYG buyers.

What Users Value: Bespoke terms and configuration. Many procurement teams may not even engage with $$$ offerings on MPs without deeper discussions/negotiations.

Boston Consulting Group (BCG)'s 2023 research (see slide) highlights that Private Offers contribute up to 80% of MP revenue. This mirrors our Cloud GTM Leader members’ experiences - most companies leverage Private Offers.

🛒 The SaaS Free Trial Strategy

Free trials are emerging as a promising middle ground to maintain visibility while catering to the right user personas, for example on AWS MP. With free trials, ISVs can place their product in potential users' hands, fostering a smoother transition to larger commitments. Once users appreciate the product value, ISVs can engage with their procurement for private offers, selling longer-term contracts.

For ISVs with high LTV products, leveraging both free trials and private offers can result in a more effective sales strategy, tapping into the right customer personas at different stages of the buying journey.

🔀 A Potential Shift?

John Jahnke, CEO of Tackle.io, highlighted in our “How to Win in Cloud GTM” event in December that a growing number of companies are trying to enable customers to start their buying journey on MPs.

“Product led sales through marketplace - this was a new frontier this year…We're seeing this really come to life where at scale private offer sellers are saying:

“I've nailed the way private offers work. My enterprise sales team knows how to take advantage of this. We still have growth and lots of growth to come. But now we want to figure out how to improve top of funnel, how to integrate marketplace higher up into our process early or into our customer journey. That requires some more complicated listing types and potentially even more sophisticated integrations…”

When these large sellers are saying “I want someone to initiate their journey on marketplace”, that's a change from using marketplace as a distribution fulfillment vehicle and I do think that shift in buyer behavior is a great signal.”

What’s been your experience?

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