265 – From First Click to $1B: Winning in the Cloud Marketplace Era

Recorded Live at Ultimate Partner LIVE in Redmond, WA

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Is your business ready for 2026?

Welcome back to the Ultimate Partner® Podcast.

Join industry leaders John Janke of Tackle.io and Shane Wilson of Cohesity as they delve into the transformative power of cloud marketplaces. This engaging discussion explores the evolution of marketplace adoption, from its early pioneering days to its current status as a multi-billion dollar opportunity. Discover how buyer behavior is shifting, the increasing importance of channel partners, and the strategies that winning ISVs are employing to achieve unprecedented scale in the cloud go-to-market.

We’re curating the very best of these moments—fireside chats, expert panels, and executive insights—so you can stay ahead of the curve and fully aligned to where Microsoft and the industry are heading.

And this is just the beginning.
More sessions. More voices. More of what you need to know.

If you’re not yet part of the UPX Community, now’s the time to join us. Access exclusive content, events, and strategies that keep you in front of what’s next.

Thanks for being on this journey with us.
— Vince

https://youtu.be/kydm0sEq6ac?si=XbuyStK3opiB-i6e

• KEY TAKEAWAYS:
• The cloud marketplace has evolved from a niche concept to a multi-billion dollar ecosystem, with projections to reach $100 billion by 2026.
• Buyer behavior is shifting, with a significant increase in buyers utilizing cloud marketplaces for procurement across all software and partner types.
• The role of channel partners is becoming increasingly critical, with marketplace strategies shifting from ISVs to channel partners who own the buyer relationship.
• Successful ISVs are integrating marketplace and co-sell motions into a unified company-wide cloud go-to-market strategy, encompassing sales, product, rev ops, and marketing.
• The concept of “storefront evolution” is emerging, where buyers discover products in new places beyond traditional marketplaces, leading to more specific solutions and bundles.
• Consistency in strategy, execution, and celebrating wins is paramount for navigating the evolving cloud marketplace landscape and achieving long-term success.

If you’re ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community.

At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins.

https://youtu.be/s33fltuizEo

Key Tags:

Cloud go-to-market, cloud marketplace, ISV, channel partners, co-selling, procurement, software sales, digital transformation, B2B software, multi-party offers, ecosystem, strategic partnerships, revenue growth, sales motion, alliances, rev ops, marketplace operations, product-led growth, SMB, enterprise, storefronts, cyber resiliency, Microsoft partnership, NetApp, Amazon, CrowdStrike, Salesforce, Workday, ServiceNow, Wiz, PAX8, Ingram Micro.

Transcript:

[00:00:00] John Janke: Another big, and this I think trend will be next year. It’s happening right now, but it’s still really early, is this idea of evolution of storefront. So if you want to change buyer behavior, you have to meet buyers where they show up.

[00:00:14] Intro: We believe this time is like no other. We believe we refer to these as the tectonic shifts, all the hyperscalers in the world, if you add them all together, managed services will be one and a half times larger

[00:00:26] Vince Menzione: because it is the customer buying behavior that has created the need for all of us to rethink our models

[00:00:33] Intro: until we have data quality, the effectiveness of AI cannot be realized, and effectiveness of the partnerships cannot be realized.

Can you figure out first, what your purpose is and how Microsoft can support your purpose and how you can support Microsoft purpose? Now we have a partnership. It’s the ultimate partnership.

[00:00:52] Vince Menzione: Welcome to The Ultimate Partner. I’m Vince Menzi, own your host, and my mission is to help leaders like you.

Achieve your greatest results through successful partnering. We just came off Ultimate Partner Live at Microsoft’s Redmond campus, our most powerful event. Yet, over t