Microsoft Marketplace 101: Insights from high performing software development company sellers
Microsoft Marketplace is probably the one topic that can give 'AI' a run for its money in terms of the number of mentions on LinkedIn, on cloud hyperscaler blogs, and in Partner Ecosystem presentations. But ask the average SaaS seller what a marketplace is, and you’ll probably get a different answer every time. That’s because marketplaces have become more than just a listing catalog, it’s now a pervasive commerce platform across the entire B2B Software purchase process. Jay McBain @ Omdia described Cloud Marketplaces as the "epicenter of partnerships, co-selling and co-innovation” and we see that play out at Microsoft. The combination of Microsoft's co-sell model and Microsoft Marketplace has created the platform for modern procurement and modern partnerships. Today, Microsoft Marketplace: Impacts all personas and incentives – from customers commercial incentives, to software company program sale incentives, channel partner benefits, and hyperscaler seller compensation models Enhances B2B purchase processes for customers – Streamlining supplier onboarding, to internal FinOps, to governance and guardrails on purchasing Brings agility to the sales process for software companies and channel partners – from pricing and quoting, budget allocation, billing & payments, right through to co-selling and go-to-market. With this level of impact, it’s not surprising that Microsoft Marketplace represents a significant growth opportunity for software companies. Customers are increasingly transacting through Marketplace as they align Azure commitments with third-party software purchases and adopt a more “marketplace-first” procurement approach. Research shows 69% of partners report larger deals and 75% close deals faster (Omdia), reinforcing the role of Marketplace as a strategic channel for enterprise software procurement. So, if you are a seller at a Microsoft SaaS software company and you want to take advantage of this opportunity, here are my five top learnings for high performance software sellers! This article assumes you are running your SaaS software platform on Microsoft Azure and you are already transactable in Marketplace. If you aren't, there are plenty of great resources for software companies to help get you there, and I have summarized them here: New Software Company Partner Guide. LEARNING 1 - Understand the customer benefits of Microsoft Marketplace and weave it into your customer proposal: This is about understanding the bigger picture of Marketplace for Microsoft customers, as the benefits go way beyond an individual transaction. The average enterprise is managing over 600 applications (Source - Zylo) and >60% of these applications being purchased outside of IT. Marketplace is a great way for customers to scale and bring efficiency across their B2B Software estate, giving them: Rapid access (find, try, buy) to software and AI innovation they need to run their business, Governance and guardrails for each purchase – so you are never compromising control and compliance. Streamlined procurement – onboarding suppliers in minutes using their Microsoft Agreement, invoicing and payment terms, Improved cloud economics – aligning the cloud consumption with your software company spend can unlock additional P&L impacting benefits, If you need to get up to speed on these aspects, check out: Microsoft Marketplace 101 - Top Customer Questions. LEARNING 2 - Understand how Microsoft partners can help you scale and close customer opportunities: Microsoft has always been a partner led organization. Today we have 500,000 partners globally ranging from a small start-up in a garage, to the largest Global Systems Integrator. These partners play different roles in our customers helping them transform and compete in the AI era through Microsoft Cloud & AI technologies. The great news for you is that we have empowered Microsoft channel partners and sales partners to sell Marketplace solutions. So, think about how you can use channel partners to (i). expand your reach, (ii). drive new opportunities or (iii). accelerate deal closure. We have a range of different models to support your channel led motions in our customers, including: Multi-party private offers (MPO) - Partner led sales agents for individual transactions. Resale enabled offers (REO) - Nominated and enabled partner representative by geo. Cloud solution provider (CSP) resellers - to scale into SMB/Corporate Accounts via a managed service provider For each opportunity, understand who the incumbent Microsoft partner is, and how you can use these mechanisms to accelerate your deal. Or better still, if you are looking to explore a more proactive partnership, check out the 1000s of Partners that are building Marketplace practices to support customers and software companies. Examples include Bytes, Softcat, CDW, Trustmarque, Crayon, Computacenter etc. LEARNING 3 - Accelerate your deal closure by including Microsoft programs and incentives into your customer proposal: Here are the most commonly used accelerators used by software company sellers to close deals: If you are marketplace transactable: Marketplace Rewards - Azure Sponsorship Credits - A performance related benefit that provides up to $400k in Azure Sponsorship Credits. These credits can be used as a deal sweetener with your Marketplace transaction and passed on to the customer for consumption. Up to 40% of transactions involve these credits today. If you are IP co-sell ready: Azure Benefit Eligible - This enables customers to decrement their Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitments (MACC) with eligible Marketplace purchases. By aligning their cloud consumption with their software company spend, it can unlock additional P&L impacting benefits. More than 85% of MACC customers buy via Marketplace. Microsoft IP co-sell incentive - This enables Microsoft sellers to get paid on the license value sold via Microsoft Marketplace. It also allows eligible Marketplace transactions to contribute to retiring Microsoft seller quota, helping accelerate deal alignment between partners and Microsoft field teams. If you have a Certified Software Designation (CSD): Marketplace Rewards - Azure Sponsorship Credits - If you come CSD Certified, Microsoft extends this benefit to $1M. These credits can be used as a deal sweetener with your Marketplace transaction and passed on to the customer for consumption. Customer Migrate & Modernize Incentive - This partner incentive is used to drive migrations to Microsoft Azure. Cash incentives vary based project size, but Microsoft will pay up to $200k per opportunity for NEW customer migrations to Microsoft Azure. High-performing software companies and sellers will combine these incentives into their proposals to help drive customer acquisition success. LEARNING 4 - Know your Microsoft customer Three things I urge every software company Seller to do as part of their Marketplace and co-sell conversations: Know your customer 1 - Understand the customer's Marketplace Propensity Score to help prioritize your opportunities Marketplace Propensity Scoring (combined with your co-Sell conversations) has proven a powerful tool for prioritizing pipeline and accelerating sales cycles. Offered as a Marketplace Rewards benefit, propensity scoring provides you with a score that ranks your pipeline prospects by their likelihood (0 to 100) to transact through Marketplace. The score is based on a number of factors including their commercials, existing spend and transaction volumes, relationship metrics etc. Access the benefit at: Microsoft Marketplace Rewards Know your customer 2 - Enable more tailored offers for customers by updating your MEDDIC, MEDDPICC or BANT qualification questions with these Marketplace qualifiers: Are they a Microsoft customer? This means they have agreed Microsoft terms and conditions to enable Marketplace transactions. Are they a Managed Microsoft Customer? This opens up the possibility of selling with Microsoft. What Microsoft segment/industry are they in? This opens up sales play alignment, industry go-to-market etc. How do they buy Microsoft Azure today? This helps navigate potential commercials, incentives and programs, purchase routes and the role of channel partners. Does the customer have a Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC)? This could unlock the MACC benefit of Azure Benefit Eligible which allows customers to decrement marketplace purchases. What is the status of their Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC)? Are they ahead or behind of their consumption commitment? Is it coming up for renewal? This is all about getting access to planned Azure budgets at the right time. Is there an incumbent Microsoft partner in the customer and what role do they play? It is forecasted that 60% of ALL marketplace sales will involve a channel partner, so get them involved early in the process. Know Your Customer 3 - Use the Partner Center referral process to engage incentivized Microsoft sellers and gain customer intelligence: Submitting your referrals via Partner Center will enable you to engage incentivized Microsoft sellers directly. For most Microsoft sellers, Microsoft Marketplace and co-sell deals are critical for how they will make their Azure quota. Help could include: Navigate and increase your visibility with the customer's buyers Gain insights on the customer's Azure commitments, Understand the partner landscape in the customer Potentially find ways to combine sales motions to drive bigger/better outcomes for all. Build this discipline with every opportunity is a key characteristic of a high-performance software company seller. LEARNING 5 - Celebrate and amplify Microsoft co-sell/Marketplace success The best Microsoft Marketplace and co-sell partners treat Microsoft as a customer. They market to the Microsoft sales and go-to-market teams the success they are driving, which in turn is driving further engagement and activity. Work with your aligned Microsoft Partner Development Manager to create a regular drumbeat of communication or use your Marketplace Rewards GTM benefits to amplify your success with the Microsoft sales teams. Need more help? Speak to your Partner Development Manager or aligned engagement manager Check out App Advisor for a guided experience on the journey for software development companies. Let me know your feedback or if you have any additional recommendations. Thanks Lee Corbett - EMEA ISV Recruit & Grow LeadWhen cloud apps become a weak link: How FortiAppSec Cloud in Microsoft Marketplace bridges the gap
In this guest blog post, Srija Reddy Allam, Cloud Security/DevOps Architect, Fortinet, discusses the increase of attacks targeted at web applications and APIs and how FortiAppSec Cloud in Microsoft Marketplace provides a layer of adaptive security to address the challenge.Using App Advisor to build, publish, and grow in Microsoft Marketplace
In a recent partner office hour webinar, experts walked through how to build, publish, and optimize Marketplace offers using App Advisor, complete with a live demo of the platform in action. This article summarizes the key insights from that session and highlights how you can apply them to your own Marketplace journey. Navigating the path from idea to a successful Microsoft Marketplace offer can feel overwhelming. With countless resources, technical requirements, and go-to-market decisions to make, many software companies struggle to stay focused on what matters most. That’s where App Advisor comes in. App Advisor is a self-service, end-to-end guidance experience designed to help you build, publish, and grow high-performing marketplace offers, all with tailored, actionable recommendations based on your specific scenario. In this article, we break down how App Advisor supports every stage of your offer journey and how you can use it to drive better outcomes faster. What is App Advisor and why it matters App Advisor brings together curated Microsoft guidance, interactive tools, and AI-powered recommendations into a single experience. Instead of searching across scattered documentation, you get step-by-step, personalized guidance aligned to: Your app type and architecture Your chosen marketplace offer model Your current stage in the journey The result? Less guesswork, faster execution, and higher-quality marketplace offers. The four key stages of the Marketplace journey 1. Discover: Validate the opportunity Before building, it’s critical to understand the business value of Microsoft Marketplace. App Advisor helps you: Evaluate the business opportunity of building on Microsoft technology Understand the value of selling through marketplace Explore available partner benefits and incentives A standout feature here is the Marketplace Value Calculator, which allows you to: Estimate revenue potential Compare transaction costs vs. benefits Generate a business case to share with leadership 2. Build: Accelerate development with confidence In the build phase, App Advisor connects you with: Code templates and reference architectures SDKs, APIs, and technical documentation Free tools, cloud credits, and development resources A newly integrated Quick Start Development Toolkit helps you: Match your app idea to proven development patterns Access deployable code repositories Speed up time-to-market with ready-to-use solutions You also gain guidance on building secure, compliant, and well-architected applications, ensuring your solution is marketplace-ready from the start. 3. Publish: Simplify offer creation and launch Publishing in Microsoft Marketplace involves multiple steps—from selecting the right offer type to configuring listings and pricing. App Advisor simplifies this by: Helping you choose the right marketplace offer type Guiding you through pricing models and selling options Providing step-by-step Partner Center instructions Highlighting common pitfalls and certification requirements The platform dynamically adapts guidance based on your selections, ensuring you only see what’s relevant to your scenario. 4. Grow: Optimize, sell, and scale Publishing your offer is just the beginning. Growth requires continuous optimization and active selling. App Advisor supports this with: AI-powered listing optimization Receive a quality score for your marketplace listing Get actionable recommendations across key areas like value proposition, content clarity, and visual assets Improve discoverability and customer engagement by connecting to your offer so you can edit today Go-to-market and sales guidance Learn how to promote your offer effectively Use tracking tools and analytics to refine performance Access co-branded marketing assets and toolkits Advanced selling strategies Create private offers with custom pricing and terms Partner with resellers and channel partners Scale through CSP and multi-party private offers Unlock benefits and incentives Earn cloud credits and marketplace rewards Leverage co-sell opportunities with Microsoft sellers Accelerate deals with incentives and partner programs The benefits of using App Advisor throughout the journey Using App Advisor consistently across all stages delivers significant advantages: ✔ Personalized guidance- No more generic documentation, get recommendations tailored to your app, technology, and goals. ✔ Faster time to market- Reduce delays with step-by-step instructions, pre-built templates, and streamlined workflows. ✔ Higher quality listings- AI-driven insights help you create compelling, optimized marketplace listings that convert. ✔ Improved discoverability- By following best practices, you increase your chances of being found and chosen by customers. ✔ Better sales outcomes- Access tools and strategies to promote, track, and close deals more effectively. ✔ Continuous optimization- Return anytime to refine your listing, improve performance, and unlock new growth opportunities. App Advisor is valuable for everyone Whether you're: A first-time publisher exploring marketplace opportunities An experienced software development company scaling multiple offers A marketing or sales stakeholder optimizing performance App Advisor provides value at every level. Watch the full webinar 👉 Be sure to watch the complete recorded session to see a detailed demo of App Advisor, showcasing how to navigate each stage and apply best practices in real time to get the most out of your Microsoft Marketplace journey. Partner office hour: Build, publish, and optimize marketplace offers with App Advisor By integrating App Advisor into your workflow, you’re not just building marketplace offers; you’re building better, faster, and more successful ones. Get started with App Advisor App Advisor is publicly available and free to use. Partners are encouraged to explore the experience firsthand and share feedback directly within App Advisor. App Advisor: https://aka.ms/appadvisor Marketplace Community: https://aka.ms/community/marketplaceGet personalized, fast recommendations for your Marketplace listing to boost your discoverability
First impressions matter on Microsoft Marketplace. In a growing and increasingly competitive catalog of apps and agents, the quality of your listing often determines whether a customer discovers, clicks, tries, or moves on. But most software companies are left guessing. Is your value proposition clear enough? Are your benefits compelling? Are you aligned with Marketplace best practices? Now, you don’t have to guess. Try it now: https://aka.ms/ImproveMyListing Why speed matters in a crowded Marketplace Marketplace visibility is competitive. Customers are comparing multiple solutions quickly. If your listing is unclear, vague, or missing key details, you may not get a second chance. Traditional listing optimization required: Trial-and-error updates, Waiting for manual review cycles, Interpreting best-practice documentation, Delayed feedback after publishing or guessing about feedback. Now, you can move at the speed of AI. This agentic capability, trained on the best practices of listings and the extensive experience of Marketplace Reward expert editors, scans your public Marketplace listing and delivers: Targeted, focused recommendations, A clear rating across six critical categories customers care about, Immediate guidance aligned to Microsoft Marketplace best practices. Anyone can get objective feedback in seconds — not weeks. "To make sure that the quality of our listings stays at a consistently high score is going to be really valuable for us and we can make changes to our listings more often and with more confidence." -Dan Langille, VP Mover Engagement and Customer Experience, Breakthru How the AI-powered listing optimization works The experience is intentionally simple. Sign in to App Advisor using your Partner Center account, Select your published publicly available Marketplace offer, Receive personalized recommendations in seconds. Anyone at your organization can use this feature, no special permissions required. Your listing is evaluated across six categories that directly impact discoverability and engagement: Value proposition Solution description Information quality Presentation Clarity and coherence Grammar and style Each category receives a 1–5 score. You see exactly where to improve and why. After reviewing your recommendations, you can edit your listing in Partner Center, republish, and rescan after 24 hours to measure progress. No waiting. No guesswork. No cost. Built on Microsoft expertise This AI capability is trained on Marketplace best practices and the editorial methodology used by Microsoft experts reviewing thousands of listings. You’re not receiving generic AI suggestions. You’re getting structured, Marketplace-aligned guidance designed to help your listing: Improve clarity and positioning Increase search discoverability Strengthen engagement signals Better communicate value to buyers Because insights are AI-generated, you should review and validate each recommendation before publishing changes. But the speed and structure dramatically reduce friction. Designed for software companies who want to stand out Marketplace is not just a publishing channel. It is a competitive sales surface. High-quality listings: Convert more trials, Communicate value faster, Generate stronger engagement, Differentiate you from similar offers. This capability democratizes listing optimization. Previously constrained by availability, it is now available on demand to any organization with a public Marketplace listing in the US. Have multiple listings? Scan them all. Iterate as often as you need. Stop waiting. Start optimizing. What this means for your Marketplace growth Optimization is no longer a one-time activity. It becomes an iterative advantage. Scan. Improve. Republish. Rescan. Over time, this creates compounding improvements in discoverability and engagement — helping your app or agent rise above the noise. Ready to improve your listing today? Visit https://aka.ms/ImproveMyListing Sign in, select your offer, and get recommendations in seconds.Move from idea to a Marketplace-ready app faster with the Quick-Start Development Toolkit
Want to jump right to the Quick-Start Toolkit? Visit the Quick-Start Development Toolkit in App Advisor. Software companies building applications and agents for Microsoft often face the same early challenge: getting from idea to a working build to get to market fast. Early development slows down. Teams lose momentum. And they never reach the stage of publishing or selling their application. The Quick-Start Development Toolkit in App Advisor changes that. It provides guided, action-oriented resources that helps developers move from idea to build faster with ready-to-deploy code templates, sample reference architectures, and actionable how-to resources. Instead of searching across documentation, your team can immediately focus on the next step of building an app or agent optimized for Microsoft Marketplace. Developers know early momentum matters At this stage, the priority is simple: validate ideas quickly. The Quick-Start Development toolkit is designed to assist building early momentum in three key business scenarios and works best if you: have a clear app or AI agent concept but aren’t sure how to construct it on Microsoft, understand the Microsoft technology stack but want to build faster, or want to replicate an existing solution in the Microsoft Marketplace. The toolkit supports development across several of today’s most common application scenarios. AI and agent-based applications, AWS to Azure migration and replication patterns, Security-focused applications, agents, and integrations. Across each scenario, developers are guided with tools to: Start building without complex setup, Understand the right architecture patterns, Move quickly from concept to a working prototype. The Quick-Start Development Toolkit focuses on streamlining that initial process with deployable code templates, architecture guidance, and development workflows, so teams can move forward with confidence and clarity toward a Marketplace-ready application. A guided starting point for building on Microsoft The experience begins with a simple, interactive wizard. Developers answer a few short questions about what they are building and the scenario they are targeting. Based on responses, you’ll be routed directly to the most relevant development pattern to begin development. This includes: Deployable code templates that help teams start coding immediately, Reference solution architectures aligned with common build patterns, Targeted how-to guidance for the next development step. This approach helps you move from exploration to execution faster by eliminating the need to search across multiple resources before starting the build. Designed to reduce friction, eliminate guesswork, and accelerate progress The Quick-Start Development Toolkit is built around three core outcomes: Reduce friction Start building without lengthy environment setup, Access always-on self-serve development resources, Launch preconfigured services with click-to-deploy templates. Eliminate guesswork Follow reference architectures aligned with proven development patterns, See deployable code templates to iterate and deploy, Avoid rework caused by unclear design decisions. Accelerate progress Move quickly from concept to prototype, Maintain momentum throughout the build stage, Focus on the next most relevant development action. Together, these capabilities help your team move faster while building on patterns designed to maximize Marketplace outcomes. Start building with Marketplace in mind While the toolkit focuses on accelerating the build stage, it is designed with the full Marketplace journey in mind. By following these development patterns, you can build apps and agents that align with the requirements for publishing and selling through Microsoft Marketplace. That alignment helps reduce friction later in the process when teams move from development to publishing to maximize go-to-market opportunities. Visit https://aka.ms/QuickStartToolkit to explore the experience, answer a few questions about what you’re building, and start coding in minutes.Unlock 5 powerful App Advisor capabilities to sell faster on Microsoft Marketplace
Software companies building apps and agents move quickly. But speed alone isn’t enough. Teams also need clear guidance on development decisions, publishing steps, and how to bring solutions to Microsoft Marketplace. App Advisor helps streamline that process. App Advisor helps streamline the process for anyone, with no barriers to start. However, when you sign in and authenticate, the experience becomes even more powerful. Here are 5 reasons to authenticate in App Advisor. 1. Manage multiple app or agent projects in one place Many software companies work on several apps or agents at once. Each may be at a different stage — from early design to publishing. Signing in to App Advisor unlocks multi-project save, allowing you to manage multiple projects in one place, complete with step-by-step guidance. This allows you to: Track several apps or agents simultaneously. Save project name and development progress. Connect to correlating existing Partner Center offers. Resume work later on offers without restarting the process. Save your progress on each app or agent across different devices and browsers. Instead of recreating your progress each time, your work is now saved and organized. You can access any of your projects whenever you want to work on them in the Your projects section of App Advisor above the steps. 2. Get personalized guidance based on your benefits When you sign in, App Advisor can personalize recommendations to your current benefit membership and help guide you to the next step. Guidance adapts based on: Your Microsoft AI Cloud Partner program membership. Your eligibility for benefits based on ISV Success or Azure IP Co-Sell. Your Marketplace Billed Sales (MBS) and Marketplace Rewards benefits. This helps reduce time spent searching through documentation and surfaces the most relevant guidance for your scenario. The result: clearer decisions and faster development cycles. 3. Start Marketplace offers directly from App Advisor Signed in users can create Marketplace offers directly inside App Advisor, which will create your record in Partner Center. Supported offer types include: SaaS offers. Azure Container offers. Azure Virtual Machine offers. These represent the majority of Marketplace listings today. Want to use a different Marketplace offer type? No problem! App Advisor can still curate guidance for you based on your desired offer type. Once started, the offer is automatically saved in Partner Center, allowing your team to continue configuration without losing progress. After choosing your offer type, additional guidance within App Advisor is focused on steps applicable to that offer type. This simplifies the transition from development to publishing. Sign up for partner programs without leaving your workflow. 4. Signing in also allows you to enroll in partner programs directly within App Advisor. You can start sign-up for programs such as: ISV Success. Publisher enrollment. Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program (if applicable). This makes it easier to unlock benefits like development resources, go-to-market support, and cloud credits while staying focused on building your solution. After you are enrolled, App Advisor continues to personalize content based on that membership. 5. Coming soon: Instant recommendations for your Marketplace offers A new capability launching soon will allow software companies to sign in, choose a publicly available Marketplace offer, and get actionable recommendations to improve the listing in seconds. Directly within App Advisor. By scanning your listing, App Advisor will quickly provide recommendations to help you: Improve listing quality. Increase discoverability. Boost engagement from the right customers. You’ll receive targeted suggestions in seconds, based on an AI model trained on best practices for Microsoft Marketplace listings and on expert editorial feedback. You’ll then be able to click right to your listing in Partner Center and implement your recommendations. This empowers you to improve your listing without waiting for any manual review. Ready to unlock the full App Advisor experience? Authenticating in App Advisor turns it from a guidance tool into a workspace designed to help you build, publish, and sell apps and agents on Microsoft Marketplace. Sign in to App Advisor to save your projects, receive personalized recommendations, and move faster toward Marketplace success.Microsoft Marketplace Partner Digest
March marks a strong quarter of momentum across the Microsoft Marketplace ecosystem, with partners scaling their businesses while delivering high quality customer experiences—directly, through the channel, and alongside Microsoft. From monetizing AI innovation to streamlining post purchase workflows and co-selling motions, partners continue to turn Marketplace readiness into real, repeatable growth. This month’s digest highlights the insights, updates, and opportunities helping software companies meet customers where and how they choose to buy. Articles worth reading As more partners race to build AI apps and agents, the real differentiator is turning that innovation into recurring revenue through scalable sales motions. Microsoft’s Brady Bumgarner shares how App Advisor helps teams think about monetization well before they publish an offer, empowering partners to launch with confidence and scale faster. 🚀 Learn more about AI app and agent monetization Brady also breaks down how combining Marketplace transactable offers with Azure IP co-sell readiness turns co-selling into a true growth engine. More partners are leveraging the insights and guidance available through App Advisor to build repeatable co-selling muscle memory. 🔄️See how co-selling with Microsoft can accelerate your business growth As customers move to AI‑first architectures, cloud cost optimization is becoming a core decision lens—not just an operational concern. In this post, Justin Royal explores how customers are rethinking cost, performance, and governance as continuous disciplines. For sellers, this has clear implications: customers increasingly expect flexibility in how solutions scale, perform, and are paid for, and those expectations should shape how software companies build, package, and position offers on Marketplace. 💸 Explore how customers are optimizing cloud spend as AI adoption scales Accelerate your Marketplace growth by delivering a seamless customer experience after the click. Marketplace Fulfillment APIs automate activation, entitlement, and subscription management so you can reduce friction, speed time‑to‑value, and scale globally with confidence. Explore how these APIs—and new Microsoft reference code—help product teams integrate faster and support every customer at every stage. 🔍 Discover how Marketplace Fulfillment APIs streamline and automate critical post purchase workflows Marketplace updates Dragon Copilot solutions in Microsoft Marketplace On March 5, we announced preview of Dragon Copilot solutions for Microsoft Marketplace. This enables software companies to build and sell AI apps and agents that integrate with Dragon Copilot, while allowing customers to discover and purchase solutions that work with their existing Microsoft investments. Software companies can build and publish their solutions using one of three offer types: Dragon Copilot Physician Apps and Agents (in preview now) Dragon Copilot Clinical App Connectors (coming soon) Dragon Copilot Radiology Apps and Agents (coming soon) Dragon Copilot is built for care teams including physicians, nurses, and radiologists and is already operating with more than 100,000 clinicians relying on it daily to support care for millions of patients each month. Steps you can take to get started: Read through our documentation on how extensions for Dragon Copilot work and how to build your own Check out the sample repo with sample code, and more Contact dragon_extensions@microsoft.com to inquire about joining preview 🐉 Learn how Dragon Copilot solutions are modernizing Healthcare Recent events How to build a Microsoft Marketplace channel practice In his recent webinar, Darren Sharpe highlights how partners are increasingly building their channel businesses with Microsoft Marketplace at the core—using it as a channel-led, Marketplace delivered growth engine. As buying shifts toward lineofbusiness leaders and decentralized procurement, Marketplace brings together discovery, governance, and enterprise purchasing in one place. Darren shares how partners that align sales, alliances, and operations around Marketplace are better positioned to drive repeatable growth, meeting customers where and how they choose to buy. 🎥 Watch on demand Inside Azure IP co-sell: What high-performing software companies do differently Get an insider’s view of what truly moves the needle for Microsoft Marketplace and Microsoft Azure IP co-sell success. Guest speaker Barbara Treviño breaks down the signals Microsoft prioritizes when assessing submission strength—helping software development companies understand what great looks like across architecture, messaging, evidence, and sequencing. You’ll learn why high performing software development companies approach readiness differently, and how that difference translates directly into smoother approvals and stronger GTM impact. 🎥 Watch on demand AI-powered automation for Marketplace private offers and IP co-sell Learn how software development companies can use AI-powered automation to simplify buying through Microsoft Marketplace, streamline Microsoft Marketplace private offers, and maximize the effectiveness of co-selling opportunities. Join Jon Yoo, Co-Founder & CEO at Suger, as he explores how reducing operational friction in Partner Center can help you accelerate deal velocity, improve collaboration with Microsoft sellers, and drive Azure adoption. 🎥 Watch on demand 📅 Coming up Partner office hour Build, publish, and optimize Marketplace offers with App Advisor Wednesday, Mar 18, 2026, 8:30 AM PDT Tune in for live demos and proven best practices on using App Advisor, Microsoft’s guided experience for Microsoft Marketplace success! Learn what App Advisor is, how it works, and how it can help partners accelerate Marketplace offer creation. Walk through key stages of the experience from validating value to publishing and optimizing your listing. ➡️ Get the meeting details Customer office hours Charting your AI strategy for manufacturing with Marketplace Wednesday, Mar 25, 2026, 9:30 AM PDT Build, buy, or blend? Gain the insights you need as a manufacturer to scale AI apps and agents across the factory floor using Microsoft Marketplace. We’ll go beyond AI theory and focus on practical manufacturing scenarios—connecting factory equipment, IoT, and enterprise systems into a unified foundation that enables analytics, digital twins, and AI agents. ➡️ Get the meeting details In-person events Channel Partners Conference & Expo 2026 Microsoft Marketplace is sponsoring Channel Partners Conference & Expo 2026 in Las Vegas, with interactive sessions, booth conversations, and private meetings focused on helping channel partners understand how Marketplace can simplify software purchasing for their customers. Partners can expect to learn how the expansive catalogue of products and services available from thousands of software companies delivered through channel-led sales capabilities are Marketplace enabled and accelerate AI‑ and cloud‑led sales through Marketplace. 📆 April 13-16, 2026 📍The Venetian Resort, Las Vegas ➡️ See the details and learn how to register Microsoft AI Tour Our series continues, coming to more cities around the globe. Bringing in‑person opportunities for partners to connect with Microsoft experts, explore innovation and get inspired. ➡️ Find your city and registerScale your sales growth with negotiated deals and reselling with ease
Negotiated deals are one of the most effective ways to grow larger, more flexible sales through Microsoft Marketplace. They let you align pricing, billing, and terms to how customers prefer to buy, without changing how your app or agent is built. That last point matters. Negotiated deals don’t require you to create a new app or agent. Instead, they let you repackage existing, publicly transactable offers with customized terms for specific customers or partners. The result is faster deal execution without added development overhead.Accelerate massive growth by co-selling through Microsoft Marketplace with App Advisor guidance
Co-selling with Microsoft is one of the most powerful growth levers available to software companies to sell to enterprises. But on its own, co-sell is not a strategy. The real acceleration happens when you combine them. When you publish a transactable offer in Microsoft Marketplace and make it Azure IP co-sell eligible, you unlock joint selling with Microsoft’s global field organization— and that changes the trajectory of your business. Here’s how to turn Marketplace plus co-sell into a growth engine. Why Marketplace & co-sell drive larger, faster deals Data consistently shows that co-sell deals outperform non-co-sell deals: Co-sell deals are ~ 30% larger, Co-sell deals close up to 2x faster, Microsoft sellers are incentivized to prioritize Azure IP co-sell eligible solutions. When your offer is transactable in Marketplace and co-sell eligible, three important things happen: Microsoft sellers can confidently introduce your solution to their enterprise accounts, Customers can apply purchases toward their Azure consumption commitments, Your offer becomes visible inside Microsoft’s internal sales systems. This reduces friction in procurement, increases executive visibility, and accelerates deal velocity. You’re no longer selling alone. You’re selling with leverage. The following is high-level guidance of the steps to start co-selling Want to skip right to the curated guidance? Go to App Advisor Step 1: Publish a transactable offer in Marketplace Co-sell begins with Marketplace readiness. To unlock Azure IP co-sell benefits, you must publish a transactable offer through one of these marketplace offer types: Software as a service (SaaS), Azure Application, Azure Container, Azure VM. If you sell apps or agents built on Microsoft 365 or Copilot, link your solution to a transactable SaaS offer to qualify. To see how Abnormal Security made the most of co-selling, see the blog and corresponding Co-Sell Coaching call. Step 2: Create a co-sell ready solution in Partner Center When publishing your offer, you can create a co-sell solution to activate visibility with Microsoft sellers. Inside the Referrals workspace in Partner Center: Create a co-sell solution, Classify your solution using Microsoft taxonomy, Upload required marketing collateral: Solution one-pager, pitch deck, reference architecture diagram (required for SaaS), Enter the link to your product's website to help Microsoft sales teams and channel resellers learn more about your solution, Add geographic sales contacts. This listing tells Microsoft sellers: Who to contact, What your solution does, Which Azure services it uses, Why they should bring you into a deal. Clear positioning drives seller confidence. Seller confidence drives joint opportunity. Step 3: Achieve Azure IP co-sell eligible status To become Azure IP co-sell eligible, you must meet performance or technical validation requirements. You can qualify by: Reaching $100K USD in trailing 12-month Marketplace billed sales or Azure Consumed Revenue (this is the fastest path to meeting that requirement) or Passing Microsoft technical validation confirming your solution is primarily built on Azure This status matters because: Customers can count the purchase toward Azure consumption commitments, Microsoft sellers are financially incentivized to include your solution, Your offer is labeled Azure benefit eligible. Customers being able to decrement their Azure consumption commitments can help draw engagement and interest to your app or agent. Step 4: Use referrals to build momentum High-performing software companies don’t just wait for Microsoft to bring opportunities. They submit referrals to help sell co-sell their app. Submitting referrals: Increases your visibility to Microsoft sellers, Signals strategic partnership depth, Opens doors to new seller collaboration, Provides insight into customer Azure commitments. Small actions compound. Referral discipline builds pipeline resilience. For more information about referrals, visit Generate, manage, and nurture leads step in App Advisor. Step 5: Use Marketplace Rewards to amplify co-sell Marketplace Rewards benefits strengthen your co-sell motion: Customer propensity scoring to prioritize Marketplace-ready buyers, Azure sponsorship credits to help close competitive deals, Microsoft seller webinars and solution spotlights. This is how you differentiate inside the ecosystem — not just with customers, but with Microsoft sellers. The growth shift: from independent seller to ecosystem player Software companies that treat Marketplace merely as a checkout page miss some amazing opportunities. Those that combine: Transactable offers, Azure IP co-sell eligibility, Strong co-sell collateral, Referral discipline, and Marketplace Rewards. Move from transactional selling to ecosystem selling. The result: Larger average deal sizes Shorter sales cycles Stronger executive alignment Increased visibility inside Microsoft accounts You’re no longer trying to break into enterprise deals. You’re already in the room. Ready to put your co-sell strategy into motion? Visit App Advisor to learn more about how to accelerate your growth with co-sell.Monetize your AI apps and agents on Marketplace to realize growth
Ready to stop guessing how to monetize your offer? Skip right to App Advisor Software development companies are building faster than ever. But when it comes to sales, the key to monetization happens early. Monetization, packaging, and operational execution helps determine whether your AI solution becomes a growth engine on Microsoft Marketplace. New data reinforces the opportunity. According to Omdia research highlighted in Microsoft’s blog on the partner revenue opportunity: 88% of partners selling through Marketplace report revenue growth, 75% close deals faster, 69% secure larger deals, 60% agree Marketplace improved their deal structure. The Omdia study found that among partners that sell through Marketplace (compared to direct go-to-market and sales motions), they saw incredible gains with Marketplace. The opportunity is clear. The question is how to capture it consistently. How the AI app and agent monetization checklist helps The time to think about sales is when you’re building, not just when you hit “publish” on an offer. That’s why the Microsoft Marketplace Monetization Checklist for SaaS and Container Offers was created as part of the AI envisioning sessions. It gives your team a structured, practical framework to move from idea to revenue with confidence. A solution can offer immense value, but because monetization decisions are made too late, it can perform worse than expected. Pricing models, packaging tiers, metering accuracy, and subscription flows are often bolted on after architecture is finalized. The checklist changes that. It organizes monetization strategy around the five pillars of the Well-Architected Framework so that revenue design and technical design stay aligned. This checklist is also featured in App Advisor Build and Publish stage, so that you don’t miss a single step along the way. This ensures your offer is: Secure and enterprise-ready, Reliable across subscription lifecycle events, Cost-optimized for margin protection, Performance-aligned to your pricing model, Operationally structured for scale. Instead of guessing, you follow a clear path. Monetizing your offer the right way While designed for Saas and Azure Container offers, this checklist can be helpful for any offer. It guides you through key decisions that directly impact growth: Define your revenue model early during design, not after deployment, Model cost of goods sold against pricing tiers to protect margin, Package plans intentionally (Starter, Pro, Enterprise) to drive upsell, Implement secure licensing and Marketplace API validation to prevent revenue leakage, Optimize trial-to-paid conversion with structured upgrade paths. The checklist also reinforces operational execution with best practices for both SaaS and Azure Container offers. The result: an offer built for revenue, not just deployment. From build to publish to monetization on Microsoft Marketplace Building a great app or agent for your customers is the goal, but scaling your sales helps you grow. You’re not just publishing an offer, you’re building: A pricing strategy aligned to architecture, A subscription model aligned to customer value, An operational model aligned to Marketplace growth. This is how your company can turn Marketplace from a just listing platform into a revenue multiplier. Ready to monetize apps and agents on Microsoft Marketplace? You don’t have to guess how to grow. Use these resources to monetize your app or agent and get world-class Microsoft best practices, curated for you: Download the Marketplace Monetization Checklist, See the opportunity for your revenue growth in App Advisor, Watch sessions with experts by signing up for the AI Envisioning sessions.
