Getting first customers after publishing what actually worked for you?
I published two transactable SaaS offers earlier this month (Microsoft 365 security and compliance assessment). The technical side went fine, with good support from the ISV team. Getting the offers in front of customers is where I'm stuck. So far I've reached Rewards Tier 3 and activated the listing optimisation benefit. I understand customer references are the gate to co-sell readiness, which feels like a chicken-and-egg problem when you have none yet. For publishers further along than me: what actually produced your first few customers? Was it private offers to targeted tenants, co-sell once you had references, the Marketplace Rewards activities, or something outside the marketplace entirely? I'd rather spend my limited time on what works than keep guessing.Turn Microsoft co-sell readiness into closed-won opportunities
Achieving co-sell-ready status is an important milestone, but it is only the beginning. Turning that readiness into revenue takes an active, repeatable co-sell motion that brings together Microsoft seller engagement, Partner Center opportunity management, joint customer engagement, and Microsoft Marketplace. In this practical playbook, learn how to strengthen partner-led co-sell opportunities and inbound referrals from Microsoft, engage Microsoft sellers with clear asks, prepare private offers earlier in the sales cycle, and keep opportunities moving toward closed-won. You’ll also find a 90-day framework and key metrics to help activate, measure, and scale your Microsoft co-sell motion. Ready to put co-sell into action? Read the full article.
Learn how leading partners turn Microsoft Marketplace into a co-sell growth engine
A transactable Marketplace offer is just the beginning. In this expert blog, Reis Barrie, Founder and CEO of Carve Partners, shares four key practices top-performing partners use to help sellers drive co-sell success and accelerate growth through Microsoft Marketplace. Discover how to integrate Marketplace into your sales process, equip sellers with actionable account insights, identify stronger co-sell opportunities, and scale customer incentive programs. You'll also learn common pitfalls to avoid and practical ways to strengthen your Marketplace go-to-market motion. Read the blog to learn how leading partners transform Marketplace from a listing into a repeatable revenue growth strategy. Join us live on September 10 as Reis expands on these insights and answers your questions during an interactive Q&A session. Read the blog: Four things leading partners teach their sellers to turn a Marketplace listing into co-sell growth Add event to your calendar How leading partners drive co-sell success with MarketplaceLearn how to move co-sell opportunities from ready to closed-won with greater consistency
What separates co-sell ready opportunities from closed-won success? The answer often comes down to stakeholder alignment, commercial readiness, and a clear strategy for engaging Microsoft and partner resources at the right time. Join Kevin Flitcroft, Head of Sales for SaaSify at Spektra Systems, as he shares practical guidance for helping partners improve deal execution and revenue outcomes. Learn how to align opportunities to Microsoft priorities, determine when to engage Microsoft sellers, position Microsoft Marketplace early in the sales cycle, and support customer purchasing goals through effective commercial motions. You'll also explore the Audit/Activate/Run framework and discover how successful organizations create repeatable co-sell practices that help increase win rates, strengthen pipeline development, and drive more consistent business growth. Discover how leading partners turn co-sell opportunities into consistent business growth. Attend this live session to gain practical strategies you can apply to your next opportunity. Add to your calendar: Microsoft co-sell playbook: From co-sell ready to closed-won
Can Marketplace Become the Trusted Delivery Ecosystem for Specialized Microsoft Services?
Over the past several years, Azure Marketplace has become an increasingly important mechanism for connecting customers, partners, publishers, and Microsoft. As Marketplace adoption grows, I have been reflecting on one aspect of ecosystem collaboration. Many customer initiatives involve multiple organizations, each with different responsibilities, commercial models, onboarding requirements, and procurement processes. This raises an interesting question for the community: Can Azure Marketplace play a larger role in reducing operational friction between Marketplace participants who are already transacting through the platform? Potential outcomes could include: Faster customer project execution. Simpler cross-organizational collaboration. Greater adoption of Marketplace-transactable solutions. Reduced administrative overhead. Increased Marketplace transaction activity. From a Marketplace ecosystem perspective, reducing friction between participants may create value for customers, partners, publishers, and Microsoft alike. I would be interested in learning: Whether others have encountered similar challenges. Whether existing Marketplace capabilities already address this area. Which future improvements would have the greatest impact. Looking forward to hearing the community's perspective.How to get your cloud and AI solutions co-sell eligible on Marketplace
A transactable Microsoft Marketplace offer can play an important role in supporting your broader go-to-market strategy with Microsoft. This video walks through the essentials of Marketplace co-sell qualification. You'll also gain insight into how approved offers may participate in Microsoft customer-focused selling motions and help customers transact using committed Microsoft cloud spend.
Make confident buying decisions with Microsoft Marketplace
Help customers make confident technology decisions with a buying experience built around choice, flexibility, and business needs. Join this live Microsoft Marketplace session on September 2, 2026, to learn how intelligent discovery, free trials, private offer requests, and flexible contract durations can support evaluation and purchasing conversations. Partners will gain practical guidance for working with business, technology, procurement, and IT stakeholders throughout the buying process. Use the session to sharpen co-sell conversations, connect solution value to customer priorities, and discuss commercial arrangements that fit each organization. Registration is not required. Add the event to your calendar, sign in to the Tech Community, select Attend for reminders, and post questions before or during the live broadcast. Explore the event and prepare your next customer conversation today. 👉 Attend the session live: Evaluate and buy solutions with Microsoft MarketplaceFree webinar Aug 5: What actually changed in FY27 for software companies co-selling with Microsoft
Microsoft's fiscal year just reset. MCAPS Start laid out new seller priorities, refreshed solution plays, and shifts to the programs and incentives software companies rely on. And there's more moving underneath than what made the announcements. We're hosting a free, live session on August 5 to break it down for ISVs co-selling with Microsoft. The angle isn't a news recap of what changed. It's what to do about it. For every shift that matters, we cover the specific move to make. What we'll get into: - The FY27 changes that actually affect your partnership and co-sell motion (and the ones that just sound like they do) - What each shift means for how you share deals, engage sellers, and position your solution this year - A prioritized action list you can start working the same day Who it's for: software companies co-selling with Microsoft, including partnership leads, alliance managers, and co-sell teams who want to start FY27 with a plan rather than a backlog. The FY27 Playbook for Software Companies: What Changed and What to Do About It Wednesday, August 5 · 1:00 PM ET · 60 minutes · Free Register: https://www.carvepartners.com/upcoming-webinars/fy27-playbook-for-software-companiesAuto Activation for SaaS Private Offers is a Game Changer!
Shout out to Microsoft Marketplace for launching AUTO ACTIVATION for SaaS private offers. This has simplified our sales operations for Microsoft Marketplace private offers, as well as dramatically improved our seller and customer experience with by eliminating the #1 reason we've historically seen block customers from completing Marketplace SaaS private offer procurement. Auto activation for private offers allows customers to skip the step of going to our SaaS landing page and activate Marketplace SaaS billing by having to SSO with their AAD. The problem with this step is that most of our customers are in regulated industries, and their AAD admins do not allow SSO on SaaS landing pages without enabling profile sharing, which requires a Global Admin to enable. We've encountered far too many times where our customer is scrambling to find their Global Admin so that they can complete the final steps to finish the steps to activate Marketplace SaaS billing. This also puts our sellers in the awkward position of having to help customers diagnose and troubleshoot the situation, which as a rule they are not equipped to, or find a Microsoft resource to help. Now, with this new feature the whole SSO to our SaaS landing page and associated problems are eliminated. Ever since we started using it our customers' procurement experience has been faster and smoother. I'm looking forward to more improvements to the Marketplace experience! Here is the feature: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/partner-center/marketplace-offers/create-new-saas-offer-plans#configure-auto-activation
