Reshaping enterprise go-to-market with Microsoft Marketplace and ecosystem partnerships
As the pace of enterprise transformation accelerates, we’re seeing a fundamental shift in how organizations go to market—and it’s being powered by ecosystems, not silos. Partner1 recently hosted two industry events where we explored how Microsoft Marketplace is becoming a central engine for this change, helping partners unlock new routes to growth while making it easier for customers to discover, buy, and deploy innovative solutions. From AI-driven offerings to multiparty private offers and deeper channel integrations, Marketplace is redefining how partnerships come together to deliver end-to-end value. It’s not just about listing solutions—it’s about creating scalable, repeatable growth through a connected ecosystem that meets customers where and how they want to buy. If you’re thinking about how to evolve your go-to-market strategy, scale with partners, or tap into new revenue opportunities, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss. Read the full article to see how Marketplace and ecosystem partnerships are reshaping enterprise go-to-market—and what it means for your business. How Microsoft Marketplace and ecosystem partnerships are reshaping enterprise go-to-market | Microsoft Community HubHow to design DORA-compliant customer communication for digital resilience in the EU
In this guest blog post from Microsoft Marketplace partner Messageflow, Julia Matuszewska, AI & Technical Content Writer, Vercom, discusses how Vercom MessageFlow can aid financial institutions to reduce risk, better prepare for audits, and increase compliance by aligning with international regulations and best practices.How Microsoft Marketplace and ecosystem partnerships are reshaping enterprise go-to-market
Author Juhi Saha is CEO at Partner1, a two-time Inc. Power Partner Award winner and an official Microsoft Partner Led Network. Partner1 helps B2B software and services companies maximize the value of their partner ecosystems and transform partnerships into scalable profit engines. Specializing in channel development and strategic alliances, Partner1 empowers organizations to unlock their partnership potential through expert guidance, partnership program design, and actionable growth strategies. By focusing on partner-driven growth, Partner1 helps businesses, from startups to scale-ups, maximize revenue, accelerate market expansion, and build a lasting competitive advantage. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Key takeaways from recent NYC founder and investor events “It’s no longer the era of go fast. It’s the era of go faster.” That sentiment, shared by an investor during one of our recent New York City gatherings, captures a broader shift underway in how startups are expected to scale. Speed is no longer just a function of product development or hiring. It is increasingly a function of how effectively companies leverage platforms, ecosystems, and commercial infrastructure that already exist. Over the past several weeks, Partner1 hosted two curated events bringing together founders, investors, and ecosystem leaders to explore how startups are accessing enterprise customers and accelerating growth through partnerships. The conversations centered on a practical question that continues to surface across early-stage and growth-stage companies: how do startups break into enterprise and scale in a market defined by AI, platforms, and increasingly complex buying environments? What emerged from these discussions is a clear pattern: the traditional model of building a product, hiring a sales team, and scaling through direct enterprise relationships is being supplemented, and in many cases replaced, by ecosystem-led growth. Partnerships are no longer a downstream channel decision. They are becoming a primary system through which companies access customers, accelerate revenue, and compete. Across both sessions, with perspectives from leaders at Microsoft, NVIDIA, Plug and Play Tech Center, and investors including Trajectory Ventures, several consistent themes emerged around how this shift is playing out in practice. Marketplace is becoming the default commercial infrastructure Evaluate your Marketplace readiness- understand how Microsoft Marketplace supports discovery, procurement, and scalable growth, and were your solution fits today. One of the most concrete shifts discussed was the role of Marketplace as the commercial backbone for modern software transactions. Marketplace is no longer positioned as an optional distribution channel. It is increasingly how Microsoft goes to market with software companies of all sizes, and how customers expect to discover, evaluate, and procure solutions. This shift is being driven by practical realities. Enterprise procurement has historically been one of the most significant sources of friction in software sales. Vendor onboarding, legal negotiations, billing complexity, and fragmented purchasing processes extend deal cycles and introduce risk. Marketplace addresses these issues directly by standardizing terms, consolidating billing, and pre-vetting vendors through the publisher agreement. These are not cosmetic improvements. They materially change how quickly transactions can occur. During the discussions, the Marketplace opportunity was reinforced with both data and real examples. Marketplace is enabling larger deals, faster sales cycles, and measurable revenue growth for companies that treat it as a core go-to-market motion and speakers shared examples from companies like Neo4j, Pangaea Data and ShookIoT. The examples shared ranged from small, niche startups closing their largest deals through Marketplace to companies significantly expanding their customer base by leveraging Microsoft’s commercial infrastructure. What stands out is that these outcomes are not isolated. They are becoming repeatable. As customer awareness of Marketplace increases, it is increasingly seen as the fastest path to the right solution, regardless of who built it. Several startups shared how their deals languished in procurement and were excited to hear from other companies in attendance around how they successfully used Marketplace to speed up procurement. Rethinking scale: why “Microsoft is too big” is the wrong assumption A recurring concern from founders was whether they are too early or too small to meaningfully engage with Microsoft. This perception is common, but it does not reflect how the ecosystem is evolving. The perspective shared by Microsoft leaders was clear. AI-native startups are not peripheral to the ecosystem. They are central to it. Supporting startups is not about proximity to large partners. It is about helping early-stage companies build faster, reduce risk, and reach enterprise customers sooner. This dynamic was described as a balance. Startups bring speed, specialization, and differentiated AI use cases. Microsoft brings global reach, enterprise relationships, and a mature commercial engine. When aligned, that combination becomes a multiplier. Multiple conversations touched on how Marketplace is where this alignment materializes. It serves as the convergence point between innovation and demand. Whether a company is early-stage or scaling, it provides a consistent path to reach customers and transact at enterprise scale. The implication is direct. Companies should not wait to be “big enough.” They should start early with Microsoft Marketplace and design for this motion from the beginning. The results will be reduced friction and enable them to reach enterprise customers faster. Co-sell is evolving from access to alignment Many founders approach partnerships with a familiar question: how do we get Microsoft sellers to pay attention to us? That framing is increasingly misaligned with how the system actually works. The more scalable model described in the sessions is based on alignment rather than attention. Becoming co-sell eligible is important, particularly as solutions begin to align with Azure consumption and commercial priorities. However, co-sell eligibility is a starting point. It allows a solution to be recognized within Microsoft’s system and to count toward seller objectives. The more important shift is where growth actually comes from. The fastest growing motion is not seller-led. It is partner-to-partner. System integrators and channel partners already have established customer relationships. They are the ones driving adoption at scale. Microsoft’s investment in channel-led growth reflects this, with partner-led motions representing one of the highest growth vectors. The takeaway for founders is practical: instead of asking how to get seller attention, the better question is how to become easy for partners to sell. Alignment to platform, customer need, and partner incentives drives outcomes more reliably than individual relationships. Partnerships are not a channel. They are a go-to-market system One of the most consistent misconceptions observed across attendees was treating partnerships as a secondary channel, but insights from the panelists as well as conversations during networking sessions highlighted how partnerships function as an integrated system that shapes how companies build, sell, and scale. Marketplace, co-sell eligibility, and partner-to-partner relationships are interconnected. Product decisions influence how easily a solution can be transacted. Marketplace presence influences discovery and procurement. Partner relationships determine how widely a solution can be distributed. This system view is especially important in AI. As solutions become more complex, both buyers and sellers are optimizing for simplicity and speed. Centralized platforms and ecosystems provide a way to meet those requirements. Companies that treat partnerships as a system create compounding advantages. Those that treat them as an add-on often struggle to gain traction, even with strong products. Expanding beyond enterprise: a multi-segment opportunity While many startups initially focus on landing large enterprise customers, the opportunity within the Microsoft ecosystem is broader. Microsoft’s reach extends across enterprise, mid-market, and SMB segments. With the rise of AI and agent-based solutions, there is increasing focus on embedding applications into environments where customers already operate, such as Microsoft 365, and leveraging channel partners to scale distribution. This creates a unified go-to-market path that spans multiple segments. Startups can reach enterprise customers while also expanding into mid-market and SMB through the same ecosystem infrastructure. Channel partners play a critical role in this expansion. They provide access, distribution, and scale that would be difficult to replicate through direct sales alone. For startups, this represents a meaningful opportunity to grow faster and more efficiently across segments. Investor perspective: partnerships as a signal of maturity From an investor standpoint, partnerships are increasingly a signal of go-to-market maturity. The ability to leverage platforms, align with ecosystem dynamics, and accelerate revenue through structured partnerships is becoming a differentiator. Going back to the investor’s comment that “It’s no longer the era of go fast. It’s the era of go faster. I am going to ask all my portfolio companies about their marketplace strategy.” - this reflects a broader shift in evaluation criteria. Marketplace and ecosystem alignment are not viewed as optional enhancements. They are becoming central to how companies compress time to revenue and scale efficiently. When evaluating companies with similar technical capabilities, investors are looking closely at how founders approach distribution. Companies with a clear strategy for leveraging ecosystems and Marketplace are often better positioned to scale with less friction and more capital efficiency. A practical starting point The guidance shared across both events was consistent and actionable. Start early. Do not wait for a specific stage to engage with the ecosystem. Build on the platform with clear, differentiated use cases that solve real customer problems. Treat Marketplace as a core go-to-market motion. This includes investing in strong listings, clear pricing, and a working knowledge of Marketplace capabilities such as private offers and partner-led transactions. Design for partner-to-partner distribution. Ensure that your solution is easy for others to position, sell, and deploy within existing customer environments. At a fundamental level, the objective is to reduce friction. Companies that are easy to buy, easy to deploy, and easy for partners to sell are the ones that scale most effectively. Enterprise growth is no longer driven solely by direct sales execution. It is increasingly shaped by how well a company integrates into an ecosystem that already has distribution, demand, and commercial infrastructure. For startups building in AI and enterprise software, the question is no longer whether to engage with platforms like Microsoft. It is how early and how intentionally they design for it. The companies that do this well are not simply participating in the ecosystem. They are using it to accelerate outcomes that would be difficult to achieve on their own. Live in NYC on April 21st: Hear from Redis, Datadog, Eden and Microsoft on how strategic Marketplace partnerships are built and scaled in practice Strategic partnerships across hyperscalers, database providers, observability platforms, and application ecosystems are no longer abstract concepts, but important GTM relationships. As customers' infrastructure becomes more complex, they require solutions that are interoperable, scalable, and easy to implement. With the rise of AI, marketplaces have become critical enablers of technology adoption. With each product offering a wide range of integrations, it's the first-party relationships between providers that set these solutions apart, delivering best-in-class support for customers' infrastructure. Partnerships, like those between Microsoft, Datadog, Eden, and Redis, accelerate and derisk enterprise cloud transformations, with the Microsoft Marketplace playing a central role in how services are delivered and scaled. Eden's migration platform, Exodus, enables zero-downtime database migrations, while Datadog is deeply integrated to ensure that these autonomous migrations are fully observed. Azure Managed Redis is a first-party Azure service that is becoming foundational for customers optimizing their data infrastructure for modern and agentic AI workloads. Eden and Datadog's autonomous migration service for Azure Managed Redis is now available on Microsoft Marketplace, making it easy for enterprises to get the most out of new Redis products. As enterprises make this shift, a broader pattern is emerging in which marketplaces are not just procurement vehicles but also enablers of ecosystem execution, particularly in the context of AI. Many AI initiatives fall short not because of model capability, but because underlying infrastructure and data environments are not properly optimized. Migrations, when executed well, become an opportunity to modernize architecture, improve performance, and prepare for scalable AI and agent deployments. Through coordinated partnerships across Microsoft, Eden, Datadog, and Redis, companies are aligning product, sales, and delivery into a unified operating model that accelerates time to value and reduces risk for enterprise customers. This is all before discussing AI as an autonomous agent for deploying new infrastructure via marketplaces. If you want to understand how these partnership models are being built in practice, and how to use marketplaces and ecosystem alignment to unlock growth and AI readiness in your own organization, this event will provide a direct view into how leading companies are executing today. Sign up here and follow for more events with partners for partners by Partner1 and Microsoft. Resources Marketplace readiness assessment Learn more about Microsoft Marketplace: Microsoft Marketplace overview - Marketplace customer documentation | Microsoft Learn Explore Microsoft Marketplace Microsoft Marketplace | cloud solutions, AI apps, and agents Join Microsoft Marketplace community: Microsoft Marketplace community | Microsoft Community HubMicrosoft Marketplace: $300B partner revenue opportunity by 2030
BIG momentum for partners: Microsoft Marketplace is projected to be a $300B partner revenue opportunity by 2030, according to a commissioned study by Omdia. And partners already selling through Marketplace are seeing real results: ✅ 88% report revenue growth ✅ 75% close sales faster ✅ 69% get larger deals Learn more about Marketplace growth opportunities for partners in this recent blog: Unlocking the profitability multiplier: Maximizing revenue with Microsoft MarketplaceDo you want to publish a transactable offer but are finding it difficult to do?
Many SaaS companies want to sell through Microsoft Marketplace. But surprisingly few actually launch transactable offers. Why? Over the last few years, Microsoft has heavily invested in its commercial marketplace. For ISVs and SaaS companies, the opportunity is clear: Access Microsoft's enterprise customers Co-sell with Microsoft sellers Shorten procurement cycles Unlock Azure consumption commitments But despite the upside, many companies still struggle to publish transactable offers. Not because they lack great products. Because marketplace readiness requires new operational muscle. From working with companies exploring the marketplace path, three challenges show up repeatedly. 1. Offer Architecture & Packaging Most companies start with a product but the marketplace requires a sellable offer structure. That means translating your product into: SaaS offers Managed apps Private plans Metered billing models Azure-backed services Questions teams often wrestle with: Should this be SaaS, VM, or a managed app? What pricing model works in marketplace billing? How should enterprise customers purchase it? Without clear packaging, the publishing process stalls quickly. 2. Technical & Operational Readiness Publishing an offer is not just a marketing step. It touches multiple teams: Engineering Product Finance Legal Marketplace operations Some of the most common blockers include: Marketplace APIs and SaaS fulfillment integration Metering implementation Identity and tenant provisioning Azure resource deployment templates Testing and certification For companies new to marketplace infrastructure, the learning curve can be steep. 3. Internal Alignment & Ownership One of the biggest challenges isn’t technical. It’s organizational. Marketplace initiatives often sit between multiple teams: Partnerships Product Revenue operations Cloud alliances Sales leadership Without a clear owner, progress slows. Successful marketplace companies usually have a dedicated marketplace strategy owner or partner GTM lead driving execution. Why This Matters Now Enterprise buyers increasingly prefer purchasing through marketplaces. Reasons include: Faster procurement Existing vendor relationships Budget alignment with cloud commitments Simpler contract management Which means companies that enable marketplace transactions often see: Faster deal cycles Larger enterprise deals More co-sell opportunities with Microsoft But getting there requires navigating the early friction. The Question for the Ecosystem If your company is exploring Microsoft Marketplace — or already trying to publish an offer: What has been your biggest challenge? 1️⃣ Offer packaging 2️⃣ Technical integration 3️⃣ Internal ownership / alignment 4️⃣ Something else? Drop your experience in the comments. The more companies share what’s blocking progress, the easier it becomes for the ecosystem to improve the process. Comment with your biggest blocker or lesson learned from publishing a marketplace offer.Microsoft Marketplace at Channel Partners Conference & Expo 2026
If you’re a channel partner, you’ve probably felt the shift: customers are relying on trusted advisors like you now more than ever as they transition to an AI-first world. As part of this change, channel‑led sales through Microsoft Marketplace have grown rapidly over the past year, fueled by new offer constructs and simplified procurement paths that make it easier for partners to source, bundle, and deliver the cloud and AI solutions customers need, while accelerating deals and expanding their services footprint. To continue to drive momentum with channel-led sales, the Marketplace team is excited to sponsor the Channel Partners Conference & Expo, April 13–16 at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, and connect with the advisors, resellers, and services partners who are delivering value for customers every day. How to engage with Microsoft Marketplace at the event We want to meet you! Throughout the week, Marketplace experts will lead sessions, host conversations at our booth, and support private meetings to help you activate and accelerate your Marketplace strategy. ✔ Join our sessions Keynote interview: Scaling channel impact in an AI-first world with Microsoft Marketplace Tech sponsor session: Unlock the channel opportunity through Microsoft Marketplace Theater session: 5 tips for channel success through Microsoft Marketplace ✔ Visit us onsite Stop by our booth (#1536) to meet experts and learn how partners are using Marketplace to: Pair your solutions with vetted offerings Accelerate vendor relationships Scale faster with bigger deals ✔ Request a private meeting If your team will be in Las Vegas, we’d love to connect. Submit a meeting request here. Register with our sponsor discount code As a Platinum Sponsor, we’re pleased to offer complimentary Expo + Keynote passes and discounted Standard and Premium passes. Use code “Microsoft” when registering here. We hope to see you in Las Vegas!How to Build a Microsoft Marketplace Channel Practice: A Partner Guide to Scalable Growth
For Microsoft partners looking to make Marketplace a repeatable, scalable growth channel, this article outlines what it really takes to succeed. It breaks down how top partners structure their teams, align ownership across sales, alliances, and operations, and activate Microsoft Marketplace as a core part of their co-sell and go-to-market strategy. With practical frameworks, best practices, and real-world guidance, this resource helps partners drive pipeline, accelerate deal velocity, and grow alongside Microsoft through Marketplace. Read the full article: How to build a Microsoft Marketplace channel practiceMeet with us in Vegas! Marketplace sponsoring Channel Partners Conference
The Microsoft Marketplace team is excited to sponsor the Channel Partners Conference & Expo, April 13–16 at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, and connect with the advisors, resellers, and services partners who are delivering value for customers every day. We want to meet you! Throughout the week, Marketplace experts will lead sessions, host conversations at our booth, and support private meetings to help you activate and accelerate your Marketplace strategy. Read the blog to learn how to connect with us and even get FREE or DISCOUNTED passes if you're a channel partner: Microsoft Marketplace at Channel Partners Conference & Expo 2026 | Microsoft Community HubLeading through disruptive change: What partners need now
On February 25th, Ultimate Partner is hosting its annual Executive Winter Retreat in Boca Raton, Florida. We are excited to welcome Nina Harding, CVP, Americas Global Partner Solutions, as this year’s keynote speaker. Nina will share key customer insights during this period of rapid transformation and highlight the critical role partners play in driving meaningful business outcomes. Over the past several months, one thing has become clear: AI is no longer an abstract conversation. Customers are asking how to run it securely, measure its impact, and scale it across their organizations. At the same time, partners are looking for ways to convert the momentum from the Microsoft AI Tour into real execution. Nina will discuss what executives are prioritizing right now, how Agentic AI is reshaping expectations, and how partners can help customers realize measurable value. She will be joined on stage by a strong lineup of Microsoft leaders—Katharine Kennedy, Jason Rook, Erwin Visser, and Steve Cohen—each bringing a real-world perspective on what it takes to build successful, durable partnerships. These leaders will help partners focus on the drivers of momentum: Translating AI strategy into actionable partner plans Understanding how marketplaces now dominate transactions Leveraging ecosystem orchestration as a competitive advantage Navigating a buyer who thinks, evaluates, and purchases differently This retreat is intentionally designed for execution—not theory, not product announcements, and not high-level dialogue. It is a forum where partners gain clarity on how to build, sell, and deliver with Microsoft in 2026. Learn more about Ultimate Partner here: Events - Ultimate Guide to Partnering®
