Most B2B SaaS companies selling to enterprises are already listed on a cloud marketplace. AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud have made listing accessible, procurement-friendly, and increasingly expected by buyers. Data from IDC shows that 19.1% of all software purchasing is happening inside cloud marketplaces. Analyst research shows that hyperscaler cloud marketplaces (AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform) are already driving tens of billions of dollars in enterprise software transactions, with sales projected to grow from roughly  $30 billion in 2024 to more than $160 billion by 2030, representing close to a 30% CAGR.

This growth is being fueled by a structural shift in enterprise procurement. Large buyers are standardizing purchasing through cloud marketplaces to deploy existing cloud commitments, reduce vendor onboarding friction, and accelerate time to value. Analysts estimate there is more than $470 billion in committed cloud spend across AWS, Microsoft, and Google that can be directed toward third-party marketplace purchases, making marketplaces one of the most important channels for enterprise software distribution over the next decade. It’s a win-win. Buyers should can use up to 25% of their cloud commitments towards software spend adn sellers get a vastly expanded TAM.

But listing alone does not generate revenue, leads or a successful co-sell motion.

Post-listing success depends on how effectively teams execute across co-sell programs, private offers, pricing, and operations. The companies that win treat cloud marketplaces not as a checkbox, but as a repeatable cloud GTM (go-to-market) motion with its own rules, signals, and systems, designed to convert committed cloud spend into predictable, scalable growth.

Who is this guide for?

This guide is designed for:

• B2B SaaS companies already listed on AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Marketplace
• Revenue leaders responsible for enterprise pipeline and forecasting
• Partnership and cloud alliance teams supporting co-sell motions
• Operators responsible for private offers, renewals, and marketplace execution

Why Listing on a Cloud Marketplace Doesn’t Create Revenue

Getting listed on a cloud marketplace is an important milestone. But it’s not a revenue strategy.

A marketplace listing primarily enables three things:

1. Buyers can purchase using existing cloud budgets, removing one of the biggest blockers in enterprise software procurement
2. Procurement and vendor onboarding friction is reduced, since billing, tax, and compliance are standardized by the hyperscaler
3. Your product gains baseline enterprise credibility, signaling that it has met the technical and security requirements to transact through AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud

These are meaningful advantages. In fact, enterprise buyers increasingly prefer marketplaces because of these reasons.

But a listing alone does not create demand or generate pipeline. And it definitely does NOT close deals on its own.

What Actually Drives Revenue After You’re Listed

Post-listing success depends on how effectively your team activates the marketplace motion across the moments that matter most:

How well you co-sell with hyperscalers, aligning early with cloud sales teams and maintaining clean, credible deal signals. Partners that transact through AWS Marketplace experience higher win rates and faster sales cycles compared to traditional channels. Forrester’s TEI-linked analysis shows that sellers on AWS Marketplace closed 27% more deals than when selling outside the marketplace, and also saw sales cycles accelerate by about 40%, driven by standardized contracts and built-in marketplace trust.  This translates into meaningful revenue growth, faster time to revenue, and a true scale channel that brings health and profitability to your business. You can see how this fits into a broader cloud GTM strategy in our guide to marketplace-led growth.

How quickly you create, revise, and manage private offers, especially late in the sales cycle when speed determines whether deals close in-quarter. Most enterprise marketplace revenue flows through private offers, making offer velocity a frontline revenue lever. We break down how teams manage this across clouds, not just for AWS but also for Azure and Google Cloud, right from your CRM.

How well your pricing and packaging align with marketplace buying behavior, including cloud commitments, co-terming, ramps, and renewal expectations. Marketplaces formalize pricing mechanics that already exist in enterprise deals. Choosing the right structure and workflows matters.

How fast your internal systems move when deals are live, without manual handoffs, approval bottlenecks, or operational drag. Operational speed directly impacts deal momentum and hyperscaler trust. This becomes even more important at renewal time, where automation plays a critical role.

Co-Selling Strategies for Cloud Marketplace Success

Once you’re listed, co-selling becomes the most important driver of marketplace revenue—and also the most misunderstood.

Most teams register the deal, add the cloud provider, and wait for incremental lift. In reality, hyperscaler co-sell motions reward execution quality, not just participation.

AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud sellers prioritize partners who make deals easy to close. That means partners who are responsive, operationally reliable, and able to transact quickly through the marketplace. When those conditions are met, trust is built. And co-sell becomes a powerful revenue accelerator. When they aren’t, it quietly stalls.

What Effective Co-Selling Looks Like After Listing

Post-listing co-sell success depends on a few critical execution factors:

• Early and credible deal alignment
  Hyperscaler sellers engage more deeply when deals are registered early, clearly scoped, and kept up to date. Clean pipeline using crucial sales frameworks like BANT, COSS, or MEDDIC signals matter more than volume.
• Fast private offer turnaround
  Co-sell momentum often peaks late in the sales cycle. When a hyperscaler seller brings budget or influence, delays in private offers can undo weeks of progress. Speed here directly impacts close rates.
• Predictable pricing and packaging
  Hyperscalers support deals when pricing is consistent, explainable, and aligned with marketplace norms, especially when cloud consumption is involved. They also value “neutral” pricing that doesn’t involve mark ups to cover the marketplace transaction fees.
• Operational reliability
  Partners who routinely miss timelines, revise offers multiple times, or struggle with internal approvals lose seller confidence quickly. In contrast, partners who transact cleanly become “go-to” options for future deals.

Why Co-Sell Breaks Down for Many Teams

Most co-sell programs don’t fail because of lack of intent. They fail because internal systems aren’t built to support marketplace execution at speed.

Common breakdowns include:

• Deal registration happening in isolation from sales operations
• Private offers created manually and inconsistently
• Pricing approvals slowing deals late in the quarter
• No shared source of truth across sales, partnerships, and operations

From the hyperscaler’s perspective, these issues look like risk. And hyperscaler sellers naturally prioritize partners who reduce friction, not add to it.

Co-Selling vs. Reselling: Understanding the Difference

A common point of confusion in cloud GTM strategy is the difference between co-selling and reselling:

Co-selling means partnering with the cloud provider’s sales team to jointly pursue and close deals. You maintain the customer relationship and pricing, while the hyperscaler provides sales support, cloud commit burn-down, and deal influence.

Reselling means the cloud provider or channel partner purchases your software and resells it to the end customer. They own the customer relationship and set the final price.

Co-Sell as a Repeatable Revenue Motion

High-performing marketplace teams treat co-sell as a repeatable operating motion, not a one-off assist. They design their processes so that:

• Deal registration, private offers, and approvals are tightly connected
• Sales and partnerships work from the same data and timelines
• Offers can be created and accepted quickly, without rework
• Hyperscaler sellers see consistency deal after deal

This is why co-sell is so tightly linked to post-listing revenue outcomes.

Understanding the AWS ACE Program for Marketplace Revenue

The AWS ACE (AWS Co-Sell Experience) program is a critical component of scaling revenue on AWS Marketplace. ACE is AWS’s structured approach to co-selling that provides ISVs with direct access to AWS field sellers, dedicated support, and co-sell benefits.

How AWS ACE Accelerates Post-Listing Revenue

• Access to AWS field sellers: ACE-eligible partners gain visibility with AWS account teams who can directly influence customer buying decisions and accelerate deal cycles.
• Co-sell benefits: Partners in the ACE program receive prioritized support and faster private offer approvals.
• Cloud commit burn-down: AWS sellers actively help customers use their committed cloud spend through marketplace purchases, making your solution more attractive to enterprise buyers.

AWS ACE Eligibility and Requirements

To qualify for the AWS ACE program, ISVs must:

• Be listed on AWS Marketplace with a SaaS or container-based product
• Demonstrate consistent marketplace transaction volume
• Maintain operational excellence in private offer management and co-sell execution
• Have AWS Partner Central integration for deal registration and pipeline visibility

The AWS ACE program transforms marketplace listing from a passive channel into an active revenue driver by aligning your sales motion directly with AWS’s go-to-market strategy.

Private Offers Are the Marketplace Revenue Engine

If co-selling focuses on velocity of your deal, Private Offers are the final step to get the deal closed providing custom pricing for a custom solution. While public listings are important for discovery or PLG motions, the majority of enterprise deals on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud are transacted through private offers. That’s because private offers are what allow sellers and buyers to align on real-world enterprise requirements like custom pricing, cloud commit burn-down, co-terming, ramps, and multi-year agreements.

Where Private Offers Break Down for Most Teams

Despite how critical they are to marketplace revenue, private offers are also where many deals quietly lose momentum.

In practice, the same issues show up again and again:

• Pricing approvals vary by deal, creating inconsistency and delays
• Small errors force offers to be withdrawn and reissued, resetting the clock
• Sales and partnerships teams lack real-time visibility into offer status

From your buyer’s perspective, this shows up as unnecessary friction at the exact moment they expect speed. From the hyperscaler’s perspective, it signals operational risk and uncertainty.

Both outcomes slow deals down. Both reduce the likelihood that transactions close in-quarter. And over time, both influence which partners hyperscaler sellers choose to prioritize.

Private Offers as a Repeatable Revenue Motion

High-performing marketplace teams approach private offers differently. They treat them as a standardized, repeatable workflow. That means:

• Private offers are created directly from CRM, not rebuilt manually
• Pricing guardrails and approvals are enforced automatically
• Revisions and renewals follow predictable paths
• Sales, partnerships, and operations all see the same real-time status
• End to end automation and visibility ensures proper reporting, disbursement, and reconciliation

This approach dramatically reduces cycle time and error rates, two of the biggest determinants of post-listing marketplace success.

Choosing the Right Offer Structure Matters

Keeping all this in mind, it’s important to remember that not all private offers are the same. Enterprise deals may need:

• New private offers for initial conversion
• Amendments for expansions or pricing changes
• Renewal offers that preserve continuity and minimize churn

Choosing the wrong workflow introduces unnecessary complexity and delays. This is why understanding the differences between offer types and when to use them is critical.

Pricing & Packaging Built for Marketplace Buying

Marketplace buyers don’t think like traditional SaaS buyers. And that difference matters more than most teams expect.

In a marketplace context, buyers are not starting from a blank budget. They’re optimizing around constraints and incentives that already exist inside their cloud environment. This shift in buyer mindset changes what “good pricing” looks like.

After listing, successful marketplace pricing strategies are designed to support multiple motions at once:

• Public offers that drive discovery and support PLG or mid-market motion
• Private offers that convert enterprise pipeline with custom terms
• Usage-based or committed pricing that aligns to how customers consume cloud
• Structured ramps and pre-defined deal constructs, instead of one-off discounts

What marketplaces do is force clarity around what’s standard, what’s negotiable, and how deals scale over time.

Teams that enforce pricing discipline inside the marketplace close deals faster and expand more predictably. Sales cycles shorten because buyers know what to expect, hyperscaler sellers can explain the deal clearly, and approvals don’t stall late in the process.

Marketplace-Specific Forecasting & Revenue Signals

Marketplace deals follow a distinct pattern compared to direct sales. Post-listing, many teams notice that marketplace deals tend to convert late in the quarter, face fewer legal and procurement blockers, and depend heavily on active cloud provider sales involvement.

Rather than forcing marketplace deals into direct-sales assumptions, high-performing teams adapt their forecasting approach. Marketplace forecasting works best when it reflects how deals actually move:

• Private-offer-based pipeline stages that better indicate real close readiness
• Co-sell forecast alignment that incorporates input from cloud provider sales teams
• Cloud budget and commit cycles, where one of the strongest predictors of timing is cloud commit expiry, which frequently drives quarter-end purchase behavior

Marketplace mechanics also change how teams think about cash timing and reporting. Because the customer pays the cloud provider, and the cloud provider pays you on its own schedule, forecasting shifts away from customer payment behavior toward cloud-provider payout behavior. As a result, teams track outstanding marketplace payouts rather than traditional customer AR, and separate revenue timing from cash timing in planning.

As marketplace revenue scales, these dynamics become difficult to manage with spreadsheets or generic BI tools. Teams need automations and  systems that understand private offers, installments, usage billing, co-sell influence, and cloud-specific payout patterns to maintain forecast accuracy and operational confidence.

Operational Speed Is a Hidden Revenue Multiplier

Marketplace revenue is extremely sensitive to operational speed, because by the time a deal reaches the marketplace, intent is already high.

At this stage, buyers have identified budget, hyperscaler sellers are engaged, and procurement friction is low. What determines whether deals close in-quarter is no longer interest but execution. Small delays compound quickly, and operational friction becomes a direct revenue blocker.

Marketplace deals stall when core operational steps aren’t tightly connected:

• Private offers take days instead of hours, slowing late-stage momentum
• Pricing and discount approvals are unclear or inconsistent, creating rework
• Co-sell activity lives separately from deal execution, weakening hyperscaler alignment
• CRM, marketplace consoles, and internal systems aren’t synchronized, forcing manual handoffs
• Finance, partnerships, and GTM teams operate in silos, slowing decisions and introducing errors
• Forecasting and payout visibility lag behind deal activity, making timing harder to manage

High-performing teams don’t rely on effort or manual coordination. They systemize marketplace execution so that:

• Private offers are generated directly from CRM with built-in approvals
• Pricing and packaging follow defined guardrails
• Co-sell signals stay aligned with deal progress
• Forecasting reflects real marketplace readiness
• Payout and cash timing are visible without manual reconciliation

Labra acts as the operational layer between cloud marketplaces and internal systems, connecting everything with unified coordinated workflows.

The result isn’t just efficiency. It’s trust. Trust earned with buyers, hyperscaler sellers, and internal teams. Trust that translates directly into faster closes, higher win rates, and more repeatable marketplace revenue.

Building a Scalable Cloud GTM Revenue Engine

Cloud marketplaces are no longer about access. They’re about leverage.

Once you’re listed, the competitive advantage doesn’t come from being discoverable. It comes from how well you convert marketplace demand into closed revenue, predictable expansion, and sustained hyperscaler support. The teams that succeed recognize that marketplaces introduce a new operating model. One that requires a dedicated cloud GTM strategy. 

The real inflection point isn’t listing. It’s when marketplace execution becomes intentional, systemized, and repeatable. At that moment, marketplaces stop being a parallel channel and start functioning as a scalable growth engine, one that compounds over time instead of resetting every quarter.

Marketplaces reward readiness. Execution is what turns opportunity into advantage.

FAQ