Nearbound Marketing: What It Is and How It Works
Demand generation that runs through partners by borrowing their trust, measured as pipeline.
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AWS Marketplace Co-Sell: The Motion Most ISVs Skip
What is AWS Marketplace co-sell? Short answer: AWS Marketplace co-sell is the sales motion where an ISV transacts a deal through AWS Marketplace while simultaneously working the opportunity with an AWS field seller through the ACE (AWS Customer Engagements) system. It pairs a private offer with a registered, accepted opportunity, so the AWS rep gets […]
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Editor's Picks
MDF Programs That Generate Real Pipeline (Not Just Activity)
Short answer: most MDF (Market Development Funds) programs in B2B SaaS waste 50 to 70 percent of their budget. The cause is structural, not size. MDF gets framed too narrowly as marketing money. It then goes to partners who will not run the activity that drives pipeline. The fix is a defensible MDF program that […]
Joint Demand Generation: How to Run Co-Marketing That Converts
Short answer: joint demand generation campaigns with partners produce 2x to 4x the ROI of solo demand-gen when designed correctly. They produce 0.5x or worse when designed wrong. The difference comes down to four design decisions. You need a shared ICP, a single accountable owner, lead-level attribution, and a structured handoff motion. Get those four […]
AWS Marketplace Co-Sell: The Motion Most ISVs Skip
What is AWS Marketplace co-sell? Short answer: AWS Marketplace co-sell is the sales motion where an ISV transacts a deal through AWS Marketplace while simultaneously working the opportunity with an AWS field seller through the ACE (AWS Customer Engagements) system. It pairs a private offer with a registered, accepted opportunity, so the AWS rep gets […]
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AWS Marketplace Strategy: Billing Rail, Co-Sell, or Both?
What is AWS Marketplace strategy? Short answer: AWS Marketplace strategy is the set of strategic decisions an ISV makes about whether and how to use AWS Marketplace as part of their go-to-market motion. It covers strategic intent, listing model, pricing approach, channel design, and operational stack, and the answers shape everything from your pricing page […]
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Co-Sell Activation: 8-Week Cadence That Builds Pipeline
What is co-sell activation? Short answer: Co-sell activation is the structured process of taking a partner from signed to actively producing co-sell pipeline. It is the difference between a paper partnership and a producing one, and it lives or dies on a recurring deal-review cadence run for the first six to eight weeks after signature. […]
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Co-Sell Advisor: When to Hire One and What They Actually Do
What is a co-sell advisor? Short answer: A co-sell advisor is an external advisor, fractional partnerships leader, or consultant on retainer who helps a partnerships org design and run its co-sell motion. They sit alongside the in-house team, diagnose what is actually broken, design the operating model, and coach the team through the first cycles […]
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Co-Sell Agency: What to Outsource and What to Keep In-House
What is a co-sell agency? Short answer: A co-sell agency is an external firm that runs co-sell programs on behalf of a vendor. It is different from an advisor (who coaches) or a consultant (who designs). The agency executes the mechanics: account mapping, partner cadences, deal reviews, attribution reporting, and partner-program operations. The agency model […]
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Partner Newsletter: What It Is and How to Run One
What is a partner newsletter? Short answer: a partner newsletter is a recurring communication sent to a company’s partners to keep them informed, enabled, and active. In 2026, the ones that work are not announcements; they are activation tools that drive a specific partner action in every send. A monthly roundup of company news is […]
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Partner Account Planning and Always-On Partner Comms
Short answer: Always-on partner communications keep partners aware of you. On their own, they do not generate pipeline. The pipeline comes from partner account planning: dedicated, recurring account-planning sessions built on completed account mapping. Always-on comms are the wiring between those sessions, not a substitute for them. Crossbeam network data puts the average win-rate lift […]
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AWS ACE: How the APN Customer Engagement Program Actually Works
AWS ACE (the APN Customer Engagement program) is the operating mechanism that lets AWS partners track and co-sell deals with AWS field sellers. Partners that run ACE well produce co-sell revenue that compounds; partners that treat ACE as a back-office reporting task produce ACE pipelines that look full and don’t close. The thing that separates […]
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Alliance Manager: Role, Scope, and How to Hire One That Closes
An alliance manager is the person who owns the operating relationship with a strategic partner: the joint motion, the joint pipeline, the executive cadence, and the deal-by-deal field execution. The role is not a single role; it’s a spectrum from co-sell ops to strategic alliance lead. Most alliance manager hires fail in the first 18 […]
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Account-Planning Template: A 2026 Framework Partners Will Actually Use
An account planning template is the structured document that captures the named contacts, decision drivers, partner mix, deal mechanics, and operating cadence for a strategic account. The template is only useful if it’s short enough that an AE will keep it updated and rich enough that a frontline sales manager can read it without the […]
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