Sapphire Ventures
Partnering with expansion-stage, enterprise software companies that we believe can become category leaders.
Sapphire Partners
Limited partner investing in exceptional early-stage venture fund managers.
Sapphire Sport
Partnering with early-stage companies at the nexus of technology and culture.
Menu close
Sapphire
The Startup’s Guide to Cloud Marketplaces eBook: How to Get Started and Drive Revenue with this Growing Sales Channel
Table of contents
The Startup’s Guide to Cloud Marketplaces eBook: How to Get Started and Drive Revenue with this Growing Sales Channel
Published
October 6, 2020
Table of contents
Share

The concept of marketplaces isn’t new. In fact, they’re prevalent in our everyday lives. Companies like Uber, Airbnb and Zillow have changed how we get around, plan vacations and buy homes. Behind these experiences are marketplaces that connect people willing to provide a service to consumers in need, and they have become an essential part of the many different decisions we make.

This same marketplace pervasiveness has transcended enterprise SaaS and B2B sales, and has transformed how buyers discover enterprise technologies. Called cloud marketplaces, this new and increasingly popular channel enables brands to digitally procure innovative technologies. And it’s a trend that’s taking off. Forrester estimates that by 2023, 17% of the $13 trillion U.S. B2B procurement market will be transacted online.

For startups, the benefits of being part of cloud marketplaces such as Amazon’s AWS Marketplace, Google Cloud Marketplace and Microsoft Azure Marketplace are huge. Those that leverage this emerging channel can:

  • Close larger deals
  • Shorten sales cycles
  • Reduce the complexity of navigating customer procurement processes 

Cloud marketplaces are also an attractive option for large enterprises with existing relationships with cloud vendors. Companies that turn to cloud marketplaces for new technologies benefit by:

  • Being assured that startups have met a certain level of security standards required by the cloud marketplace provider
  • Knowing they can retire the purchase value for startup technologies against their annual cloud spend commitments
  • Experiencing a much simpler procurement process, which standardizes contracts for buyers and sellers of software on the marketplace’s terms and agreements

The next wave of software sales is being heavily influenced by the rise of cloud marketplaces as large enterprises leverage them as part of their broader cloud IT procurement strategy. While the benefits of cloud marketplaces can be enormous, it’s a nascent channel for most startups and their revenue leaders. 

To help CEOs and go-to-market (GTM) leaders navigate and identify ways to leverage cloud marketplaces, we created The Startup’s Guide to Cloud Marketplaces eBook. In interviewing over 20 alliance executives from companies such as MongoDB, Snowflake and Sumo Logic, as well as cloud executives from AWS Marketplace, Google Cloud Marketplace and Microsoft our goal is to help startups:

  1. Decide whether their company should sell through a cloud marketplace
  2. Determine which cloud marketplace(s) to sell-through
  3. Demystify facts from fiction regarding cloud marketplaces
  4. Provide best practices on how to sell via cloud marketplaces effectively

                            Sapphire Ventures: The Startup’s Guide to Cloud Marketplaces from Rico Mallozzi

Please reach out with any questions: [email protected].

Legal disclaimer

Disclaimer: Nothing presented within this article is intended to constitute investment advice, and under no circumstances should any information provided herein be used or considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund managed by Sapphire Ventures (“Sapphire”). Information provided reflects Sapphires’ views as of a time, whereby such views are subject to change at any point and Sapphire shall not be obligated to provide notice of any change. Various companies mentioned in this article may be a representative sample of portfolio companies in which Sapphire has invested in which the author believes such companies fit the objective criteria stated in commentary, which do not reflect all investments made by Sapphire. A complete alphabetical list of Sapphire’s investments made by its direct growth and sports investing strategies is available here. No assumptions should be made that investments listed above were or will be profitable. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual events, results or the actual experience may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in these statements. Nothing contained in this article may be relied upon as a guarantee or assurance as to the future success of any particular company. Past performance is not indicative of future results.