AWS Marketplace and co-sell advisory
How to choose an AWS Marketplace and co-sell advisor
If you sell software on AWS, the right advisor can shorten the path to a Marketplace listing, an AWS Competency or a co-sell motion that produces pipeline. The wrong one leaves you with a listing nobody buys through and a slide deck about the AWS Partner Network.
This guide covers the kinds of help on offer, the questions that separate them, and where Fractivo fits. It is written for CROs, alliance leads and founders at software companies selling to enterprises on AWS.
The kinds of help you will find
Most software companies weigh four options. Each one fits a different problem, so start with the problem you need solved.
| Option | Best when | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Marketplace operations software | You already transact on AWS Marketplace and the volume of listings, private offers and reporting is the bottleneck. | Software automates the paperwork. It won't build your co-sell relationships or decide which accounts to target. |
| Large consulting firms and systems integrators | You need implementation or migration work delivered at scale alongside your go-to-market. | Alliance and Marketplace advice is often a small part of a larger engagement, and senior attention can be hard to secure for a growth-stage software company. |
| A specialist AWS alliance advisor | You need a listing, a competency or a working co-sell motion, and you want people who have done it many times to do the work with your team. | Check who does the work, which results they can show you, and whether they will build capability inside your team. |
| A full-time alliance hire | AWS is already a major channel and you need someone running it every day for years. | Hiring takes months, experienced AWS alliance leaders are expensive, and one person rarely covers listings, competencies and co-sell equally well. |
Seven questions to ask any advisor
These questions work whichever kind of help you choose. The answers tell you quickly whether a firm has done the work or only talks about it.
Who will do the work?
Ask for the names of the people on your engagement and what each of them has delivered. A senior pitch followed by a junior team is common.
What have you taken all the way to approval or revenue?
Ask for a named case study: a competency approved, a listing launched, or co-sell pipeline created, with dates.
How do you work with our AWS account team?
A good advisor works through your partner development manager and AWS sellers, and helps your team build those relationships directly.
What will you measure?
Expect outcomes such as launched co-sell opportunities, Marketplace transactions and competency approvals. Activity reports alone don't tell you much.
What will you not promise?
AWS decides which opportunities its sellers engage on. An advisor who promises AWS deals or a guaranteed approval is overselling.
Will our team be able to do this without you?
Ask what you keep at the end: templates, playbooks and the knowledge to run the next submission or private offer yourselves.
Can we buy through AWS Marketplace?
If the advisor sells through AWS Marketplace, you can pay through your AWS bill, and qualifying purchases can count toward your AWS commitment. Check with your AWS account team that the purchase qualifies.
Signs it is time to get help
- Your AWS Marketplace listing is live, but deals still close outside it.
- Your co-sell opportunities sit in ACE without AWS sellers engaging.
- Enterprise buyers ask about AWS validation, and you don't hold an AWS Competency yet.
- Nobody on your team owns the AWS relationship full time.
- You've been told to do co-sell, but nobody has defined what success looks like.
How Fractivo works
Fractivo is an AWS partner go-to-market advisory firm. Our team includes six years of experience inside AWS, and we work alongside your team to get the listing, the competency or the co-sell motion done.
We start with an assessment of where your AWS partnership stands, agree a plan with milestones and owners, then execute with you. At the end, your team keeps the templates and playbooks to repeat the work.
- Cloud GTM Readiness Assessment
- AWS Co-Sell Acceleration
- AWS Marketplace Launch & Optimization
- AWS Competency Services
Docebo: Two AWS Competency submissions in 12 weeks. AWS approved the Education Competency three days after submission. Read the case study
Defang: AWS Marketplace listing live in two weeks, and $100K in estimated ARR pipeline from co-sell activation. Read the case study
Common questions
Do we need an advisor to list on AWS Marketplace?
No. AWS Marketplace has self-service tools for creating a listing. An advisor helps most with what comes around the listing: pricing and packaging, private offers, the accounts to target and working with AWS sellers.
Can an advisor guarantee AWS will co-sell with us?
No. AWS decides which opportunities its sellers engage on. An advisor can make your opportunities, your listing and your case for AWS sellers as strong as possible.
How long does an AWS Competency take?
It depends on your customer evidence and technical readiness. With Fractivo, Docebo took two competency submissions from gap analysis to submission in 12 weeks.
Can we pay for Fractivo through AWS Marketplace?
Yes. Our AWS Alliance Leadership service and our AWS Competency Readiness and Validation Service are both available as private offers on AWS Marketplace.
Talk to us about your AWS partnership
Tell us where things stand today. We'll tell you what we see and where we think the leverage is. Get in touch