Cloud marketplace evolution and GTM strategies with Nadav Tzuker of Wiz

Trunal Bhanse: Hello everyone, welcome to our very first podcast of 2024! We have an exciting guest with us today, Nadav. Welcome to the show! Why don’t you go ahead and introduce yourself to our audience?

Nadav Tzuker: Absolutely. Thanks, Trunal, for having me. I’m excited to be here. My name is Nadav, and I work in cloud alliances for Wiz. Wiz is a major cloud security ISV, operating across all three cloud platforms. I’ll share a bit more about Wiz in a moment. I’ve been in the cloud industry for about four years now, immersed in cloud partnerships and the evolving landscape of cloud go-to-market as an emerging field. Previously, I held technical roles in other companies here in Israel. I’m based in Tel Aviv and looking forward to discussing our day-to-day work in this space.

Trunal: Excellent! Thanks for joining us, Nadav. Before we dive into the exciting agenda we have, could you tell us a little about your journey and what led you to become interested in cloud marketplaces?

Nadav: Sure. I come from the ISV side of things, which has been the core of my journey. I’ve worked with two technology-focused ISVs—Wiz, where I currently work, and another Israeli company, Granulate, which was recently acquired by Intel and is also active in the cloud space. My experience with cloud partnerships and marketplace go-to-market strategies stems from these roles.

I began working in this industry about four years ago. Honestly, I was introduced to this world when I took on a new role as a business development manager. While that role still exists, it’s evolving now towards partnerships, alliances, and channels. My first experience was at Granulate, where I managed our ISV partnership with AWS. The more I explored, the more I realized the immense potential and scale of this market.

The tech industry is well-defined in so many ways, yet there’s a substantial gap between what people know and what’s happening in the cloud go-to-market space. I quickly saw the potential of collaborating with hyperscalers, co-selling, leveraging marketing budgets and resources, and running campaigns together.

And especially, as I think we’ll discuss more, the role of cloud marketplaces—not just as a billing mechanism but as a real strategic tool. It really opened my eyes.

I saw a gap between the potential that companies have to utilize this space and the reality of how it’s currently being used. It’s surprising that not every company has dedicated people focused on this—it often becomes a side project, which I believe isn’t sustainable in today’s environment.

This sparked my interest, and I wanted to learn as much as I could. I was fortunate to work with two highly innovative companies, the latest being Wiz, which I believe is among the top ISVs globally. I’d be happy to explain why, but it’s given me invaluable exposure to how much potential there is in this ecosystem.

Trunal: That’s fantastic. You’ve packed in a lot of information, so let me unpack some of that one by one. First, we’ve both had the chance to witness the growth of cloud marketplaces through companies like Confluent, where I’ve worked.

For someone either starting a business today or with an established company that hasn’t yet explored cloud marketplaces or Cloud GTM, what would you say to them? Why should they consider a Cloud GTM at this stage in their journey?

Nadav: My immediate response would be, why not? There are so many benefits if you take the time to research this area. To start, cloud marketplaces are becoming the second-largest billing mechanism, and soon, I believe, they’ll be the largest in the B2B SaaS world, which makes up a big part of the tech industry.

So, first, it’s inevitable. Even without getting into the specific benefits, companies will need a cloud marketplace go-to-market strategy. They’ll need listings on cloud marketplaces and a solid understanding of how to operate them because that’s what customers expect.

When a customer asks to be billed through a specific cloud marketplace, you want to be ready to fulfill that request, ideally even better than your competitors. This can enhance the user experience and provide a competitive edge. Besides that, the benefits are substantial. Many companies see a reduction in their sales cycles by anywhere from 15 to 40 percent because there’s less legal and financial red tape. You’re leveraging the CSPs—like AWS, Google, and Microsoft—to handle due diligence for you.

It’s a streamlined billing mechanism that saves time and simplifies processes. Additionally, more companies are signing commitment agreements, such as EDPs with AWS or MACCs with Microsoft. This is a significant gap in knowledge—many don’t realize how these committed spends can be used to purchase their solutions.

For example, at Wiz, we primarily sell to CISOs. But CISOs may not always know about the commitment spends that DevOps or finance teams have agreed to with a cloud provider. They may try to secure new budgets through traditional direct sales, only to have procurement step in and say, “Actually, we want this billed through AWS Marketplace.”

Ideally, you can preempt this by guiding the customer toward this path from the start. So, it’s really all benefits—reduced sales cycles, less resource need for legal and finance, and most importantly, improved relationships with cloud providers. The more you use their marketplaces, the stronger your partnership with them becomes.

Trunal: Absolutely. And now that you’ve been in this space for several years, how have you seen the ecosystem evolve? For example, when you were at Granulate four years ago, what was the market maturity like? Now at Wiz, which has seen incredible growth through cloud marketplaces, what changes are you noticing that might be helpful for someone starting out today?

Nadav: First, there are simply more players in the industry. With each passing day, more companies are entering the commitment game, meaning there are more prospects and customers interested in marketplaces. So that’s one big change.

Secondly, the resources that cloud providers are dedicating to this marketplace go-to-market motion have grown massively. If you look back three or four years, marketplaces existed but were more of an idea, a concept pushed by a small group. There were limited resources and fewer people using them.

Today, though, if you look at AWS, for example, there are marketplace customer advocates, technical teams, operational teams, co-sell advisors, and entire global teams—even in regions that were less developed just a few years ago—actively putting this marketplace approach into practice. So, there’s more support, more knowledge, and more enablement than ever before.

On the product side, marketplaces have evolved into actual billing engines. They started as decent billing mechanisms but have developed to the point where using them is often advantageous. It’s now reached a point where it’s almost inevitable.

The earlier you engage with cloud marketplaces—whether as an ISV or even as a customer yourself—the more refined your processes will be when you reach the commercial stage, whether that’s selling or procuring through a marketplace.

Trunal: Great. As you mentioned, cloud GTM has multiple pieces. You touched on marketplace listings and co-selling. We’ll get to co-selling shortly, but in terms of cloud marketplace listings, we all know that’s just the first step. What does day two look like? Simply getting a listing isn’t enough, right? What additional steps should companies take?

Nadav: Absolutely. As we’ve said, companies should adopt a cloud go-to-market strategy as early as possible. This applies not only to cloud-focused or cloud-based solutions but to every SaaS B2B company. So yes, getting that marketplace listing is just day one.

Getting listed on a marketplace is largely a technical, operational task. I don’t want to downplay it, but it’s something you just have to get done. Once you’re there, though, the real work begins.

After your listing is live, you don’t just let it sit there. The goal isn’t to wait passively for requests. Instead, you need to master cloud marketplaces.

This means understanding the business value it offers to your customers, especially those with commitment plans, as we discussed. You’ll want to set up an efficient process for handling private offers, so if a customer says, “I want to buy through AWS Marketplace,” you can handle that in hours rather than weeks. And you need to leverage your relationships with the marketplace teams.

The major hyperscalers have large marketplace teams. You’ll want to make use of channel programs and relationships with cloud and reseller partners, ultimately creating value for your customers.

You’ll also need to understand programs like AWS’s CPPO or Microsoft’s MPO, which enable you to create private offers involving a partner or channel partner. And the ultimate goal, the “cherry on top,” is co-selling with the cloud providers.

Today, co-selling is directly linked to marketplace success. In a session with our local cloud community, we said, “Marketplace equals co-sell.” Your co-sell and marketplace strategies are intertwined. The incentives for cloud provider sellers to co-sell are tied to marketplace activity. The more you succeed on the marketplace, the more advocates and supporters you’ll gain globally, with giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft actively working to close your deals.

One common mistake is when a VP of Product, Operations, or even the CEO takes this on as a side project, dedicating only a small part of their week. That approach won’t lead to success.

You need a dedicated cloud strategy and someone to own it. Enable your sellers, executives, sales operations, and finance teams to understand how and why Marketplace should be part of your approach. Building relationships with cloud providers and integrating Marketplace deeply into your business will help drive success.

Trunal: Fantastic. Now, let’s take a step back. I’ve been in this space for a long time, so I understand the value of marketplaces. But that’s not the case for everyone out there, right?

Let’s say there’s someone—a CEO, a founder, or an alliance leader—who’s trying to get internal buy-in and convince others that this is a channel worth investing resources in. What tips can you offer from your experience that might be useful for them?

Nadav: That’s actually the hardest part—getting everyone on board. Not everyone cares or sees this as a priority, and that’s understandable; companies, especially startups or enterprises, have many other priorities. I wish this market were more mature, so alliance managers or channel leaders wouldn’t have to spend so much time convincing others of its value.

Maybe what you and I are doing here can help someone understand it better. But to get an entire organization—from engineering to sales to support to the executive team—aligned on this, I think it helps to follow a few key steps.

First, you can share success stories. If you’ve closed a marketplace deal, take the data from that transaction and compare it to a traditional direct deal. Look at the time it took, and show any trends you see where the marketplace deal has clear advantages. This is something to communicate up to executives and even investors, who often help define the company’s strategy.

Collecting success stories and educating your team is important. It’s also crucial that your team knows the “language” of cloud go-to-market, which you and I are discussing here.

Additionally, build a technical operation around marketplace processes. For instance, when a customer wants a private offer, your team should know how to quickly set it up and process it.

The goal is to make the marketplace experience feel seamless, efficient, and forward-thinking—not like it’s holding things back.

I also strongly recommend hiring dedicated alliance managers. This role is still new, and many people may not understand its full scope, but having someone responsible for owning and implementing this motion within the company, including managing external relationships, is invaluable. Typically, executives don’t have time to nurture connections with the marketplace teams, co-sell teams, or key sellers, so someone needs to take ownership of those relationships. Without that, you’ll likely not get the results you’re aiming for, and it may even create a negative perception of cloud go-to-market’s potential.

Trunal: Completely agree. In my experience, this is a new channel, and awareness about it is still low. Many companies are only now learning about it. And once there’s awareness, there’s often an expectation for instant results. I see companies jump in, list on the marketplace, set everything up, start pushing deals through, and then expect hyperscalers to instantly start driving growth.

The reality is that many people are looking for quick wins—I don’t blame them, as everyone’s motivated by results. But they think, “I put up a listing; now the deals should just come in.” However, it doesn’t work that way. If you put in the work, though, it can eventually create a snowball effect that makes this channel more valuable than almost any other

Nadav: Exactly, and I’d add that it’s essential for people to understand that this takes time. You need to implement, learn, and understand how CSPs work and how AWS, for example, approaches cloud go-to-market.

Developing a cloud go-to-market strategy doesn’t yield instant returns. I’ve heard startup CEOs say, “I hired an alliance manager, started working with AWS, put deals in their CRM for partners, and I’m not seeing referrals or results. Why are we even investing time in this?” This is where it’s important to show success, but also to understand that this is a long-term, strategic investment.

If you want to be a top global ISV, it takes time to build up to that point. That’s when you start seeing the best results. So yes, I’m totally with you on this.

Trunal: Yeah, and while it’s a different channel from others, it also isn’t. For example, in marketing, if you just set up a website, you can’t expect people to come and buy your product right away. You need content, storytelling, a seamless purchasing experience, and so on. It’s the same with cloud GTM. If you just put up a listing and wait, nothing will happen. But I’m glad the industry is learning about this, and more people are becoming aware—it’s moving in the right direction. So, all good.

Maybe let’s switch gears and talk about co-sell. There are various co-sell motions out there: through channel partners, ISV-to-ISV. When we talk about co-sell specifically in the hyperscaler context, could you explain what that even means and why it’s beneficial for ISVs?

Nadav: Absolutely. Co-selling is what everyone wants but also something many struggle to define. A lot of people interpret it differently. Honestly, I’m still learning the best way to co-sell with hyperscalers myself. But to simplify, I see co-selling with hyperscalers from two angles: deal acceleration and lead generation.

Generally, co-selling starts with accelerating your existing pipeline, and once you build a strong partnership, you start seeing leads. A key point here is that hyperscalers incentivize their sellers to work with approved ISVs like Wiz. They offer bonuses or quota retirement for deals they help accelerate or even generate for ISVs. So, if I’m trying to sell to a customer, I could try to close the deal on my own. But through cloud GTM, I can reach out to, say, the Azure account executive (AE) managing that customer.

These AEs have data, relationships, and knowledge, and they’re financially incentivized to help. Often, procurement may even happen via the marketplace. This person is essential for me and my sellers in successfully closing the deal. Understanding that they have a financial incentive to help is key; it’s not just about convincing them that your product is the best. They’re dealing with tens of thousands of ISVs, so you need to be clear on the value and incentives for co-selling.

So back to the two angles—deal acceleration and lead generation. If you have an existing opportunity that’s stalled, use your Azure AE relationship to try and co-sell your solution to that customer. Once you’ve established a relationship, this AE may start bringing in additional leads because they know your solution works for their customers. It’s a win-win-win: the AE gets recognized for bringing value to their customer, I gain an additional lead, and the customer gets a quality solution and potentially better terms.

Trunal: Great, and you touched on this a bit, but let’s go deeper. For an ISV building a relationship with a hyperscaler, how can they make it a mutually beneficial partnership? Beyond the financial incentives and having a strong product, what else can help create a strong, mutually beneficial relationship?

Nadav: That’s a great question. When you look at cloud partnerships overall, especially cloud alliances, I’d break it down into five pillars. We’ve already talked about two—co-selling and marketplace. A third pillar is your role as a customer. When you co-sell with an AWS rep to an AWS customer, for example, your own AWS usage often increases alongside the customer’s, leading to a win-win-win: both you and the customer deepen your AWS usage.

Then there’s marketing—specifically, co-marketing. Here’s an example: in my last role, we were a small startup. Even though we had funding and great people, our brand wasn’t widely known. We tried to run a webinar organically, spending a lot on time, money, and resources, only to have around a dozen attendees—half of whom were friends and family.

In contrast, with co-marketing, you work with a partner marketing manager on, say, Google’s side. You add Google’s logo to the webinar, get a Google speaker, and promote it on Google’s socials. That’s a thousand times more effective than going it alone. And that’s just one example. Co-marketing can also involve partner funds, summits, or large conferences like AWS re:Invent. Collateral you create with hyperscalers amplifies your reach and credibility.

Finally, there’s product integration, or co-product. Many hyperscalers offer similar or competing solutions, whether it’s in data, DevOps, security, performance, or cost optimization. Instead of competing directly, you want to collaborate, integrate, and create go-to-market assets together.

Once you’ve aligned on these five pillars—co-sell, marketplace, cloud consumption, co-marketing, and product integration—you’re in a much stronger position as an ISV. Your “better together” story resonates more, and hyperscaler sellers feel confident recommending you to their customers. For them, it’s not just about financial incentives; it’s about knowing they’re connecting their customers with a trusted, reliable partner.

Trunal: Switching gears, let’s talk a bit about the future. Earlier, we touched on how cloud marketplaces and the Cloud Alliance Manager role are relatively new but evolving quickly. How do you see the Cloud Alliance Manager role shaping up in 2024 and beyond?

Nadav: First of all, the role is still defining itself. Leaders like yourself and cloud alliance managers like myself are actively shaping this role, which will become essential in the coming years. So we’re in the process of learning and adapting. In 2024, I see cloud alliance leaders managing all the pillars I mentioned earlier, aiming to maximize relationships with hyperscalers.

This role will involve maintaining daily contact with key hyperscaler personas, including partner teams, marketplace teams, product teams, and executive sponsors. This could mean regular engagement to build executive alignment, where our executives interact monthly or quarterly with their counterparts at the hyperscalers. We want their support at events and sessions, and it’s about keeping those relationships dynamic and connected across various functions.

From a marketing standpoint, the alliance leader acts as the bridge, enabling the marketing team to tap into hyperscaler campaigns, conferences, and funding opportunities. On the sales side, the focus is on marketplace, co-sell, and seller-to-seller relationships, ensuring these areas align for maximum impact.

On the product front, it’s about building technical and strategic “better together” stories and driving joint go-to-market initiatives. The role also involves cross-functional alignment across finance, DevOps, engineering, and even executives. It’s about getting every team to contribute to a successful cloud go-to-market strategy.

Trunal: As cloud marketplaces and alliances grow in importance, more leaders are looking at enabling these channels, like sales leaders or CROs trying to figure out the budget needed. How should they approach budgeting for a Cloud GTM strategy in 2024? Should they think in terms of a percentage of overall budget or sales, or another approach entirely?

Nadav: Definitely. Before even discussing specific numbers, the first budget consideration should be on hiring dedicated people for this channel—Alliance Managers, partner or sales operations staff to handle marketplace processes, create private offers, and manage reporting. That requires funding.

You also need to budget for enablement. At Wiz, every seller goes through onboarding, including training on hyperscalers, co-sell strategies, marketplace benefits, and incentives. Even if you don’t have formal go-to-market training, you need to build this internal knowledge so your team understands how to leverage cloud marketplaces and partnerships effectively.

It’s also crucial to incentivize your alliance team. For example, an Alliance Manager might have targets for marketplace revenue, lead generation, or pipeline acceleration. I know some companies even incentivize sellers to utilize cloud go-to-market methods. It’s about aligning everyone towards the common goal of leveraging cloud marketplaces as a growth channel.

And then, budget for building brand presence. Events like AWS re:Invent, Microsoft Ignite, Google Next, or vertical-specific summits are essential for visibility, not just with customers but with cloud providers. These events reinforce your commitment as a proactive, engaged partner.

A CRO today needs to think beyond traditional sales budgets and consider partner budgets strategically. There are costs associated with channel strategies—marketplace fees, which can be substantial with larger deal volumes, but still worthwhile in terms of ROI. You also need to budget for channel partners and resellers who bring in deals and leads.

So, while I haven’t given specific percentages, these are the key areas to allocate budget for a successful cloud go-to-market strategy.

Trunal: Final question for today. In my experience with Cloud GTM, it’s been primarily a US-focused channel. Most companies, like Wiz and CrowdStrike, seem to target North America heavily. Are you seeing a shift in awareness and adoption of cloud GTM in international regions as well?

Nadav: Absolutely. Like many trends, cloud GTM started in the US and then, one to five years later, started spreading to EMEA and APAC. The last three years marked the golden age of cloud go-to-market in the US, and now it’s becoming more established and picking up globally.

Take, for instance, consumption commitments like MACCs and EDPs, which are foundational for developing cloud GTM markets. These agreements are now being signed rapidly in APAC and EMEA. More strategic customers are joining this circle, and within months, they’re realizing how to incorporate these commitments into their procurement and cloud strategies.

On the hyperscaler side, CSPs are expanding their global teams, including marketplace GTM professionals, co-sell advisors, and channel sales roles, to support this. At AWS, for instance, the ISV Sales Manager role was rare a couple of years ago in regions like Israel—now, there are several such roles, and the trend is mirrored in the UK, the DACH region, India, and Thailand.

This is accelerating because international regions can build on the established US success. The hyperscalers’ commitment to hiring regionally and launching region-specific programs like Microsoft’s MPO, which is set to go GA in EMEA soon, reflects this growth. So, it’s all moving fast. This is also why it’s critical for companies to start early. Even in the US, the market is still evolving, so starting now means you’re ahead of the curve. This will shape the next few years, and it’s better to be there from the start rather than waiting for the market to fully mature.

Trunal: Fantastic. Thank you so much for your time today, Nadav. I feel like I learned a ton, and I’m sure our audience will too. We’d love to have you back on the podcast in the future. This conversation has been a treasure trove of insights.

‍Nadav: Thank you, Trunal. It’s always great catching up with you. I really appreciate the opportunity.