New 'AI+Cloud' Playbook: How Tech Giants Partner & Compete - And ISVs Scale
Hi, it's Roman from Partner Insight. Welcome to my last newsletter of 2024, where I deconstruct winning Cloud GTM strategies and trends in marketplaces and partnerships.
What a year it's been! We've witnessed hyperscalers add nearly $2T in market cap, cloud commits hit a new height of $380B, and Microsoft reported AI purchases on cloud marketplaces surge 4X. Today, we'll explore how AI is transforming tech partnerships, with a striking 65% of the $32B invested in foundation models since 2019 being partnership-led.
Before we dive in, I want to thank you, our readers, for your engagement and feedback in 2024, and our incredible Cloud GTM Leader course mentors and alumni for being such a supportive community. Your marketplace successes inspire us to keep pushing boundaries.
💡 Start 2025 Strong:
Join my Jan 9th online workshop where I'll break down the 5 mindset shifts driving $1M+ marketplace deals - insights distilled from helping 200 alliance leaders scale their revenue.
Master cloud marketplaces with Cohort 9 of Cloud GTM Leader course starting January 14th. 🎁 Holiday gift: Sign up by Jan 6th for a free 1-1 session with me (use code below).
Wishing you a wonderful New Year! Let's dive into today's insights.
AI's New Partnership Rules: When Competitors Become Allies
AI is rewriting playbooks, turning partnerships into the cornerstone of business strategy. When Microsoft partners with OpenAI while competing with them, and Amazon doubles down on Google-backed Anthropic, you know the rules have changed.
When a single model like last year's Gemini Ultra costs $190M just to develop, even tech giants with deep pockets can't put all pieces of the puzzle together alone. Just think about all the layers of the stack, product use cases, and distribution channels.
"Cross-ecosystem collaboration is critical to mobilizing the investment and capabilities that different ecosystem participants require to innovate and facilitate broader adoption of gen AI," a recent Accenture analysis reveals.
The telling proof? A striking 65% of $32Bn invested in foundation models (2019 - mid 2024) is partnership-led.
But it's not just about training LLMs or building data centers. Partnerships are critical across all six layers of the AI Stack.
📊 AI Stack's Key Dependencies (examples):
Applications Layer needs:
Foundation model integration
Application-specific data
Distribution channels to reach users
Tooling Layer (model hubs, data orchestration) needs:
AI frameworks and code libraries
Synthetic data generation
Foundation Model Layer need:
Massive compute resources
Large-scale training datasets
Distribution channels
Data & Storage Layer needs:
High-quality structured/structured datasets
Scalable infrastructure and Interoperability
Cloud & Networking Layer needs:
High bandwidth networking
Customer relationships (distribution)
Chips Layer needs:
Compute for chip design
Supplier and Customer relationships
4 Key Partnership Types Emerging in the Ecosystem:
Chips + Cloud
Chip makers gain cloud integration expertise and broader market reach
Cloud providers get access to high-performance AI chips
Clouds + Foundation Models
Cloud providers gain cutting-edge foundation models (eg. GPT)
Model developers get infrastructure for broader deployment and scaling
Data/Storage + Foundation Models
Data companies expand market reach by supporting AI workloads
Model developers get access to scalable data and storage solutions
Foundation Models + Applications
Model developers reach new markets through AI-driven applications
App developers get Foundation model integration capabilities
What makes AI partnerships unique is how they've created incredible incentives for deep collaboration.
Unlike previous tech waves where companies could succeed by controlling key parts of the stack, AI's complexity and resource demands force even the largest players to seek complementary capabilities.
Tech companies are aggressively pursuing multiple parallel alliances rather than (while?) trying to fully vertically integrate. It's about creating an ecosystem where innovation happens through collaboration and co-competition.
5 Mindset Shifts That Drive $1M+ Cloud Marketplace Deals: 🎯Online Workshop on Jan 9
The difference between landing $1M+ deals in cloud marketplaces and getting stuck often comes down to 5 key mindset shifts.
After helping nearly 200 alliance leaders scale their marketplace revenue, one pattern became crystal clear: The old approach of "waiting for cloud sellers to bring deals" or "listing everything to see what sticks" simply doesn't work anymore.
Top performers take a different path:
They tap into $380Bn of enterprise cloud commits opportunity strategically
They validate their best products first and build compelling better-together stories
They nurture marketplace champions within their sales teams
They make their products/solution essential to cloud-customer conversations
They leverage renewals to unlock expansion revenue and build momentum
Join me on Thursday, January 9th (9 a.m. PST) for an insight-packed free session where I'll break down these proven strategies driving marketplace success in 2025.
We'll cover foundational frameworks and insights from our Cloud GTM Leader course, making this session particularly valuable for teams exploring or expanding their marketplace presence.
This workshop kicks off our 2025 programming, leading into Cohort 9 of our comprehensive Cloud GTM Leader course starting January 14th.
Cloud & AI: One-Two Punch for ISV Growth
Survey data shows a clear pattern: top-performing enterprises are combining cloud and AI to create a compounding advantage not just for efficiency, but to acquire users and grow.
A PwC survey of 1,030 business and tech executives separated the top 12% of performers from the rest, highlighting insightful differences.
Here's what caught my attention:
Cloud Strategy for Growth
For 50%+ of top performers, cloud isn't just about operational efficiency — it's a driver of customer activation and acquisition:
60% leverage cloud to unlock new customer engagement channels
59% create new revenue streams
53% achieve market expansion
These numbers are 2X higher than their peers, revealing a systematic advantage in growth metrics.
For enterprises lagging behind, this underscores the strategic importance of cloud GTM via cloud marketplaces, co-sell with clouds, etc.
Cloud as the Foundation
"Far and away, the biggest behavioral difference" is that top performers demonstrate a clear commitment to cloud:
72% of top performers are "all-in" on cloud data modernization vs. just 33% of others. This makes their data ready for AI.
They're also 2X more mature across key cloud engineering disciplines, including security (70% vs. 37%), AI (60% vs. 27%), migration (59% vs. 25%), etc.
By moving data to the cloud and making it easily ingestible by LLMs and AI, top performers are unlocking new value as they integrate AI capabilities.
⚡ AI Amplifies the Results and Drives Cloud Investment
As a result, top performers are significantly outpacing their peers in AI-driven outcomes:
82% report productivity gains (vs. 40%)
74% unlock new revenue streams (vs. just 27% of others)
73% enhance customer experience (vs. 41%)
This integration of cloud and AI explains why 92% of top performers plan to increase cloud budgets in their next cycle, with 63% increasing them by 6% or more.
Even among non-top performers, 85% plan to grow cloud investments, signaling broad acknowledgment of cloud's transformative potential.
💡 The One-Two Punch: Cloud + AI
Top performers don't just excel at cloud or AI individually—they systematically combine them to create a one-two punch, resulting in 2-3X better outcomes across all business metrics.
The result? A widening gap between companies that excel at cloud partnerships and AI and those that don't.
For leaders, this data also underscores that success in the AI era isn't about any single metric or technology—it's about mastering the entire ecosystem/stack of cloud, AI, and partnerships.
Those who do will, redefine what's possible in growth, innovation, and customer engagement.
🎁 Enroll in Cloud GTM Leader Course Cohort 9 & Get a Free 1-1 with Roman
What a journey it's been in 2024! Our Cloud GTM Leader course has grown into the industry leading program for cloud marketplace mastery, with ~200 alums from GitLab, Citrix, Darktrace, and beyond.
But here's what truly excites me - the wins our alumni are achieving:
"We went from 0 to millions on Marketplaces. Definitely have more buy-in now across the org." - one of our alumni shared a few weeks ago at re:Invent.
This doesn't happen by accident. The playbook to unlock Cloud marketplaces isn't obvious. That's why we've worked with 50+ exceptional speakers and mentors who’re sharing their actual battle-tested strategies in our courses.
💡 Why join Cohort 9?
Learn directly from VPs of Partner of the Year winners and hyperscaler experts
Master co-sell tactics that drive real pipeline ($0 to $200K+ in 8 weeks for one alumni)
Get practical frameworks to align your org and accelerate cloud GTM
Join a growing community of 200 cloud alliance leaders
But don't just take my word for it. We asked our alums, and here's what they said:
It was the "Structured and Methodical approach to unbundle the complex process of partner enablement/Cloud GTM/Cloud Marketplaces."
Our alums highlighted the "open discussion with peers from different business functions and companies covering SaaS, Cybersecurity and Hyperscalers." They loved the "tactical elements and the measurement tools to measure progress."
"People with real experience sharing the how - how did they win, how did they fail, how did they tackle challenge x or y”
Ready to master cloud marketplaces and accelerate your growth in 2025?
Cohort 9 kicks off January 14th - don't miss out on your chance to join this transformative program recognized by Canalys as a Top Education Program for Channel & Partnership professionals.
🎁 Enroll by January 6th and get a free 1-1 session with Roman (use referral code: WinCloudGTM_Jan25)
Questions? Reach out at courses@partnerinsight.io
P.S. If you find these insights valuable, please share this newsletter with your network - it’s free.
And if there are topics you'd like us to explore in future editions, just hit reply - I'd love to hear your thoughts.
(Partner) Insightful 😀