Rubrik & Snowflake's Cloud GTM Playbooks: 60% vs 30% Growth
Hi, it's Roman Kirsanov from Partner Insight newsletter, where I deconstruct winning Cloud GTM strategies and the latest trends in cloud marketplaces.
Today we're breaking down two standout cloud partnership playbooks: Rubrik's hyperscaler co-building strategy (not just co-selling) driving 60% Cloud ARR growth, and Snowflake's brilliant Azure co-opetition and partner GTM motions delivering 30% growth amid AI workload acceleration. Plus insights from our keynote speakers on Microsoft's marketplace & AI momentum and the major shift toward partner-led sales in Cloud GTM.
But before we dive in, join us next week for "Microsoft Marketplace: Your Growth Engine for the AI Era" online event on July 23. It features keynotes from Jake Zborowski, General Manager of Microsoft Marketplace, and Jay McBain of Canalys, plus panels on co-sell acceleration and ecosystem-led sales.
Learn the latest FY26 opportunities and strategies from 10+ incredible leaders.
Rubrik Cloud ARR +60% YoY: Co-build, not just Co-sell
While many SaaS companies are struggling, Rubrik's stock is up 178% in the past 12 months. Their combination of product and a compelling GTM playbook is driving 60% YoY Cloud ARR growth.
The Strategy: From Tools to Bedrock
Rubrik's growth is founded on the conviction that security is no longer a separate conversation.
"As organizations prepare their infrastructure for generative Al and replatform to accelerate cloud adoption, they quickly realize the need for a modern data security strategy”- explained CEO Bipul Sinha in Q4 '25 call.
Their strategy is clearly resonating where the stakes are highest. Their traction with enterprises is proof, with the number of customers over $100K in subscription ARR up 28% YoY.
The Engine: Deep Co-Engineering, Not Just Co-Selling
A core part of Rubrik’s strategy is deep, co-engineered partnerships with the top hyperscalers.
With Microsoft, whom Rubrik calls one of its "strongest partners," this means creating joint products for M365 and Azure-native workloads, a collaboration that has helped win Fortune 50 accounts.
This approach extends across the hyperscalers, with a joint cyber-recovery architecture built with Google Cloud and Mandiant, and the Annapurna product integrating with Google Agentspace to secure AI deployments.
It’s a move beyond simple co-selling and co-marketing to building unique, combined solutions that solve fundamental customer problems.
The Motion: A Channel Built for Competency
To deliver on this, Rubrik is evolving its channel from a focus on volume to one of verifiable skill. They aim to "double, triple down on our existing partners" to "build a big business around Rubrik and drive an ecosystem."- explained the CEO recently.
Their new "Partner Tech Champions" program, with its "Black-belt" and other technical mastery tracks, ensures partners have the hands-on competency to design and run the complex cyber-resilience projects customers now demand.
How You Can Apply This Playbook:
Co-Engineer, Don’t Just Integrate
For more advanced partnerships, move beyond basic API connections. Build a joint solution with your key hyperscaler partner that addresses a specific, high-value customer use case.
Build Partner Competency, Not Just a Partner Program
Incentivize deep technical skills. A partner who can successfully deploy and manage your product is more valuable than one who can just resell a license.
Sell to the CFO
Frame your solution as business resilience and efficiency. Rubrik wins deals by showing hard TCO savings - e.g. 25% reduction in cloud costs for one customer compared to their existing cloud-native solution.
Align with the #1 Priority
Position your offering as essential to the customer’s core mission. For Rubrik, that’s making data security inseparable from the customer’s cloud and AI strategy.
Next Week: “Microsoft Marketplace: Your Growth Engine for the AI Era” on July 23
With less than 10 days until our major Microsoft event, we've secured the ultimate keynote duo: Jake Zborowski, General Manager of the Microsoft marketplace himself, and Jay McBain of Canalys, whose predictions consistently reshape partner strategies.
Jake Zborowski’s Keynote
As General Manager of the Microsoft marketplace, Jake has architected a fast-growing platform that’s at the epicenter of the Microsoft co-sell strategy.
Throughout his nearly 20-year Microsoft career, he’s played a key role in the evolution of Office 365, Azure developer experiences, and the company's broader SaaS and cloud transformation.
The breakthrough results:
The Microsoft marketplace connects partner solutions to global buyers 24/7, with more than 2X sales growth year-over-year.
As cloud and AI adoption accelerates, Microsoft is further investing in empowering the channel.
Channel-led marketplace sales grew 3.5X last fiscal year—unlocking a massive growth opportunity across its 500K+ partner ecosystem.
But the real inflection point is AI convergence with the marketplace.
As the marketplace trajectory continues to climb, AI adoption is accelerating it further and driving unprecedented growth in new customers purchasing AI solutions through the marketplace.
Join us on July 23 to hear from Jake on the latest developments and opportunities on the Microsoft marketplace for FY26.
Jay McBain, Chief Analyst of Canalys, Keynote
With 86% of partners calling cloud marketplaces an important sales channel—I'm delighted to also welcome Jay, the top analyst behind these insights.
Major Shifts are Happening Now
Jay's recent research exposes a striking gap: while cloud infra will reach $383B this year, only 34.7% was transacted by partners in 2024. This contrasts with the typical 70% of IT spending flowing via partners.
This gap represents massive untapped opportunity for partners to lean into cloud, especially as Jay forecasts that "partner-funded deals …will reach 50% of all marketplace revenue by 2027."
AI Acceleration
Jay named Agentic AI "the largest growth opportunity (in the entire technology industry) for partners in the next 3-5 years."
He underscores that enterprise AI deployments are becoming "pure ecosystem plays" requiring partners to orchestrate solutions across hyperscalers like Microsoft.
The opportunity: "By broadening their hyperscaler engagement, channel partners can not only future-proof their businesses around AI but also become indispensable advisors in their clients' digital journeys."
Join us on July 23 to hear Jay's keynote with break down key shifts.
Our event also features:
Panel: Microsoft Success for FY26—Co-Sell and Beyond. Microsoft executives and ISV leaders will break down co-sell and marketplace strategies
Panel: Activating Ecosystem-Led Sales. Learn from top ISVs, Microsoft and partners how to capture the shift where 50%+ of marketplace sales will be partner-led by 2027
Fireside & Q&A: Marketplace Operations Playbook for Cloud GTM
📅 Join us on July 23 (9-11:30 am PT)
In 2.5 hours, 10+ top experts will share insights that could transform your GTM with Microsoft Marketplace and AI in FY26.
Thanks to our partner Suger
Suger helps B2B software companies unlock revenue through cloud marketplaces. From listing to transaction to co-selling, Suger’s platform makes it simple to sell on Azure, AWS and GCP by automating the heavy lifting of marketplace operations
Snowflake's Azure Power Moves & How Co-Opetition Drives 30% Growth
Snowflake, after hitting $3.46B ARR in FY25 (growing 30% YoY), isn't really slowing down. What's fueling this? A smart strategy with hyperscalers and a booming partner ecosystem. Here's the breakdown:
Impressive Growth
Product revenue hit $997M in Q1 FY26 (+26% YoY).
Remaining Performance Obligations (RPO) surged 34% to $6.7B, signaling locked-in future revenue.
NRR at 124% proves customers are sticking and expanding. At this scale, they're a top performer in public SaaS.
Scaling Own Marketplace
Snowflake's own Marketplace boasts 3,098 listings (up 21% YoY), turning data sharing into a revenue engine.
But they don't stop there—they lean on hyperscalers for strategic collaborations and co-sell muscle. AWS remains their "biggest partner," with integrations like Anthropic models.
Ramping Up with Microsoft Azure
The real accelerator in the last 12 months? Deepening ties with Azure for AI workloads. CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy explained their co-opetition strategy with clouds (Q1 FY26):
"Hyperscalers are formidable... but they also work with Anthropic and OpenAI because they are the best...
Similarly, we are very uniquely positioned... And we’ve also learned how cooperating really leads to a better outcome, whether it is with AWS, which is our biggest partner, or more and more with Azure.
There are many customers that Azure plus Snowflake is just a better outcome for everybody...
We have deep partnerships... for example, that from Snowflake, you could read tables that are in OneLake. And we are also actively talking to them about OneLake being the data layer for Snowflake..."
Key lesson: Co-opetition thrives when it's customer-first—unlocking seamless AI and data flows without silos.
Everyone wins: Snowflake gets scale, hyperscalers keep workloads, customers get best-of-breed. In cloud, collaboration beats isolation.
Integrating Partner Ecosystem into GTM
Snowflake's network hit 12,600 partners this year, growing 30% YoY and up from just 600 partners in 2022 (CRN).
CEO highlighted their AI specialist GTM integration with partners:
"Not everybody in the Snowflake sales team is going to become an expert on our AI products...
So we have a specialist motion that is very targeted, that identifies the highest-value use cases... pioneers implementations... so that they can be used as a template to be repeated in other places and increasingly with our GSI partners."
This blend of internal specialists and GSIs like Accenture ensures scalable adoption of complex AI and data products, turning flagship wins into repeatable successes.
Snowflake also just hired AWS veteran Christopher Niederman as SVP of Alliances & Channels to ramp up.
Their strategy shows Cloud GTM and partnerships aren't add-ons; they're the core for delivering AI to customers, event if you're competing in some areas.
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