Many early-stage software companies are focused on the obvious priorities: building product, raising capital, hiring sales. AWS co-sell rarely makes the list. That’s a mistake, and one that’s hard to fix the longer you wait.
Co-sell isn’t a partner program benefit you activate when you’re ready. It’s a go-to-market motion that compounds over time. ISVs that build early develop PDM relationships, accumulate ACE history, and establish proof points that make future opportunities easier to close. Competitors that come to it later aren’t only behind on the motion, they’re behind on the trust and track record that make the motion work.
Most ISVs enrolled in ISV Accelerate have access to co-sell. Few operationalize it well. That gap is where the competitive distance opens up.
When an AWS PDM introduces your company to an enterprise account, it carries a weight that a cold outbound doesn’t. That credibility is earned through a track record of successful co-sell engagements. The ISV that has been managing high quality ACE submissions, following up on referrals, and closing co-sell opportunities for two years has something a newer entrant can’t shortcut.
There’s also a procurement angle worth understanding. Enterprise buyers can apply existing AWS committed spend to Marketplace purchases, which removes one of the most common friction points in a deal. ISVs that understand this motion and position for it early can move through procurement faster than competitors selling directly.
The operational side is where most ISVs stall. Managing co-sell well means tracking opportunity status across PDM relationships, keeping ACE submissions clean, and following up consistently without letting anything fall through the cracks. For a small team without a dedicated alliance function, that’s a real lift — and the teams that try to run it on spreadsheets usually find out too late that they’ve been leaving opportunities on the table.
This is also why the motion rewards early investment. The relationship capital you build with AWS partner teams in year one pays dividends in year three. The ISVs that treat co-sell as a core GTM motion from the start (not something to figure out later) are the ones that reach enterprise accounts faster and with less friction than their direct-sales-only competitors.
If you’re early in your co-sell path, the highest-leverage thing you can do is get your ACE pipeline hygiene right from the beginning. Understand how PDMs evaluate opportunities, learn what makes a co-sell submission worth their time, and build a consistent process for following up.
The mechanics aren’t complicated, but the discipline required to run them well is often underestimated. This week, Skematic is launching a new integration that significantly cuts the time it takes to get your co-sell motion operational. Stay tuned.
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