When to Start Scaling Your AWS Partnership: The Foundational 6 Milestones

For a B2B SaaS Independent Software Vendor (ISV) built on AWS, the journey from product inception to market leadership is deeply intertwined with strategic partnerships. While initial traction is vital, true acceleration and sustained growth often hinge on the ability to scale deep collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS). It’s my belief and experience that many partners/channels play an important role to your success in some vertical line of value. However, AWS is the ONLY partner that can horizontally add value to your entire organization and even give leverage/amplification to all your other partner/channel relationships. This is not merely about increasing the volume of existing engagement; it is about transforming a business relationship into a multi facet mutually beneficial friendship.

This guide provides a strategic playbook, outlining the precise moments and critical prerequisites that signal an ISV is ready to scale its AWS partnership. By meeting these key 6 indicators, an organization can unlock a powerful ecosystem designed to amplify market reach, accelerate sales cycles, and drive profitability. For an ISV, even with an exceptional product, resources are finite. AWS, with its vast customer base, lucrative programs, and extensive sales force, offers a formidable force multiplier. In the highly competitive B2B SaaS landscape, relying solely on organic growth can be too slow to capture significant market share, especially within enterprise segments. Failing to leverage this effectively means leaving substantial growth on the table and potentially falling behind competitors who are actively optimizing their AWS partnerships. Thus, it becomes a strategic necessity for competitive advantage and accelerated market penetration.

The Foundation: Are You Truly Ready to Scale?

Scaling an AWS partnership is not a leap of faith; it is a calculated strategic move and investment built upon foundational readiness. Here are the 6 critical indicators that demonstrate an organization’s readiness to continue its journey with AWS.

1. Customer-Ready Solution in General Availability (GA)

A core offering must be a robust, enterprise-grade product or solution that has reached General Availability (GA). This signifies stability, reliability, security and readiness for broad customer adoption. For AWS, a GA product is a prerequisite for listing on the AWS Marketplace and participating in critical co-sell programs.

An early partner milestone, the AWS Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Accelerate Program, a cornerstone for co-selling with AWS, explicitly requires one or more software products to be “listed as general availability (GA) on AWS Marketplace (SaaS, AMI, Cloud Formation Template, SageMaker Model, Container, or CAR)”. This is a fundamental, non-negotiable entry point for high-impact co-selling and accessing AWS’s sales incentives.

Furthermore, the importance of adhering to the AWS Well-Architected Framework for designing and running robust cloud workloads cannot be overstated. After addressing risks identified in a Foundational Technical Review (FTR), ISVs can earn a “Reviewed by AWS” badge. This badge, when showcased on marketing materials, significantly increases customer confidence, signaling that the solution meets AWS’s high standards for technical excellence and operational best practices. AWS-approved products listed on the AWS Marketplace inherently enhance credibility and build customer trust, with GA status and a successful FTR being critical components of this approval process, assuring customers of the solution’s quality and reliability.

2. Demonstrated Product-Market Fit (5+ Paying Customers, bonus for documented metric-based case studies)

Before scaling with AWS, an ISV must have undeniable proof that its solution resonates with the market. This is demonstrated by achieving product-market fit (PMF), evidenced by a minimum of five paying customers. This validation confirms that the product solves a real problem for which customers are willing to pay, de-risking AWS’s investment in co-selling the solution.

The AWS ISV Accelerate program directly quantifies this requirement, mandating a “Minimum of 5 launched opportunities (ACE or AWS Marketplace Private Offers) transacted within the past 12 months” and a “Minimum of 15 qualified opportunities in ACE within the past 12 months”.3 These specific metrics underscore AWS’s focus on proven customer traction and a repeatable sales process. Documenting these early customers privately, generically (ex: large US car manufacturer) or better publicly will also pay dividends many times over, trust us.  Typically in the sales cycle you’re negotiating something, giving something away, why not exchange with a case study?  What’s important here is not only to document the story and customer positive business reasons and outcomes, but to get into the specific use cases, metrics (ex: ROI, growth %, savings %, etc) as well as the specific services leveraged in the process (ex: AWS EKS, S3, Bedrock, etc) – details matter.

3. Executive Commitment to a Shared GTM Strategy

A successful, scaled AWS partnership requires more than just tactical engagement; it demands strategic alignment from the top. Executive buy-in ensures that dedicated alliance resources are allocated, internal teams are incentivized, and your company’s go-to-market (GTM) strategy is seamlessly integrated with AWS’s objectives. This shared vision is paramount for driving successful outcomes.

ISVs that have achieved the most success in Cloud GTM execution consistently demonstrate executive buy-in, alongside transact-able listings on cloud marketplaces and a well-established co-sell discipline. This directly establishes executive commitment as a critical success factor for GTM. It also highlights the importance of crafting a compelling “better together” story that resonates with both AWS teams and customers. Furthermore, establishing “leadership support and buy-in” is essential for aligning internal compensation structures and sales motions with AWS Marketplace, ensuring it is prioritized as a preferred route to market with little to no resistance to sharing qualified pipeline and compensation neutrality.

Executive buy-in transforms the AWS partnership from a departmental initiative into a core corporate strategy, unlocking cross-functional alignment and long-term investment, which is essential for navigating AWS’s complex, decentralized structure. Without top-down prioritization, departments (e.g., product, marketing, sales) might not allocate sufficient budget, personnel, or time to AWS-related activities, hindering participation in programs or leveraging funding. Executive commitment signals that the ISV views the AWS partnership as a long-term strategic pillar, not a tactical experiment. This commitment makes AWS more willing to invest its own significant resources (co-sell support, funding, technical expertise) because the likelihood of mutual, sustained success is significantly higher.

4. Beyond Founder-Led Sales: A Dedicated Alliance Lead and Sales Team

To truly scale, a sales motion must evolve beyond the founder-led stage. This means establishing a dedicated Alliance Lead and building out a professional sales team. This transition ensures repeatability “sales playbook”, frees up founder time for strategic vision, and signals to AWS that the company has a mature, scalable go-to-market engine.

Founder-led sales, while offering immense strengths in the early stages (e.g., rapid fixes due to first-hand market knowledge), quickly become a limiting factor for scale. This model is not repeatable or scalable, making it difficult to sell to larger enterprise clients. Founders eventually run out of hours and need to shift to a more strategic, visionary role.

The “Alliance Lead” role is defined as the “primary account administrator” for the company’s AWS Partner Central account, with “complete access to all resources”. This individual typically holds a business development or business leadership role with legal authority to accept APN terms. Their responsibilities include managing partner account information, assigning other roles (like “Alliance Team,” “ACE Manager,” “Technical Staff”), and viewing/editing opportunities in ACE Pipeline Manager. The “Alliance Team” role supports the Alliance Lead with administrative responsibilities and managing opportunities. This highlights the need for a formal, dedicated function.

A dedicated Alliance Lead is crucial, as this is “not something that should be a hybrid or temporary role”. This individual “bridges the gap between your company and AWS,” drives brand awareness within AWS, identifies co-market and co-sell opportunities (e.g., Immersion Days), and tracks partnership status. A dedicated Alliance Lead signals to AWS that the ISV is serious about the partnership. They must understand AWS’s Leadership Principles and how AWS personnel (especially Account Executives) are compensated (primarily by increasing AWS service utilization) to effectively align discussions and opportunities. Registering deals in the APN Customer Engagements (ACE) tool is crucial for gaining visibility and support from the AWS field. We commonly say, “if it’s not in ACE, it doesn’t exist.” Alliance leaders must also become adept at using the AWS Marketplace to drive successful product listings and sales, and evolve training resources for internal continuous co-selling program enablement.

The transition from founder-led sales to a dedicated Alliance Lead and sales team is not just about increasing capacity; it is about professionalizing the partnership motion and enabling scalable, predictable partnering with AWS. I could go on and on about this subject, so I won’t. But we built a great community to hire and level up folks that check this box called pcan.cloud (partner cloud alliance network) and even the ‘de-facto’ certification called MasterPAL (Partner Alliance Leader).

5. Transacting (or Planning to Transact) via AWS Marketplace Private Offers

The AWS Marketplace is a cornerstone of scaling an AWS partnership, particularly through Private Offers, I’ve jokingly for years called it the “key to AWS’ heart”17 and it still holds true today. This commitment signifies readiness to leverage AWS’s preferred procurement channel, which dramatically accelerates deal cycles, expands reach, and simplifies billing for customers. If not already transacting, a clear plan to reach this milestone within 6 months is essential.

The AWS ISV Accelerate program explicitly requires products to be “listed as general availability (GA) on AWS Marketplace” and “transactable on the AWS Marketplace”.3 Crucially, it mandates a “Minimum of 5 launched opportunities (ACE or AWS Marketplace Private Offers) transacted within the past 12 months” for eligibility. This directly links Private Offers to meeting the requirements for AWS’s most impactful co-sell program. AWS Marketplace makes it easy for ISVs to list products, expand customer reach, and enable customers to quickly buy and deploy their products. “Creating an AWS Marketplace private offer” is a key step within the co-sell journey, highlighting its central role in joint sales efforts.

Transacting through AWS Marketplace Private Offers is not just a sales channel or fulfillment only; it is a strategic move that embeds a solution into the customer’s AWS consumption model, aligning incentives and creating a “sticky” procurement pathway that benefits both the ISV and AWS. A key strategic advantage is that when enterprise customers purchase through AWS Marketplace, especially via Private Offers, they can often draw down from their existing AWS Enterprise Discount Program (EDP) commitments.This means the customer is utilizing their pre-committed cloud budget to acquire the ISV’s software, simplifying internal financial approvals and accelerating the purchase decision. For AWS, this directly translates to increased consumption of its platform, which is a primary incentive for AWS account executives.8 For large enterprises, legal and procurement processes are notoriously slow. AWS Marketplace offers pre-negotiated legal terms and a streamlined purchasing experience, significantly reducing the time and effort spent on individual software vendor vetting and contract negotiations. Once a customer procures an ISV’s solution through Marketplace, it becomes integrated into their existing AWS billing, governance, and operational frameworks.This creates a “sticky” relationship, simplifying future renewals and expansions and making it harder for competitors to displace the ISV’s solution. AWS sales teams are directly incentivized (e.g., through SaaS co-sell benefits that provide quota retirement for Marketplace private offers) to drive these transactions. This direct alignment of financial incentives between the ISV and AWS creates a powerful, collaborative co-sell engine.

6. Registered and Paid in the AWS Partner Network (APN)

The AWS Partner Network (APN) is the official gateway to all AWS partnership benefits, programs, and resources. Being “registered and paid” signifies a formal commitment to the AWS ecosystem and unlocks the tiered benefits essential for scaling. While initial registration might be free, achieving a paid tier (Select, Advanced, Premier) is crucial for accessing the most impactful resources.

The AWS Partner Network (APN) provides tiers (Select, Advanced, Premier) to recognize organizations with proven technical expertise and demonstrated customer experience. While creating an AWS Partner Central account to join the APN is initially at no cost, to participate in the formal programs and unlock the associated benefits, there is an annual fee of $2,500 for all tiers. This fee, along with other requirements, enables access to a wide array of benefits.

The APN is described as the “gateway to AWS,” where an Alliance Lead will “live” to learn about programs and benefits.This underscores the APN as the central hub for managing and growing the partnership.

Paying the APN fee and achieving a tier is not just a compliance step; it is an investment in a reciprocal relationship that unlocks AWS’s commitment to an ISV’s growth through structured programs and financial incentives, while also serving as a quality filter. The fee is often offset by promotional credits and unlocks access to much larger funding opportunities (MDF, POA) and co-sell incentives. This demonstrates a reciprocal investment model where AWS provides significant resources in exchange for the partner’s commitment and demonstrated success.

Are you ready?

Having assessed readiness against these 6 criteria, the next phase involves actively accelerating the partnership journey. This is a continuous process of engagement, optimization, and strategic alignment to maximize the mutual benefits with AWS.  AWS guides, hiring the right AWS alliance leader, and many other communities (PCAN.cloud) or advisory firms can help you on this journey.

Here’s some tips to get you started:

• Self-Assess Against Criteria: Conduct an honest internal audit against the 6 criteria outlined in this playbook. Identify specific gaps in product readiness, customer traction, executive alignment, team structure, and Marketplace presence. This diagnostic step is crucial for prioritizing areas for improvement and allocating resources effectively. Alternatively, some websites offer an easy assessment https://alliancewinwire.com/assessment or https://cloudatlas.pro/#freemarketplacereport.  Even if you do not complete, reading and thinking beyond the question will help you prepare your partnership. If someone is asking the question, it probably means it’s important to the desired outcome.
• Deepen AWS Engagement: Actively participate in AWS Partner Central & AWS events, which serves as the primary hub for all resources and information. Consistently utilize the available training and certifications to ensure both technical and business teams are well-versed in AWS best practices and co-selling strategies. Attend AWS Partner events, webinars, and workshops to stay informed and network.
• Formalize Your Alliance Strategy: Develop a detailed joint business plan with AWS, setting clear goals and metrics for co-sell opportunities and revenue growth.8 This plan should articulate how the ISV’s solution drives AWS consumption and how AWS can help achieve specific business objectives. Establishing clear goals and metrics is essential to stay on track and ensure efforts align with overall business objectives.This stage, can/should be accomplished with your existing teams, but once you’ve agreed to pursue this partnership it’s important to bring in experienced resources (internal hire, external consulting) to help validate your plans, expectations and ensure you’re setup for success. Friends like https://alliancewinwire.com/, https://symbiohq.com/, https://fractivo.com/, https://cloudatlas.pro, https://www.partnerinsight.io/, https://partnershipleaders.com/ all provide help in consulting, education, or community.
• Invest in Sales Enablement: Equip the sales team with a deep understanding of AWS’s culture, sales processes, and co-sell incentives. Provide them with compelling “better together” stories and joint pitch decks that clearly articulate the combined value proposition of the ISV’s solution and AWS. Educating the sales team about AWS’s structure and the benefits of co-sell programs is a core component of effective co-selling.
• Optimize AWS Marketplace Presence: Ensure the Marketplace listing is comprehensive, keyword-rich, and clearly articulates the value proposition. Proactively explore and implement Private Offers and Channel Partner Private Offers (CPPOs) to streamline enterprise procurement and leverage customers’ committed cloud spend.Being listed on Marketplace can accelerate deal cycles and provide additional avenues for discovery.
• Build Relationships: Cultivate strong, proactive relationships with AWS Partner Sales Managers (PSMs) and Account Managers. Do not merely engage reactively when a deal is stuck; proactively share wins, educate them on the solution, and identify joint opportunities. Building a reputation across AWS teams and consistently demonstrating value creates a multiplier effect for individual PSM relationships and can lead to access to AWS executives.