Partnerships & Co-Sell — How B2B Software Companies Move

Partnerships and co-sell have moved from a channel function to the center of go-to-market strategy. The 72 companies tracked in this lens are not just signing distribution agreements; they are building interconnected commercial ecosystems—AI connectors, marketplace listings, agency certifications, vertical integrations, and data co-selling arrangements—that determine which products get sold, by whom, and inside which workflow.

For sales leaders and sales-enablement teams, the implication is urgent: your own sales motion now runs through partners you may not control, and your buyers increasingly discover, evaluate, and purchase through partner ecosystems. The moves below reveal the patterns—and the competitive consequences—of winning (or losing) that partner-led motion.

Pattern 1: AI connectors are the new co-sell layer. Salesloft expanded its AI ecosystem with a Claude connector and universal MCP rollout; Outreach launched a native ChatGPT app and Codex MCP server; Deel, Reply.io, and Personio each shipped MCP or AI-assistant connectors so their platforms can be queried from Claude, ChatGPT, and other agents. This is not a feature race — it is a fight to be the default data source inside the AI tools your buyer already uses. When a sales rep asks Claude for deal context or global workforce intelligence, the products that surface are the ones that invested in these connectors. MCP has become the new API marketplace, and the companies that get wired in early own the conversation before a salesperson is even involved.

Pattern 2: Marketplace listings and ecosystem co-sell are replacing the old partner referral. Deel launched global employment solutions on Microsoft Marketplace; Gong launched a Microsoft Marketplace integration supporting Azure consumption commitments; Huntress used distribution deals with Giacom and MSP Nordics to expand EMEA access; AlphaSense established its first strategic global channel partnership with Accenture; and ZoomInfo was selected by Salesforce and HubSpot as the primary data layer for new AI prospecting agents. Whatever the commercial vehicle — cloud marketplace, MSP distributor, global systems integrator, or embedded data layer — the common play is to make someone else’s sales motion carry your product. For sellers, this means partner-sourced pipeline increasingly arrives with no human introduction: it comes from a procurement catalog or an agentic workflow already primed for your brand.

Pattern 3: Agency partner programs are scaling GTM through certified human channels. Profound formalized an enterprise agency partnership with iPullRank, launched a certified agency program starting with Avenue Z, and later onboarded Edgar Allan as a verified agency partner; Clay appointed Iron Horse as an official studio partner; Brandlight launched its agency partner program with Demand Spring. These moves reveal a deliberate sales strategy: products that depend on ongoing optimization — AI search visibility, audience strategy, brand placement — can't be sold as a one-time license. Agencies are the ones holding the client relationship and the recurring execution work, so vendors are turning them into co-sell arms with certification, enablement, and partner economics. The pattern also signals that partnerships are a growth lever for emerging categories, not just a channel for mature platforms.

Pattern 4: Vertical and embedded partnerships are the wedge into new industries. Brex partnered with Tekion to launch embedded spend management for auto dealerships; Ramp added Trimble Spectrum and Vista integrations to go deeper in construction; Qonto launched an insurance hub with Expèrtas; Remote and BambooHR launched an integrated global contractor management solution; Multiplier made its native integration available to ADP Workforce Now customers; and Navan formed a direct connect partnership with Hilton for hotel content. These are not generic tech alliances — they are co-products built for a specific buyer. Selling into a vertical often fails because you lack the domain workflow; each of these partnerships embeds the vendor into that workflow, making the sales conversation about a unified outcome rather than a standalone tool. For sales enablement, the tactical lesson is to arm reps with 'we also work with' stories that map to each vertical buyer’s existing stack and operational language.

What this means for sales leaders and sales-enablement teams: The partnership function is now a direct determinant of sales comp, forecast accuracy, and win rates. Sales leaders should track partner-sourced and partner-influenced revenue with the same rigor as direct pipeline, and identify which connectors, marketplaces, and agency partners are already producing or blocking deals. Enablement teams should invest in partner-facing playbooks — MCP demo scripts, marketplace co-branded assets, vertical joint-solution decks — so your reps and your partners tell the same story to the same buyer.