AWS Marketplace GTM Readiness Guide — Free Interactive Resource

Readiness Progress

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Technical Foundation

FTR & Infrastructure

AWS Foundational Technical Review (FTR) passed Required for Transactable Listings
FTR is the gate for transactable Marketplace listings and SaaS Co-sell Benefit. Without it you can list, but not transact.
At least one ACE opportunity submitted and active in Partner Central Required
Required as a prerequisite for FTR approval and SaaS Co-sell Benefit enrollment.
AWS Marketplace seller account registered and verified
Marketplace seller registration is separate from APN partner registration. Complete this in the AWS Marketplace Management Portal.
Marketplace Metering Service or SaaS Contracts API integrated
Required for SaaS listings. Your product must be able to meter usage or fulfill contracts through the Marketplace APIs. Scope this as an engineering task early.

Why FTR Comes First

A non-transactable Marketplace listing has almost no GTM value. AWS field reps have no incentive to route deals to it. FTR is the unlock for everything else on this list. If you have not passed FTR, that is your first action item. Nothing else here applies yet.

Listing Quality

What Buyers See

Product title and description written for AWS buyers, not a generic audience
Marketplace search is keyword-driven. Use the terms AWS customers search: infrastructure type, workload category, compliance frameworks, deployment model.
Pricing model selected and confirmed with your PDM for your deal shapes
The wrong pricing structure makes private offers complicated and slows deal velocity. SaaS can be: subscription, usage-based, or contract-based.
Product dimensions configured to match how you sell
Dimensions are the units by which you meter and bill. They must match the dimensions in private offers. Misaligned dimensions block deals.
Support information, EULA, and refund policy populated
AWS reviewers check that support terms are realistic and the EULA is complete. Placeholder fields delay listing approval.
Product logo, screenshots, and overview video added
Listings with complete media assets convert at higher rates. A video walkthrough meaningfully improves buyer confidence.
Listing reviewed by someone who has not worked on it
Familiarity blindness is real. An outside reviewer will catch descriptions that assume product knowledge buyers do not have.

Co-Sell Readiness

SaaS Co-sell Benefit & AWS Field

SaaS Co-sell Benefit enrollment submitted (formerly ISV Accelerate)
Requires a passed FTR, active ACE pipeline, and PDM eligibility confirmation. Enrollment is a separate application from FTR: not automatic.
ACE pipeline hygiene in place: regular submissions, no stale opportunities
AWS field reps evaluate co-sell partners by ACE activity. A stale pipeline signals low engagement and reduces deals routed your way.
PDM relationship active with a defined meeting cadence
Monthly check-ins are the minimum. Quarterly without a structured agenda is not enough.
AWS field reps in target territories know who you are
PDMs can introduce you to field AEs. Having 2 to 3 field-level relationships in your priority segments significantly increases co-sell routing.
Co-sell pitch and one-pager prepared for AWS field use
AWS field reps need a simple, credible brief they can use in a customer conversation. A partner-facing co-sell pitch and a customer-facing one-pager are the minimum.
Internal deal qualification criteria for Marketplace documented
Your AEs need to know which deals to route through Marketplace vs. direct contract. Common criteria: customer has EDP, deal size threshold, regulated industry.

Private Offer Strategy

How Enterprise Deals Close

Private offer mechanics understood by your sales team
Your AEs need to know: what a private offer is, when to propose it, how to create it in AMMP, and what the buyer experience looks like. Run a 30-minute internal enablement session.
Standard private offer terms defined: pricing tiers, contract lengths, ramp schedules
Pre-defined offer structures speed deal execution. Your team should not be building offer terms from scratch on every deal.
EDP implications understood for target customers
Many enterprise AWS customers have EDP commitments. Knowing which customers have EDP, and by how much, lets you target private offers where they reduce the most friction.
AWS Deal Room process understood for co-sell-sourced private offers
For co-sold deals, the private offer should reference the ACE opportunity and be coordinated with the AWS field rep for proper attribution.
At least one pilot private offer created, even as an internal test
The first private offer always takes longer than expected. Run a test offer before you are trying to close a real deal under time pressure.

Why Private Offers Are the Core Revenue Motion

Most enterprise deals do not originate from a customer browsing the Marketplace catalog. They originate from a sales conversation and then route to Marketplace via a private offer because the customer wants to use committed AWS spend. The listing is the infrastructure. The private offer is the revenue motion.

CPPO Channel Motion

For ISVs with Channel Partners

CPPO eligibility confirmed: ISV must have a transactable Marketplace listing Required
CPPO requires a live, transactable ISV listing as the source. You cannot set up CPPO with a non-transactable listing.
Target channel partners identified: 2 to 5 committed partners to start
Start with partners who already sell your product and have existing customer relationships. Do not try to onboard the entire channel at once.
Channel partners have AWS Marketplace seller accounts registered
Partners must have their own Marketplace seller accounts to transact CPPO offers. A common early blocker: confirm this before building the motion.
Reseller pricing and margin structure defined for CPPO
CPPO lets you set a reseller price lower than your public listing price. Define the margin structure (typically 10 to 30% discount to the channel) before enabling partners.
CPPO partner authorization configured in the Marketplace Management Portal
You authorize specific channel partners to extend offers from your listing. This must be set up before any channel partner can create an offer.
Channel partner enablement session run on CPPO mechanics
Your channel partners need to understand how to create CPPO offers, the buyer experience, and how to track the deal in ACE. Run a 1-hour session before expecting them to transact.

GTM Readiness: What to Prioritize Based on Where You Are

Zero Marketplace transactions

Start with FTR (if not passed), fix the listing structure, then run one internal test private offer. First transaction matters more than the channel motion.

Listing exists but never transacted

The problem is almost always the sales motion. Most teams have never created a private offer. Start there.

Transacting but want more volume

Activate co-sell properly: SaaS Co-sell Benefit enrollment, ACE hygiene, PDM cadence. Then layer in CPPO to scale through the channel.

Channel partners but no CPPO

CPPO unlocks Marketplace-native channel revenue. If you have 3+ partners selling your product, CPPO is likely leaving meaningful revenue uncaptured.

Ready to build a Marketplace motion that transacts?

Grnmrk Group runs the full Marketplace motion for ISVs and channel partners: FTR through CPPO. Let's review your current setup and tell you where we would start.

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