Almitra Karnik

Why some SaaS companies 🚩 struggle to grow on cloud marketplaces? These 5 root causes may not be what you expect. 1️⃣ Strategic Cloud GTM Misalignment The most critical blocker isn’t technical—it’s strategic. Many companies treat cloud marketplaces as "just another channel," but success demands a fundamental GTM shift. Winning in cloud marketplaces requires embracing a partner-led, customer-centric, consumption-focused model where you align with the cloud provider’s priorities—not the other way around. You’re entering ecosystems of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud as their partner, not the reverse. 2️⃣ Cloud & Customer Centricity Gap The "build it and they will come" approach fails spectacularly on marketplaces. Successful ISVs deeply embed themselves in the cloud ecosystem by: Mapping their solution to the cloud provider’s growth areas and strategic initiatives. Understanding how and why customers discover, evaluate, and buy solutions in cloud marketplaces and on each cloud platform. Aligning GTM motions with the cloud provider’s sales cycles and engagement models. 3️⃣ Immature Co-Sell Many SaaS companies struggle with co-sell readiness, held back by ingrained direct sales cultures, concern of conflict (channel/competition) and lack of Cloud GTM understanding. Incentives: Sales teams aren’t motivated (or de-motivated) to collaborate with cloud reps or sell through marketplaces. Value Proposition: SaaS companies fail to articulate how their solution complements the cloud provider’s offerings and drives customer value. Program Knowledge: ISVs often miss out on cloud program benefits because they don’t meet requirements or focus enough on eligibility. 4️⃣ Lack of Alignment and Internal Resistance The most insidious obstacle often comes from within: Siloed Departments: Sales, marketing, product, and finance don’t collaborate effectively, hindering a unified marketplace strategy. Leadership Gaps: Executives may not fully grasp the strategic importance of cloud marketplaces, leading to misaligned priorities or underinvestment. Not leveraging marketplace data and insights and not integrating MP into your sales and company operations 5️⃣ Cloud-Native Product Reality Success on cloud marketplaces goes beyond GTM strategy—your product must also be ready... Ideally its architecture should leverage cloud-native services to enhance consumption and scalability. 📈 What This Means The gap between leaders and laggards in cloud marketplaces is widening. Those who treat Cloud GTM as a transformation, not just another sales/partner channel, are experiencing rapid growth. Others risk being left behind in what’s quickly becoming the largest software distribution channel. 💡 What’s the biggest obstacle you’ve encountered? _________ PS. Accelerate your #growth on #cloud marketplaces with Cloud GTM Leader Course. Last chance to join Cohort 9 starting Jan 14th (tomorrow) - https://lnkd.in/ejc7S4Pb

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Hey everyone! I had a great conversation this morning with Hitu Chawla, Global VP of Global GTM Strategy at Splunk on the Ecosystem Aces video podcast. Hitu shared her perspectives on transforming Splunk’s partner ecosystem, driving alignment, and enhancing partner value. Here are a few highlights: 🔵 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀: Hitu emphasized the importance of aligning partner, marketing, and sales teams with a unified GTM strategy. She described Splunk’s shift toward outcome-based selling, ensuring partners and internal teams operate from a shared playbook for maximum impact. 🔵 𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿-𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝘀: Understanding the value for the partner is a priority for the Splunk partnership team. Splunk’s approach includes tailored co-selling strategies, marketplace integration, and financial incentives that support both top-line and bottom-line growth for partners. 🔵 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: Hitu noted that a great partner program is only as effective as its execution. From back-end processes to communication, her team is continuously refining operations to ensure partners focus on growth, not administrative hurdles - including technology like WorkSpan to manage and grow joint pipeline with partners. 🔵 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀: Splunk is actively developing joint offerings that combine the strengths of various partner types. Through bundled solutions and marketplace initiatives, the company is providing customers with seamless, high-value solutions driven by collaborative innovation. Big thanks to Hitu for sharing your strategic insights and openness about the challenges and successes in building a thriving, value-driven partner ecosystem. Gretchen O'Hara, Toni DeCristofaro, MBA, PMP, CSM, Travis Champion-Fritz, Drew Lewis, Barry Schween, Rajesh V., Jessica Garcia, Jai Kumar Rangaraj, Tim Duffy, Andy Hershey, sakon sawasdipruksa, Regan Ogner, Amit Sinha, Kijoon Lee, Marco Martinez, Sam Gong, Nirav Desai #EcosystemAces #Partnerships #Splunk #PartnerSuccess #GTM

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ZSP is the new Gartner term, and We believe the #1 way we can mitigate risk. Get rid of those admin accounts, even those that your IT team uses! Check out this resource that will tell you how.

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This GTM practitioner has cracked the code on PLG and signals. Meet Saad Khan, Director of Sales @ Aligned producing growth results and massive TANGIBLE value for clients and our community. Results like: 180% increase in outbound ARR 250% increase in pipeline 454% increase in qualified pipe YoY and 60% ARR CONTRIBUTION. To name only a few of many accolades. From playbooks to tactical execution, Saad helps revenue team make more money. (Including in how they use Aligned!) Saad has built a name for himself not on any hype or trends, but outcomes. You should follow and talk to Saad to accelerate your sales and of course see how Aligned could help your business. Do it right and convert your pipe. ~~~ Meet someone with a fiery passion and they can help light the way for you. It fades unless they are right there beside you, gaining your trust every step of the way. I'm on a mission to understand trust, networks, and how they produce long term business outcomes. Saad embodies the success of this. He comes as another highly recommended person in my network. He should be a part of yours too. ---------- This is part of a small project for the month of November to highlight men in my life that have impacted me in more ways than they know. Saad is somehow both serious and silly. He can yap for days and he can actually make a lot of sense. We take hours to get through a conversation but I love it - we have realizations and help eachother have new perspectives. You honor your friends, family, and partners by challenging them. I don't let Saad tell me any BS and I'm always watching out for him. That's because I believe in him and I know that what he has to offer needs to be nurtured. He does the same for me, so I must honor him by doing the same. Saad puts in the work. Sometimes too much, but what I love most about him is he is constantly pushing his own boundaries. He constantly redefines 100%. He challenges himself. In work. In the gym. With his friendships. With his family. It's the mark of a man to take the first step and push others to be better. Saad embodies this in himself first. He isn't one to tell others to do something, without being able to do it himself. And damn... if you knew what this guy goes through... you'd know just how much wisdom he has because of coming out the other side with his level of energy. Saad Khan thank you for being you. I love you man. P.S. We don't have a better picture together, but this one is pretty great.

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💡 ASPM Adoption is Accelerating 📊 💡 Gartner predicts that by 2026, 40% of organizations will adopt Application Security Posture Management (ASPM). At Apiiro we’ve already received hundreds of RFPs this year, proving large enterprises are budgeting for ASPM in 2024/25. At Apiiro, our ASPM platform delivers autonomous security control for software design, development & delivery based on: 🧠 Deep Code Analysis (DCA) for real-time insights into software architecture 🔗 Code-to-Runtime context for effective risk prioritization and remediation ⚙️ Risk Graph Engine to automate security controls and speed up secure code delivery #ASPM #AppSec #Gartner #CyberSecurity #SoftwareSecurity #DeepCodeAnalysis #RiskGraph #RiskAssessment

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It was a pleasure to sit down with my friend Gianna Whitver and talk about cyber marketing. Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing Podcast. Check it out below and do share your feedback. #marketing #cyber #cybersecurity

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Automation isn’t just about working faster — it’s about delivering better results at scale. At AutoCon 2, Eric Anderson shared how Armstrong’s network team overcame SLA challenges and a growing backlog by adopting Itential’s platform for orchestration. The result? Fewer manual operations, faster infrastructure delivery, and scalable automation success. Catch this on-demand presentation to learn how they did it: https://bit.ly/4h4ifzm #NetworkOrchestration #NetworkAutomation #AutoCon2

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This was a fun and insightful interview with Sami Ellong & Jarod Greene. Here is what I took away: Samy believes that the shift from traditional demos to discovery and understanding underlying business problems will be a game-changer in 2024 and beyond. Changing expectations and mindsets around demos as the first interaction will require time and effort. Sales teams that can gather and share valuable insights will build a strong case for discovery-driven selling. Samy emphasizes the importance of tight alignment between R&D, product teams, and customer success. A platform that captures customer insights and feedback ensures product development is driven by actual market needs. The pod selling approach, with AEs, SEs, and customer success teams working together, is becoming increasingly important. Defining clear swim lanes and setting up each role for success enables teams to retain and expand revenue effectively. These points highlight the evolving sales landscape and the crucial role of understanding customer needs and fostering collaboration between teams. A solution like Vivun can help organizations navigate these changes and achieve long-term success by facilitating discovery, alignment, and customer-driven insights.

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⏱️ Just in: New findings from an #IDC survey, sponsored by JFrog, indicate developers are spending significantly more time on hashtag #security-related tasks which manifests into hidden costs for the organization. Learn more about the insights & download the report: https://jfrog.co/3BB0F6J

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Having sold cloud security for some time, one thing I appreciated was the concept of "observability". What is it? The ability to analyze an entire technology environment and detect threats and vulnerabilities, early. Alysio is essentially doing this for GTM teams. We analyze your entire sales force and help identify the areas of strength and weakness before it's too late. Too often in sales we only look at revenue attainment, but this is the lagging indicator. Managers need to be ahead of the curve, to understand how to coach and train reps early enough to avoid the pitfalls of missing quota which ultimately leads to reps being laid off due to "poor performance". But, if a rep is doing all of the right activities, I see this more as a manager issue, than a rep issue. We need to be solving for the right areas of vulnerability. Have you ever seen a rep doing the right things, but not being coach or trained to their full potential? I have, and I fully believe it's a problem that can be solved easily. This will lead to more predictable revenue attainment and rep success. Want to see how? Shoot me a DM!

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Surround yourself with high achievers – the ones who deliver exceptional results, set high expectations, and push others to excel. These passionate, sometimes controversial leaders make a real impact. Echoing the wisdom of former Google CEO: 'Hire the divas.' #Leadership #Innovation #Success"

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Our Splunk 5.0 integration is now available! This update will bring important new benefits such as simple key generation, flexible log ingestion, a suite of comprehensive dashboards, and integration with our Email Security Cloud Integrated product. Want to learn more and see how you can upgrade your integration? Read more here -

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Exciting News from Dasera! We're thrilled to announce our latest advancements in data security with strategic partnerships and integrations with Cisco, Cohesity, and Intuitive.Cloud. We're also introducing our NEW Data Security and Governance Dashboard. Someone recently said most cybersecurity dashboards are like scales that show us we're overweight but don't show us how to lose weight. Our new dashboard isn't just a scale that shows your risks. It's more like a personal trainer who guides you on how to solve and minimize your risks effectively. Coupled with our flexible 'Pay as You Grow' pricing, we're turning a corner to ensure you have the tools, reach, and insights needed to enhance your organization’s data security posture proactively. Check it out below! #DSPM #datasecurity #datagovernance

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IT Digest just featured our latest announcement on the enhancements to our Automated Security Testing (AST) product. Learn how these updates will help you boost your organization's security: https://gag.gl/N6cEs3 #Cybersecurity #ExposureManagement #AST #AutomatedSecurityTesting #EASM #RiskManagement #ITDigest

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Cybercrime will cost enterprises $9.5 trillion in 2024. Secure your enterprise storage so you won't be part of that statistic. To do that, you need enterprise storage automated cyber protection that doesn’t slow you down, integrates with your data center-wide cyber security SIEM and SOAR software, offers immutability, and delivers guaranteed recovery SLAs in minutes. That’s what enterprise cyber storage leader Infinidat provides with its InfiniSafe cyber storage solutions. Join Blocks & Files, TheRegister, and Infinidat NEXT MONDAY (Sept 16) at 6pm CET/5pm UK time/Noon USET/9am USPT as we discuss the benefits of cyber resilient enterprise storage and how it is an essential element of your corporate cyber strategy to combat malware and ransomware threats. You will also see: • Infinidat recovering a 2PB immutable snapshot of primary storage in LESS THAN 1 minute and a 22PB immutable snapshot of Veeam backup repository in LESS THAN 20 minutes • How enterprise storage reduces the threat window • The cyber benefits of InfiniBox, InfiniBox SSA, and InfiniGuard https://lnkd.in/gyYW_csD Patrick PollardMitch DiodatoDavid SissonEusebio RoblesGene KussmannGeorge DeveauGretchen GodinKeith WebsterMike CirrincionePaul StewartTom DionneMoshe RivelAndrea FraiettaAndrea SappiaGiuseppe CoppolaDirk Reitmann▫️ Dominik FischerGil RinglerGuy KarivIdan BrennerMichael LibinKirill SorokinLee SirettAndreas ReinhardtChris TapsellCorrado ScolariDavid KerleyFeri TellerGiorgio SpagnottoJumpei MinatoMaxim LenshinNoam ElingerLuis MenendezPhilip HuntleyRe'em HazanHashiguchi ShinichiStephane RigaudVasily KostryukovOren YesharimAlexey Kapranov

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What a GTM OS platform should focus on first and foremost… 🤔 Market problem that a business wants to solve! Too many orgs focus their GTM on revenue generation and “strategies” for revenue regeneration. Any GTM org that is not grounded on the market problem is not going to meet its objectives. The market problem and market strategy will drive everything else. I have seen this too many times where the focus is purely on sales and revenue. Had products climb G2 rankings in terms of customer reviews but growth was still hart to find. 🔎 That is why about 75% of products that are introduced fail to meet viable, profitable scale and are ultimately withdrawn from the market. My goal with GTM OS is to develop a lean and agile methodology/system for GTM leveraging the foundation of a robust GTM strategy - just the essential components that should be adopted by every org of every size - blended with the magic of data & AI (for transparency and efficiency). Some things that GTM Practitioners get wrong and that must be fixed for GTM orgs: GTM cannot start with defining the process or playbooks for revenue generation teams or  identifying sources of revenue or demand generation. It must start with defining what is happening in the market. You cannot define ICP before assessing the market opportunity and market landscape with direct and indirect competitors. Technically nothing is stopping you from defining ICP without that, but it most certainly can lead you down the wrong path. Understand first what the avenues are for achieving growth given the market focus - are you going to penetrate existing market, develop a new one, develop a new product or need to educate the market on a new concept - and how that maps to the product value prop for the market before defining metrics with which you measure success. Your metrics will depend on your growth strategy you pick. The alignment around metrics is not the hard part but alignment on what is the product, who is it for and how will we grow it and what competencies and resources you need is the hard nut to crack. Figure out your market strategy, ICP, product value prop, positioning, growth strategy, channels for messaging, and why you, and you have the building blocks of a solid GTM OS. The rest are details that can be executed with automation. Love to hear your thoughts 👇 #connectedgtm #gtm #b2b #productmarketing #sales

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Enhance your cybersecurity with the dynamic duo of Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM). Discover why your organization needs both to stay ahead of threats. #MDR #SIEM #cybersecurity https://hubs.li/Q02Gy7Y20

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