When you’re a startup founder, sometimes the most challenging part of bringing your product to market can be just that: bringing your product to market. How do you get in front of your target market? How do you win customers and gain traction? And how do you use the resources at your disposal to make that happen as quickly as possible?
At Microsoft for Startups, we recognize that one of our strongest benefits to offer startups is our depth of experience with go-to-market (GTM) efforts, especially in the business-to-business (B2B) world. The Microsoft Marketplace is a key component of this offering, enabling startups to publish their solutions where user customers are actively engaged.
But we also recognize that sometimes, specialized partners can help startups engage with our offerings even more effectively, creating a win for startups, a win for partners, and a win for Microsoft. That’s why Microsoft for Startups partners with companies like WeTransact and PartnerStack—two current startups focused on enabling the Microsoft ecosystem that deeply understand the challenges startups face.
WeTransact
WeTransact is designed to simplify the process of listing in the Microsoft Marketplace, enabling startups to reach more customers easily, quickly, and reliably.
Getting published in the Marketplace is a critical step for startups to build fast, scale smart, and sell more. WeTransact streamlines the entire onboarding process, offering hands-on support to resolve technical challenges that might otherwise delay a listing.
WeTransact is the fastest way for startups to launch, sell, and scale in the Microsoft Marketplace. We handle compliance, technical checks, and approvals so your product goes live as quickly and reliably as possible—without your team taking on additional work.
—Johan Aussenac, Chief Executive Officer, WeTransact
Marketplace success is about traction, not just listings. WeTransact equips you with:
- Outreach campaigns and contact hub: Engage marketplace buyers directly with targeted outreach and centralized contact management.
- Private offer and Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment acceleration: Speed up deal acceptance and maximize your Azure spend commitments faster.
- Multiparty offers and Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) distribution: Expand your reach through distributors and thousands of CSP resellers.
- Co-sell enablement: Get sales-ready with the assets, compliance, and readiness support needed to activate Microsoft sellers.
By removing barriers and simplifying complexity, WeTransact is your GTM engine in the Microsoft ecosystem.
PartnerStack
AI search matters, accelerating go-to-market matters, partnerships matter, and PartnerStack helps you deliver on all three—fast and free. Customers are starting to lean on AI overviews and search to drive their buying decisions, and if you don’t have a strategy for that, you won’t be found.
As search behavior evolves, traditional website visits are declining due to the rise of AI-generated summaries and instant answers. Digital visibility is shifting, with channels like newsletters and video platforms seeing significant growth in engagement. Leads generated through AI-powered tools are showing stronger conversion potential compared to conventional methods. In response, strategies are moving from traditional SEO toward answer engine optimization (AEO), which emphasizes relevance and context over backlinks and keyword volume.
PartnerStack is built to support this shift by activating affiliates, influencers, and co-sell partners at scale, PartnerStack ensures your brand shows up across the sources AI engines cite and summarize—from YouTube videos to partner content to newsletters. This extends your ecosystem into the new frontiers of GEO and AEO while still delivering on the fundamentals of partner growth.
—Bryn Jones, Chief Executive Officer, PartnerStack
The PartnerStack platform makes this possible by:
- Connecting you to thousands of active partners across every type—affiliates, influencers, and co-sell—so you can grow in the channels that fit your GTM.
- Automating partner onboarding and enablement, equipping partners to generate both revenue and the citations that boost AI visibility.
- Tracking every partner-sourced lead and conversion, with seamless two-way CRM sync.
- Equipping you with reporting that shows how partners impact not just revenue, but also reach and discoverability across emerging AI-powered channels.
With PartnerStack, partnerships aren’t just another channel, they’re your edge in the AI era.
A look at what’s to come
We’re big fans of how these partners empower startups—and their customers are, too. The real impact shows up in the stories of founders who use these tools every day to grow, adapt, and thrive.
In the coming months, we’ll be spotlighting startup teams from across the Microsoft for Startups ecosystem, sharing firsthand how these solutions have shaped their journeys. Our goal is to offer practical insights that help you navigate your own path—especially as you explore bringing your solution to the Microsoft Marketplace and connecting with customers at scale.
And today, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of the new Microsoft Marketplace. This unified platform brings together cloud solutions, AI apps, and agents to power your organization’s AI transformation. With more than 3,000 AI-focused solutions—from Copilot-ready agents to industry-specific innovations—the reimagined Marketplace streamlines discovery, deployment, and integration across the Microsoft Cloud.
For more information, check out the full blog post.
