Tech startups, once solely dependent on **direct sales**, are now embracing a paradigm shift. They are increasingly recognizing the **power of partnerships** and making **indirect sales channels** a core component of their growth strategy from the early stages. This transition reflects a shift in focus toward building **strategic alliances** that drive long-term success.
At the recent **2025 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium’s Innovation Showcase**, participating startups showcased how these partnerships have become more **specialized** and dynamic. Collaborations with **consultants**, **solution providers**, **marketing agencies**, and **independent software vendors** have become essential, showcasing a trend that thrives on **innovation** and collaboration. The event held on May 20 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, highlighted early-stage companies eager to sell their products to **CIOs** and **IT departments**.
These partnerships not only assist startups in acquiring new clients but also facilitate **seamless integration** with customers’ existing software platforms. Additionally, established vendors can tap into fresh perspectives from emerging tech companies, unlocking **new business opportunities**.
Partner Marketing for Startups: Exploring Niches
Take **Silverthread**, a participant at the Innovation Showcase based in Cambridge. They engage with technology solutions providers, consultants, and systems integrators, utilizing their **CodeMRI** software to analyze extensive codebases for software modernization and defect identification.
Partners can license Silverthread’s products for enhancing their software assessment services. **Daniel Sturtevant**, the company’s founder, cites **Black Duck Software**, which leverages Silverthread’s technology in its software auditing practices during M&A due diligence. Black Duck’s audits rigorously examine a customer’s **license compliance**, **software security**, and **code quality**. You can find more about their services here.
Moreover, consultancies license Silverthread’s software for **software modernization projects** and can utilize their experts for second-line tech support during extensive engagements, Sturtevant added.
In a notable example of specialization, **iCustomer**, known for its go-to-market (GTM) operations software, recently initiated a project targeting **marketing agencies** to penetrate the **Small and Medium-sized Business (SMB)** market. **Abhi Yadav**, CEO and co-founder, explained that they collaborate with marketing operations and GTM agencies to deliver a prepackaged data audit for customers. This audit helps identify areas for enhancing a customer’s **data foundation**, essential for effective marketing endeavors.
Yadav emphasizes a key strategy: “We’re providing the playbook to those closest to the customer, fostering **trust** and collaboration.”
Pursuing Account Access, Software Integration
Utilizing partnerships enables early-stage companies to **tap into enterprise customers** that may otherwise remain out of reach. **Aperio**, showcasing its **DataWise** data quality software at the Innovation Showcase, exemplifies this strategy. Based in Boston, Aperio focuses on **industrial time series data** generated by sensors in industries like power utilities and oil and gas.
Industries often employ service providers to act as their **data custodians**, a role that has led Aperio to collaborate with **Accenture** and **Radix**. “There’s a whole ecosystem within industries—we’re starting to work together,” noted **Jane Arnold**, Customer Success Lead at Aperio.
“We partner with them, and they use our tool to find anomalies in the data.” Jane Arnold Customer success lead, Aperio
This collaboration allows Aperio to leverage the existing relationships that partners maintain. **Jonas Hellgren**, Aperio’s CEO, mentioned, “We have a faster pathway into accounts since it’s easier to enter through an established vendor.”
While Aperio appreciates the opportunities provided by partnerships, they express some reservations about the **service model**, citing potential costs for customers. Moving forward, they intend to focus on **technical partnerships** that integrate their software with existing tools, like **Seeq**, which specializes in time series analytics, and are finalizing a technical partnership with **Aveva**.
Yadav from iCustomer echoes this sentiment, aiming to enhance existing customer platforms with integration partnerships alongside cloud data solutions like **Databricks** and **Snowflake**: “We’re building the iCustomer software as an application to complement those platforms.”
Gaining New IT Insights from Startups
When IT service providers team with startups, the traditional benefit has been access to **promising technologies**. **John Spens**, Vice President of Data Modernization at **Thoughtworks**, highlighted the care that comes with partnering with startups. Participating in a data management panel at the MIT Sloan CIO Symposium, Spens emphasized that while startups can be innovative, their technologies must be **scalable** and capable of addressing complex challenges.
“We apply a layer of conservatism when selecting technologies,” Spens cautioned, as what appears advantageous on paper can show limitations in larger enterprise environments.
Yet, it’s the unique insights from startups that hold significant value. “Listening to startups often opens avenues for questioning the **status quo**,” Spens remarked. “Many times, they challenge existing norms, providing invaluable perspectives.” This **dynamism** is what positions partner marketing as a burgeoning trend for startups determined to innovate.
John Moore is a writer for Informa TechTarget, specializing in the CIO role, economic trends, and the IT services industry.
