Your team (or you) sells directly to the buyer.

Works well when

• Deal size(s) support the cost of a sales motion

• The sale requires discovery, customization, or trust

• You are still learning the market and need tight feedback loops

Tradeoffs Higher cost per deal and slower ramp, but you keep full control of the customer relationship and messaging.

You sell through other companies—resellers, VARs, MSPs, technology partners, or referral partners—who already have relationships with your target buyers.

Works well when

• Partners already own the customer relationship

• Your product fits cleanly into an existing solution stack

• You want reach without building a large direct team

Tradeoffs You give up margin and some control. Success depends heavily on partner enablement, joint value, and making it easy (and profitable) for them to sell you.

Demand is generated primarily through marketing (content, paid, SEO, events, etc.), then handed to sales or converted through a lighter sales process.

Works well when

• Buyers research and educate themselves before talking to sales

• You can create consistent, qualified inbound volume

• Sales cycles benefit from warmed-up prospects

Tradeoffs Requires sustained investment and patience. Attribution is rarely perfect, and pure inbound often underperforms without a strong sales follow-up motion.

Growth comes from an engaged user or practitioner community—forums, Slack/Discord groups, open-source contributors, customer advisory boards, or tight industry networks.

Works well when

• Your product has strong network effects or peer influence

• Buyers trust practitioners more than vendors

• You can genuinely contribute value to the community

Tradeoffs Slower to start and harder to force. Authenticity matters; heavy-handed selling kills it

Product-Led / Self-Serve Users discover, try, adopt, and often expand the product with little or no direct sales involvement.

Works well when

• Average contract values are lower or expansion happens naturally inside the product

• The product can deliver clear value quickly with minimal onboarding friction

• Buyers prefer to evaluate and buy on their own schedule

The motion starts with self-serve, inbound, or product usage, then sales steps in for qualification, expansion, complex deals, or higher-value accounts.

Works well when

• You have meaningful product-led or inbound volume but need help converting or expanding larger opportunities

• Deal complexity or contract value justifies human involvement at certain stages

• You want efficiency on smaller deals while still capturing bigger ones

Tradeoffs Requires clear handoff rules and tight alignment between product, marketing, and sales. Poorly defined handoffs create friction and lost deals.

Distribution happens through a third-party marketplace or platform (AWS Marketplace, Salesforce AppExchange, Microsoft commercial marketplace, and similar).

Works well when

• Your buyers already procure through that platform

• The marketplace reduces friction in security review, purchasing, or vendor onboarding

• You can meet the platform’s technical and commercial requirements

Tradeoffs Margins are shared, competition on the platform can be intense, and success still usually requires active co-selling or demand generation rather than passive listing. description

You grow through deeper relationships with complementary vendors—co-selling, co-marketing, technical integrations, or joint solutions—rather than pure resale.

Works well when

• Your product sits naturally alongside others in the buyer’s stack

• Partners have strong existing relationships and incentives to bring you in

• You can create clear joint value propositions and make it easy for partners to succeed

Tradeoffs Takes time to build trust and mutual value. Results depend heavily on partner prioritization and consistent enablement; many alliances stay superficial without dedicated effort.

If You build it, they will come.

Works well when

• Your product is so amazing and the need so obvious that it sells itself without any effort whatsoever.

• Customer’s have been looking for this and are willing to keep searching until they find the one company that finally built it.

Tradeoffs. This just isn’t how almost all businesses can grow, and it isn’t a plan, it is a dream and a wish.