Cloud GTM has followed a familiar rhythm for years. We understand co-sell. We understand marketplaces. We know the mechanics of the motion. But heading into 2026, a question posed by Asher Mathew of Partnership Leaders in a LinkedIn post reframes everything:
What happens when AI becomes the front door for software buying?
This isn’t just a product question. It’s a distribution question.
And distribution shifts always create new winners.
As AI takes more control of how buyers express intent and evaluate solutions, the center of gravity in cloud GTM will move. The winners will be the companies that understand how discovery, procurement, and execution are about to realign.
Marketplaces were designed for a catalog-shaped internet: listings, filters, comparisons, shortlists.
AI is designed for intent.
Buyers won’t “search” as much as they’ll describe what they need:
“We need a SOC2-ready solution with EU data residency that integrates with our current architecture and can be deployed in two weeks. What should we shortlist?”
When intent becomes the entry point, the economics of discovery change:
AI aligns with how people actually want to buy: fewer tabs, fewer meetings, faster conclusions.
But this shift introduces a new tension.
Many “AI will replace marketplaces” narratives overlook a simple truth: discovery is not the moment money moves.
Enterprise purchasing still depends on:
AI can accelerate confidence, but it cannot replace the systems-of-record that manage enterprise risk.
Cloud marketplaces excel here—not because they are perfect storefronts, but because they are reliable rails:
The future doesn’t eliminate marketplaces. It repositions them.
If AI-powered chat interfaces dominate discovery, the interface owner influences:
If marketplaces retain control of transactions, cloud providers hold:
My view:
Not because they prefer marketplace UI, but because they need control of spend paths.
The near future is not an either/or scenario. It is a division of labor:
This sets up the next major shift in the ecosystem:
When AI identifies fit, buyers will focus less on who has the best listing and more on who can deliver outcomes quickly, safely, and predictably.
This is where partners matter more than ever.
Implementation, onboarding, integration, governance, and time-to-value become the new competitive moat.
Being “findable” isn’t enough. You must be answerable.
AI needs clean, structured signals about:
If positioning is vague, AI may skip you—or misrepresent you.
AI will compress evaluation cycles, but procurement only moves smoothly when your marketplace motion is mature.
This is where companies either win or stall.
You’ll need:
The marketplace is no longer where people discover you.
It’s where they finalize and govern spend.
Most companies are focused on AI content or marketplace programs. Very few are designing the bridge between them.
The advantage will come from chat interfaces that output:
…and feed directly into:
This makes the journey from interest to impact dramatically faster—and more repeatable.
Chat becomes the new SDR.
Marketplace becomes the CFO.
One optimizes for speed and confidence.
The other optimizes for governance and permission.
The advantage will not belong to the teams with the best chat interface or the most polished marketplace listing.
It will belong to the leaders who build the connective tissue between the two — because that bridge becomes the strategic differentiator.
As AI changes how buyers express intent, and marketplaces continue to govern how enterprises commit spend, partners will become the engine that turns both into value.
The future ecosystem will be won by those who design the system end to end, not by those who optimize one piece in isolation.