Inside the AppDirect Acquisition of Tackle.io with John Jahnke and Emanuel Bertolin
Inside PartneringShow Notes
At AWS re:Invent this week, AppDirect and Tackle.io made a major announcement in the “partner tech” world: AppDirect is acquiring Tackle to extend AppDirect’s $1billion marketplace business into cloud marketplaces. I had a chance to catch up with John Jahnke, CEO of Tackle, and Emanuel “Bert” Bertolin, CRO of AppDirect to dive into some details about the acquisition and how they see it impacting the broader market for ISVs, distribution, marketplaces, and cloud GTM. The announcement created some big buzz in the cloud GTM and partner technology market. Both leaders shared why this combination matters and how it could change the distribution landscape for thousands of ISVs. Inside Partnering is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Why AppDirect Acquired Tackle AppDirect has spent 15 years building a subscription commerce and marketplace platform serving telecom providers, global enterprises, and a fast-growing advisor community. As Bert explained, the long-term vision has been a single integration that gives an ISV access to all AppDirect marketplaces. “Our vision was always to have a catalog that once you integrate it in, you could access all of the AppDirect marketplaces.” The rise of hyperscaler marketplaces made this vision even more important. ISVs today face expanding distribution choices - should they build their own marketplace, lean into hyperscalers, or pursue channel marketplaces? AppDirect’s answer is simple: you should not have to choose. “Do I have my own marketplace? Do I go onto the hyperscaler marketplaces? Our answer is both.” Adding Tackle expands AppDirect’s reach into cloud marketplaces, where Tackle has been a leading platform for ISV listing, co-sell, and transacting motions. Tackle’s Perspective: Unifying Marketplaces and Expanding Possibilities For Tackle, the announcement capped off what John described as an already massive re:Invent week. “Taking our biggest event of the year and adding an acquisition on top was like gas on the fire.” Tackle has always been focused on helping ISVs sell more and sell faster through cloud marketplaces. As they evaluated AppDirect earlier in the year, the scale of AppDirect’s reach - including 400+ marketplaces - immediately stood out. “We’ve always been exploring a lot of marketplaces to see what’s going on… and we didn’t really know at first that AppDirect powers 400 marketplaces.” Both teams quickly saw the potential of connecting Tackle’s hyperscaler expertise with AppDirect’s catalog, advisor network, and global distribution footprint. Expanding Distribution for ISVs One of the biggest themes in the conversation was how this merger expands distribution opportunities for ISVs. AppDirect brings a marketplace platform used by telcos, enterprises, and 14,000 technology advisors. “We also operate a marketplace where we have 14,000 technology advisors that buy and draw services from there.” These advisors function as MSPs, consulting shops, and technology brokers who can sell through referral or resell motions - creating valuable long-tail distribution. AppDirect also works with about 1,000 providers, ranging from SaaS ISVs to telecom and even energy suppliers in deregulated states. That means ISVs who integrate through Tackle or AppDirect could theoretically reach: * Hyperscaler marketplaces * Hundreds of enterprise and telco marketplaces * A large advisor community * Additional commerce channels across hardware, services, and energy This combination gives ISVs a single integration with multiple distribution paths. Creating a Unified Cloud GTM Engine Both leaders emphasized that nothing changes for Tackle customers. Instead, the merger adds new paths to revenue. “Nothing changes for Tackle customers. We’re going to continue to stay laser focused on innovating with the hyperscalers.” New opportunities include: * Deeper integration with AWS, including Buy with AWS * A “Tackle plugin” to pow
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