Unlock Cloud GTM Season 2, Episode 6 Key Takeaways
The cloud marketplace can feel like a black box, especially when you’re starting from zero. There’s pressure from cloud providers, internal hesitations, and more questions than answers. And when it’s not a top-down mandate, building momentum can feel like a solo mission.
That’s exactly where Corey Woodburn, Head of Cloud Marketplace Alliances at Grammarly, the trusted AI assistant for communication and productivity, found herself when AWS pitched her the marketplace opportunity. With no blueprint to follow and no one else raising their hand, she said yes—and got to work building Grammarly’s marketplace motion from scratch.
“I did a little bit of research, and I said, ‘Yes, please.’ I was tired of difficult resellers. I would much rather bite off a massive project,” Corey explained.
That curiosity kicked off what became a year-long journey to launch Grammarly’s first AWS marketplace listing. It wasn’t a top-down initiative, and internal education would become just as important as technical execution.
Building internal momentum one doc at a time
Because Grammarly’s marketplace effort didn’t come from the top, Corey had to help leaders across the business understand what it was, why it mattered, and what role their teams could play.
That meant a lot of 1:1 conversations and a bit of internal PR. To scale her efforts, Corey created a centralized resource hub: a living document packed with contacts, documentation, team-specific benefits, and FAQs.
“I built this massive document that explained what marketplace was, who I’d talk to, and what we’d already covered,” she explained. It wasn’t a day-to-day project management doc—it was a tool to help bring others along.
The doc became a powerful tool for driving buy-in and keeping people aligned. “We’d send it as a pre-read, and people would come back and say, ‘Actually, this is so cool. I’m so excited. Let’s coordinate.’ By the end, I had people coming to me proactively to help.”
The first listing took 10 months—the second? Just 18 days
That upfront work paid off. After 10 months of heads-down effort, Grammarly launched its first AWS Marketplace listing. Then, just one week after launching its first listing, Grammarly Pro, the team followed up with a second: Grammarly for Education.
“From the day we decided to list Grammarly for Education, our product for institutions, it was 18 days. Those 18 days were busy, but I knew what I needed to do. And it was all within my skill set.” Corey said. “And thank you to Tackle for making that so much easier.”
For a team still learning how marketplace fits into their broader go-to-market strategy, it was a major milestone.
“We’re new to marketplace and really kind of still trying to figure out exactly how it’s going to work with our go-to-market motion,” she explained. “But our team is always very, very aware of what’s going on in the market, so we are building out our B2B motion.”
Scaling seller support with Tackle
As interest in marketplace grew, Corey found herself deep in APN Customer Engagements (ACE) and fielding more sales support requests than she could handle. “I was spending hours every week submitting opportunities in ACE,” Corey said. “I built a Google form, but I realized that just wasn’t going to scale.”
That’s when she began exploring options for automation and enablement—and quickly landed on Tackle.
“I sat down with teams and asked them what I would need to do in 18 months to be running a successful practice. A CRM integration for marketplace was non-negotiable,” Corey explained. “I told leadership, if we don’t have this, here’s what’s not going to happen.”
Tackle stood out as the clear partner. “Everyone I talked to said, ‘Oh, we’re connected with the Tackle seller on LinkedIn. I’ll introduce you to Dan,’ And everyone who knew Dan and was excited to introduce me to him.”
Making marketplace stick with sellers
With listings live, Corey’s next challenge was seller enablement. Her approach: start small, make it relevant, and build momentum.
“You’ve never fully arrived with Cloud GTM,” Corey said. “We asked ourselves how we could start small. What’s the MVP version of this? And then how do we grow it?”
Grammarly started educating sellers six weeks ahead of launch, holding sessions in their weekly all-sales meeting. Corey also brought in AWS for co-sell training, which they recorded for ongoing use. But she knew a one-time training wouldn’t cut it.
“We’ve just kind of done bite-sized pieces since then,” she said. “This week, we launched our main Tackle integration live in Salesforce. It’s the best week of my life. I’m so excited.”
Her secret to seller adoption? Speak their language.
“My sellers are not experts on Amazon,” Corey said. “So we start by showing the business context—how cloud commitments have crossed $500 billion, how this helps their deals—before we get into how to submit an opportunity with Tackle.”
And it’s working. “You can’t tell a seller something once,” she added. “You have to keep repeating it and showing them how it makes their life easier.”
Looking ahead: new listings, new segments, and bigger ambitions
Grammarly’s journey into cloud marketplaces may be new, but Corey’s story is a powerful example of how a single champion, equipped with the right partner, can build real momentum.
In addition to their product listings, they’re working toward AWS Competencies and exploring how to partner with the AWS public sector team.
“We’re figuring out Cloud Go-to-Market at the same time we’re evolving our product strategy. It’s really exciting,” Corey said.
With Tackle in place, she feels ready to scale. “I can’t live without this tool,” she said. “We’re not going to have a scaling Amazon partnership without the support of Tackle. It’s just not going to happen.”
Her advice to others on the same path? “No one knows what they’re doing. Even if you’re at the very beginning, know that you’re not that far behind. Everyone is still figuring this out.”
Listen to the full episode of Unlock Cloud GTM for more insights from Corey Woodburn and other Cloud GTM leaders.
