Report · 9 min read

Should Your SaaS Company Have a Channel Sales Strategy?

Rob Belcher · SaaS Capital Free Intermediate

Survey data from 950 B2B SaaS companies on who actually runs channel and how much revenue it carries, which is the fastest way to sanity check whether your product profile suits resellers at all.

  • Survey of 950 private B2B SaaS companies: half sell 100 percent direct, half see at least some channel revenue.
  • Above $3M ARR, channel is a median 10 percent of revenue for low-ACV products and about 23 percent for medium and high ACV.
  • 60 percent of horizontal companies run a channel program versus 40 percent of vertical ones.
  • The readiness signal is unsolicited inbound from similar market participants asking to resell, which is how HubSpot found agencies.
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It answers 3 questions

  1. Is our product even ready for resellers?
  2. A much bigger company wants to partner with us. Should we say yes?
  3. How do I tell whether a partnership is actually working, and when do I kill it?

Read with it

  1. An investor's readiness test rather than a how to, built around three blunt questions: are you ready, which partner type, and... OpenView Article · 8 min read Why (and When) Strategic Partnerships Make Sense for SaaS Startups Scott Maxwell
  2. Makes the point most first timers miss: channel accelerates growth that already exists, it does not create it, and you should... GTMnow Article · 10 min read How to Get Started With Channel Partnerships for SaaS Businesses Shubham Sood
  3. The clearest single explanation of the five partner types and what each is worth, including real margin bands (20 to 30% for... Bessemer Venture Partners (Atlas) Article · 20 min read The GTM guide to building SaaS channel partnerships MP Eisen
  4. The best plain English glossary of the nine partner types plus 20 metrics to track, which is exactly what you need when you are... HubSpot Blog Article · 15 min read Channel Sales: What It Is and How to Create Your Program Aja Frost
  5. The only guide we found with concrete hiring triggers (15 to 25 active partners, 5 to 10% of new ARR partner sourced) and a... Forecastable Article · 18 min read Head of Partnerships: The 2026 Role and Hiring Guide Alex Buckles
  6. The founder of Zomentum, who built a business serving 3,500 plus channel partners, on why partner led acquisition stays under... SaaSBoomi (Founder's Deep Dive) Podcast · 50 min listen Empowering the Channel Partner-led GTM Motion Shruti Ghatge with Suresh Sambandam
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →