For 15 years, we’ve helped vendors and partners align strategies, communicate value, and drive performance. The mission continues — smarter, sharper, and more essential than ever.
By Larry Walsh
A little more than 15 years ago, I recognized a gap in the channel landscape — a difference in language. Vendors spoke one language; partners spoke another. While the languages were related and translatable, the differences between them often led to misalignment and misunderstanding.
In 2010, I founded Channelnomics on a simple but often overlooked premise: The core challenge in technology isn’t innovation; it’s communication. The market is filled with extraordinary products and groundbreaking ideas. What’s often missing is the ability to convey their value in ways that resonate with partners and customers. Channelnomics exists to bridge that gap, helping vendors build effective indirect-sales strategies, express their value clearly across diverse partner types, and drive sustainable growth throughout the go-to-market value chain.
Too often, technologists believe their products are so good that they should sell themselves. But good technology isn’t enough. It needs a compelling story — one grounded in data and evidence — that inspires partners to invest in building practices around it, supports go-to-market execution, and gives customers the confidence to buy.
Channelnomics helps translate the economic and intangible value of technology to often-skeptical partners and buyers. We focus on overcoming resistance, mitigating risk, and enabling better outcomes for every sales and delivery motion.
Our mission is as critical today as it was 15 years ago. The technology market is more fragmented and disrupted than ever. New delivery models are reshaping how vendors engage in the market. Partners are overwhelmed by a flood of offers — each promising growth, but many carrying hidden risk. And customers are unsure where to invest limited budgets. Navigating this complexity — and harnessing the ecosystem with clarity and precision — is no small feat. That’s where Channelnomics comes in.
Inside our company, we say this often: “Talking about channels is easy. Making channels work is hard.” As a concept, the channel is simple: Scale market coverage through partners, standardize relationships, and align incentives with performance. In practice, it’s far more complex.
Vendors must define partner roles and expectations, build economic models that account for direct and indirect routes to market, maintain enablement resources, train internal and partner-facing teams, and implement systems that automate operations and performance tracking. All of this requires constant balancing of risk and return. Again, it’s not easy.
Channelnomics delivers strategic and operational support with three core pillars:
Research: We lead with channel-specific research. Channel leaders need data to support decision-making. Our research not only informs our consulting and program-design work but also provides clients with custom insights, including sentiment analysis, partner trends, and benchmarking.
Strategic Consulting: We help vendors and distributors worldwide design and optimize channel programs, incentives, training, and development strategies. We offer diagnostics to assess channel health and performance, and we deliver intelligence to guide strategic direction and execution.
Enablement: We provide services that strengthen partner productivity and organizational effectiveness. These include change management, content creation (white papers, guides, infographics), workshops and presentations, facilitation of partner advisory boards, partner monitoring, and flexible support through our Channelnomics IQ (CiQ) program.
Someone recently asked me what I’m most proud of when I think about the past 15 years. I could cite the hundreds of vendors and distributors we’ve supported, the thousands of professionals we’ve helped, the global events we’ve contributed to, or the many research and strategy projects we’ve delivered. But more than anything, I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with some of the most talented, insightful people in the business.
Channelnomics, though, isn’t about the past. The future is calling, and it looks nothing like it did in 2010. New technologies, delivery models, and partner dynamics are redefining how the channel works. The past 15 years have given us a strong foundation. The next 15 will be about reinvention — helping vendors, distributors, and partners navigate the next era of the channel and unlock new growth opportunities.
I’m thankful to all Channelnomics clients, collaborators, and supporters, and, above all, to the team, past and present, that has made this journey possible. As I often say, Channelnomics exists because of all of you.
Now, on to the next 15 years.
Larry Walsh is the CEO, chief analyst, and founder of Channelnomics. He’s an expert on the development and execution of channel programs, disruptive sales models, and growth strategies for companies worldwide.
