Anyone transitioned a software company from 100% reseller to hybrid sales?

April 07, 2025

by a searcher in Vancouver, BC, Canada

I'm exploring a potential acquisition of a software company that currently relies entirely on resellers for sales. Long-term, I believe there's a strong case for adding a direct sales motion.

That said, I know this kind of transition can be tricky.

I'd love to hear if you've been through a shift like this, or have insights into how to do it well.

What worked?
What didn’t?
How did you manage the transition with existing resellers?
Any lessons on team structure, pricing, or messaging?

Reply by a searcher
from University of Pennsylvania in Singapore

Why did the current team go all-in on resellers? Cheaper CAC? Hard-to-access markets? Also, who owns the customer relationship post-sale? The reseller or the company? If it's still the company, a good first step might be testing upsell/cross-sell motions to existing users.

Reply by a searcher
in Denver, CO, USA

I’ve done something similar with a company in the RFID space. In our case, we kept the existing reseller relationships in place and started transitioning to a B2C model for new customers. I found a few early customers who were open to testing different pricing and delivery approaches. After we gathered feedback and refined the process during that beta phase, we rolled it out more broadly to newer customers.

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