A B2B company with over $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) recently experienced reduced access to key platform features and support after becoming less favored by a major platform partner, according to saastr.com. The platform slowed their access to new features, semi-documented APIs, and even the partner’s sales team stopped recommending their app.
The shift in favor occurred because the platform company began to compete, albeit slightly, with the B2B company more than a year ago. Despite platforms like Slack, Salesforce, Shopify, OpenAI, and Anthropic appearing open, they maintain preferred partners who align with their business interests and make their jobs easier. These favored partners typically bring significant business deals to the platform, which influences their standing.
This dynamic highlights how large platforms manage partnerships based on strategic business value rather than openness alone. Partners who can bring major deals to top technology companies are more likely to be favored, while others may see their access and support reduced. This practice affects integration, feature access, and sales support within the SaaS ecosystem.
The article underscores that no matter how open a platform appears, favoritism exists behind the scenes, driven by business alignment and deal flow. The experience of this $100 million ARR company illustrates the tangible impact of these preferences on partner relations and platform access.