Ryan Walsh and Nicky Heddy said Denver-based Pax8 is no longer a distributor but a cloud marketplace.

And the revamped cloud marketplace that was unveiled at Pax8’s inaugural Beyond event this week will be using the power of data and AI to act as a customer acquisition engine for its partners.

The marketplace enables Pax8 to help MSPs get matched up with end customers who are looking to buy direct through Pax8’s vendor partners.

Through a “buy now” button that most Pax8 vendor partners will have on their websites, end customers will be rerouted to Pax8’s marketplace and prompted to answer questions that will match them with an MSP if they don’t have one already.

“The opportunities are presented within the marketplace but not provided to the vendor,” said Walsh, channel chief and chief strategy officer for Pax8. “Vendor opportunities are there for the MSP to make decisions and [find] an opportunity to explore.”

Pax8 partners that opt in will sync their data through their PSA and RMM tools, which will unlock a complete view across all of their customers.

MSPs must opt into the feature and also answer questions on what type of customers they’re looking for. If an MSP and an end customer’s criteria match up, they then get connected through Pax8’s matchmaking capability, according to Heddy, chief commerce officer for Pax8.

“Many of our vendors today, like over a dozen, feed us prospect leads today,” Heddy told CRN. “They are saying they are interested. They’re saying, ‘We want to feed Pax8’s amazing ecosystem of partners.’

Excitement from MSPs about the prospect-led marketplace was felt as some MSPs told CRN they are looking forward to getting help in sales and customer acquisition, but concerns arose about data sharing, product recommendations and democratizing the marketplace.

CRN sat down with Walsh and Heddy to discuss partner concerns so they can ensure partners that it is an “independent marketplace.” Here’s what the executives had to say.