The challenge: coordinating partners in complex solution scenarios
Ron Long, Principal at Long Ventures, works at the intersection of cloud providers, independent software vendors (ISVs), and system integrators. Their goal is to accelerate co-selling initiatives by coordinating multiple partners around complex solution offerings, often spanning cloud infrastructure, software, and managed services.
Before HG Insights, each partner maintained siloed data, and Long Ventures had to rely on incomplete information. “Each partner had their own data, and it wasn’t consolidated,” Ron explains. “We were guessing at market size and opportunities. The systems were disconnected, and there wasn’t a clear way to prioritize accounts or align on messaging.”
The result? Long sales cycles, fragmented outreach, and missed opportunities for co-selling.
The solution: AI-powered account intelligence mapping
Long Ventures implemented HG Insights as the foundation for their Account Intelligence Mapping and Selection (AIMS) methodology. This approach combines AI-powered analytics with partner-provided data to identify and score target accounts, streamline collaboration, and accelerate revenue generation.
“We start by analyzing marketplaces for specific solutions, like security and identity management, using HG Insights to evaluate where ISV components fit within cloud providers’ architectures,” Ron shares. “Then we gather target account lists from each partner and feed them into HG to score and prioritize the accounts based on propensity to engage.”
This process goes beyond simple account selection. HG Insights enables Long Ventures to determine partner collaboration fit and solution fit, aligning multiple stakeholders around a shared strategy and ensuring every engagement is focused on delivering customer value.
Driving results: from target account lists to co-selling wins
Once the prioritized accounts are identified, Long Ventures maps out which partner should lead and who should follow, creates tailored talking tracks, and generates a coordinated sales pursuit plan. The approach narrows the funnel to the most actionable opportunities, often five to ten accounts, ensuring maximum efficiency and impact.
“After pursuing these accounts, we bring the learnings back into the sales organization,” Ron notes. “Teams become enabled on using the platform and the methodology becomes repeatable for future co-selling initiatives.”
By consolidating disparate data, leveraging HG Insights’ scoring and analytics, and focusing on customer value, Long Ventures has accelerated sales cycles while increasing alignment among partners.
The “aha” moment: marrying outside-in and inside-out data
Ron describes his pivotal moment with HG Insights: seeing the platform’s data elements, scoring capabilities, and AI-powered analysis for the first time. “We realized we could marry outside-in market data with our internal Salesforce data,” he says. “HG allowed us to validate go-to-market strategies and put rigor around internal data that previously went unverified.”
This combination of external and internal intelligence transformed how Long Ventures approached partner sales, enabling more precise targeting and higher-quality engagement.
Best practices for using HG Insights effectively
Ron’s advice for peers is simple: focus on customer value first. “Don’t start with what’s in it for you or your product,” he says. “Work backward from the value you deliver to the customer. If the customer perceives value, everything else falls into place.”
He also emphasizes precision in account targeting. Rather than “spray and pray” marketing programs, HG Insights enables focused campaigns that are informed by market sizing, adoption data, and technographics.
Why HG Insights stands out: AI, technographics, and firmographics
The platform’s combination of AI-powered enablement, comprehensive firmographics, and technographics was a game-changer for Long Ventures.
- AI-powered analysis: HG’s AI engine allows for prompt-based queries and generates actionable insights faster than traditional structured queries.
- Technographics: Identifying how products fit together within solutions reduces complexity and ensures customer-centric positioning.
- Firmographics: Comprehensive, up-to-date company data eliminates guesswork, helping partners prioritize high-value accounts.
Together, these capabilities enable a streamlined, data-driven approach to co-selling that is difficult to achieve with disconnected systems.
Looking ahead: AI agents and collaboration as a service
Ron sees the future of HG Insights evolving with AI agents that can interact across internal systems and external platforms, accelerating analysis and decision-making. “Collaboration as a service is the next frontier,” he predicts. “AI agents will optimize processes, validate insights, and drive business transformation by working across platforms and datasets seamlessly.”
This vision positions HG Insights not just as a data provider, but as a key enabler of modern, intelligent sales operations.
Conclusion: turning intelligence into revenue
For Long Ventures, HG Insights has become an indispensable engine for delivering co-selling success. By combining AI-powered insights with partner collaboration, solution mapping, and customer value-driven strategies, Ron and his team have collapsed long sales cycles, created alignment among multiple stakeholders, and accelerated revenue generation.
HG Insights doesn’t just provide data, it provides actionable intelligence that drives measurable business outcomes.