You joined the partner program, but can't access the funding.
You did the paperwork and got approved. The credits, funding and programs exist, but nobody showed you how to unlock them, and there's no new revenue yet.
For founders who build on the cloud
You pay your cloud company every month. Is it paying you back?
Disha is a growth advisory firm for founders who build on the cloud. We help you get what AWS, Microsoft and GCP can actually give you: funding, free technical help, introductions to customers and sales teams, and a way into new markets around the world.
Founded by Deepika Sharma, 14 years inside Microsoft and AWS.
Does your company pay a cloud bill every month?
Has that cloud company ever brought you a new customer?
The problem
The help is there. Most founders never reach it.
Your cloud provider can fund what you're building, lend you engineers, introduce you to customers and sometimes even sell your product. Getting any of it usually comes down to one thing: having the right person on the inside. Big software companies have that person. Most founders don't.
You listed on the cloud marketplace, but don't know how to co-sell.
A listing on its own doesn't sell. Deals come from co-selling with the cloud provider's sales teams, and few founders are shown how that works.
You're ready to expand to the US, but don't know who to partner with.
The product works at home. What's missing is a market-entry strategy and the right partners on the ground.
What's behind your cloud bill
Your cloud company can be one of your best growth partners.
Most founders see the monthly bill as the cost of running the company. Behind it sits a lot of help they never use. Here's what AWS, Microsoft and GCP can put behind a founder they believe in.
Credits and funding
Cloud credits and funding programs that pay for what you build and test.
Free technical help
Architecture reviews and hands-on help from their solutions architects.
Customers and sales teams
Introductions to their account teams and to the customers those teams cover.
Co-marketing
A place on their stage, at their events and in their stories, with their name next to yours.
New markets
Programs and local teams that help you launch in the US and in other regions.
A new place to sell
Cloud marketplaces and co-selling, where customers can buy from you with budgets already set aside for their cloud provider.
Early access to AI
Previews of new AI services and help putting them to work in your product.
Knowing what you qualify for, and who to ask, is the hard part.
That's the part Disha does.
See how we help →
What we do
We're the insider for founders who never had one.
We know who to call, what to ask for, and what gets a cloud sales team to bring a company into a customer conversation. Our work falls into three areas.
Cloud partnership
Turn your cloud provider from a monthly bill into a partner that helps you build and sell.
- Build stage. Credits, time with their engineers, a named contact on their side, and a product they have validated.
- Sell stage. Partner programs, funding, co-selling with their sales teams, and marketplace listings that lead to real deals.
New market entry
For software companies ready to sell in the United States, and US companies ready to grow abroad.
- What buyers in the new market expect before they sign, and how to get your company ready for it.
- Your first accounts in the new market and the introductions that open them, with people on the ground.
Product acceleration
Product strategy and hands-on product leadership from someone who has built and shipped products at Microsoft.
- Sharpen the product for the customers and markets you most want to win.
- Put AI to work in your product and your team, with a clear plan for where it pays off.
Today, Disha is a services business working hands-on with founders. Tomorrow, we scale by turning our own playbooks into products, so more founders can get this help.
How it works
Start with a conversation. Leave with a plan.
Every engagement starts from your revenue goals and works backwards to the programs, people and deals that get you there.
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A short call
Tell us where you're stuck. If Disha isn't the right fit, we'll say so.
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Executive workshop
A focused session with your leadership team. You leave with a written plan you can act on.
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Partnership as a service
We stay on and do the work with you: the meetings, the programs, the introductions and the events.
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Revenue you can measure
We work backwards from your revenue goals and judge the work by pipeline created, deals closed and revenue won.
Who it's for
Tech founders who build on the cloud, and the investors behind them.
We work with software companies of every size and in every industry, from early teams to profitable companies ready for their next market.
- You run your product on AWS, Microsoft or GCP and have never had a real contact there.
- Customers like your product, but deals take too long to close.
- An investor or customer told you to "get on the marketplace" and you're not sure where to start.
- You're based in India, Brazil, the UK or elsewhere and ready to grow in the US, or you're US-based and ready to go global.
- You're an investor or accelerator whose portfolio companies could be getting far more from their cloud provider.
Deepika Sharma
Founder, Disha · Redmond, Washington
14years inside Microsoft and AWS
2products shipped onto Azure Marketplace
3years running an AWS startup accelerator
4.5years advising the world's largest education software companies, including D2L and Udemy
Meet the founder
For fourteen years, I was the person on the inside.
At Microsoft, I was a product manager who built products and shipped two of them onto Azure Marketplace. At AWS, I ran a startup accelerator and helped decide which founders received cloud credits. For four and a half years I advised some of the largest education software companies in the world, including D2L and Udemy, on go-to-market, sales playbooks and international expansion.
I kept seeing the same thing. The help was there. The founders were good. They just couldn't find each other.
That's why I started Disha. I still know the people and the programs inside the cloud companies, and Disha brings in partners and operators with experience across industries and regions. Our deepest industry specialization is education technology, and the same approach works for software companies in any sector. Disha means direction. Let's go find yours.
Get in touch
Maybe it's time that relationship started paying you back.
Tell us a little about your company, your revenue goals and where you feel stuck. We read every message and reply by email.
Prefer email? deepika.205.sharma@gmail.com
Based in Redmond, Washington. Working with founders around the world.