How Project Matterhorn aligned Snowflake and AWS around shared customer outcomes.
An evidence-led look at the operating model behind Jake Carey-Rand and MatterhornX.ai's account of Snowflake's move from AWS competitor to its number-one ISV partner in EMEA within 18 months.
The 18-month result is attributed to Jake Carey-Rand and MatterhornX.ai. AWS sources independently confirm later regional and global partner recognition.
Programme
Project Matterhorn
Ecosystem
Snowflake and AWS
Evidence status
Public record plus attributed operator account
Current application
MatterhornX.ai services contracted through Lab Nero
The problem was not access. It was coordinated execution.
Snowflake and AWS had a relationship shaped by both collaboration and competition. A broad partner ambition could not, on its own, tell account teams which customer outcome to pursue, how the companies should work together, or where accountability sat.
Jake Carey-Rand's public account describes Project Matterhorn as the response. The programme aligned both teams around shared business outcomes for key clients, with clearer ownership and executive governance.
The business did not primarily have a partnership-access problem. It had a shared-outcome and operating-governance problem.
A narrow customer entry point became a repeatable way to coordinate the partnership.
This interpretation separates what the public sources state from what can reasonably be learned from the programme.
Diagnose
The relationship lacked one shared operating outcome
The useful diagnosis is not that Snowflake and AWS needed more partner activity. Their teams needed a clearer way to align around customer value, commercial action, and accountability.
Design
Make shared customer outcomes the leverage point
Project Matterhorn was designed around key clients and shared business outcomes. That gave both companies a practical reason to coordinate work that would otherwise remain fragmented.
Activate
Connect teams through visible ownership and governance
Jake's public account describes a programme that aligned Snowflake and AWS teams around the same outcomes. The available sources support the operating principle, but do not provide a complete independent activity log.
Land
Start with consequential customer situations
The credible entry point was not a broad partnership promise. It was a focused set of customer outcomes where joint action could create value for the client, the ISV, and the platform.
Wedge
Turn coordination into a repeatable field motion
A shared outcome, common language, and governance rhythm can make cooperation easier to repeat across account teams. This is the mechanism MatterhornX.ai carries into current ecosystem work.
Control point
Build a system that can see and improve joint execution
The public record supports progress toward a durable operating control point. It does not provide enough detail to claim that the programme passed every durability test independently of its original leaders.
What the evidence supports, and what remains attributed.
- Operating output
- A programme aligned Snowflake and AWS teams around shared business outcomes for key clients.
- Attributed public account
- Commercial outcome
- Jake and MatterhornX.ai report that Snowflake moved from AWS competitor to its number-one ISV partner in EMEA within 18 months, then globally.
- Attributed claim
- Public progression
- AWS records show regional ISV Partner of the Year recognition in 2021 and Global Data and Analytics ISV Partner of the Year in 2023.
- Verified public record
- Later relationship scale
- Amazon reports more than $2 billion in 2025 Marketplace sales and more than $7 billion in lifetime sales by May 2026.
- Verified context, not causal proof
- Durable capability
- The shared-outcome and governance model offers a reusable way to coordinate customer, field, technical, and executive work.
- Transferable principle
The method matters more than the headline metric.
- 01Start with a consequential customer outcome, not a partner tier or marketplace listing.
- 02Treat technical readiness, field activation, and the commercial route as one operating motion.
- 03Make ownership and executive decision rights visible before activity scales.
- 04Measure opportunity progression and customer value, not introductions or badges alone.
Read the public record.
- 01Jake Carey-Rand's Project Matterhorn account
Programme origin, shared-outcome model, 18-month timeframe, and attributed EMEA ranking claim.
- 02MatterhornX.ai announcement account
Company account of the programme and its relationship to the current advisory model.
- 03AWS 2021 EMEA partner awards
AWS record of Snowflake receiving regional ISV Partner of the Year recognition in France and the Nordics.
- 04AWS 2023 global partner awards
AWS record naming Snowflake Global Data and Analytics ISV Partner of the Year.
- 05Amazon's 2025 Snowflake Marketplace update
Amazon reports more than $2 billion in Snowflake AWS Marketplace sales during 2025.
- 06Amazon's 2026 Snowflake collaboration update
Amazon reports more than $7 billion in lifetime Snowflake AWS Marketplace sales and expanded joint investment.
- 07Jake at MatterhornX.ai on Substack
Ongoing writing on ecosystem growth, partnerships, and GTM execution.