Tim McAdam, Technology Crossover Ventures (Palo Alto, Calif.)

In his more than two decades in the venture industry, McAdam has backed a number of companies with a strong focus on indirect sales, among them two that have gone public in recent years--business analytics vendor Splunk and cybersecurity firm Rapid7. He remains on the board at Rapid7, which reports it generated 39 percent of its revenue in 2015 via channel partners, up from 30 percent in 2012.

As the cloud continues to influence the shape of IT, McAdam said channel sales models will continue to be relevant. One company in his current portfolio, for instance, is sales tax calculations software firm Avalara. "They're a true cloud business, focused on small and medium-sized customers, and they're using channel-style go-to-market strategies," McAdam said.