Most "how to become a supplier" guides assume there's a form. For Datadog, there isn't one. There's no open vendor-registration portal, no public diversity application, no upload-your-W-9-and-wait page. If you go looking for one, you'll find Datadog's vendor help center instead, and that page tells you something important: onboarding only starts after a Datadog employee submits an internal new-vendor request for you.
That changes the whole strategy. You don't apply to Datadog. You get sponsored into Datadog, and then the paperwork follows. Here's how the real process works and where a diverse-business certification actually helps.
What Datadog buysDatadog is an observability and security platform. It sells software, so its own supply chain is mostly the stuff a fast-growing public software company consumes rather than resells. That means professional services (legal, accounting, recruiting, consulting), marketing and events, software and SaaS tools, cloud and data-center infrastructure, facilities and office services for its global locations, and contingent staffing.
If your business sells into corporate operations rather than to end consumers, you're in the right category. Datadog doesn't buy raw materials or run a manufacturing line. It buys services and tools that help a roughly 5,000-person company operate. The buyers are scattered across departments, which matters for how you find a sponsor.
How registration actually worksDatadog uses Zip as its vendor intake tool. According to Datadog's vendor help center, the process runs like this: a Datadog employee who wants to work with you submits an internal new-vendor request. The main contact you provide then gets an email invitation from Zip to complete onboarding, where you supply company details and banking/payment information.
Some vendors get routed through an extra privacy and security review via TrustArc, especially if the engagement touches personal data or system access. If that applies, you'll get a separate risk-assessment link by email.
Then there's the rule that trips up new vendors: Datadog runs a "no PO, no pay" policy. A purchase order has to be issued before you start work. Invoices that show up without a PO that predates the work don't get paid. Read that twice if you're used to handshake-then-invoice. With Datadog, the PO comes first or you eat the cost.
The takeaway: the Zip invitation, the banking forms, the TrustArc review, the PO, all of it is downstream of one event. A Datadog employee decided to bring you on. No sponsor, no invitation, no onboarding.
How to get noticed (and invited)Since the gate is internal sponsorship, your effort goes into reaching the person who owns the budget for what you sell, not into hunting for a portal that doesn't exist.
A few approaches that work for invitation-only buyers like this:
- Find the function, not the company. Figure out which team would own your spend (procurement, marketing ops, IT, facilities, talent) and target the manager there. A targeted pitch to the right director beats a generic "we'd like to be a vendor" email to a procurement inbox.
- Lead with a specific outcome. "We cut onboarding time 30% for two other Series-stage SaaS companies" lands better than a capabilities brochure. Datadog's buyers are technical and metrics-driven. Match that.
- Use warm paths. Conferences, mutual customers, existing Datadog vendors who can refer you, and LinkedIn intros all create the internal champion who can file the new-vendor request.
- Be ready to move fast. Once a sponsor exists, have your insurance certificates, security documentation, and banking details ready so the Zip onboarding doesn't stall.
A polished one-page capability statement does a lot of work here, because your sponsor often has to sell you internally to procurement and legal. Give them the document that makes that easy.
The diversity-certification angleDatadog's Vendor Code of Conduct is explicit that it expects vendors to promote their own equity and inclusion efforts, including sourcing diverse suppliers such as women-owned, minority-owned, LGBTQ-owned, and veteran-owned businesses. That language tells you two things.
First, Datadog cares about diversity in its own supply chain, which is a point in your favor if you're certified. Second, it cares about diversity in your supply chain too, so being able to speak to how you source matters when you're the vendor.
There's no public, self-serve "Datadog Supplier Diversity" application as of mid-2026, so a certification won't unlock a separate front door. What it does is strengthen the case your internal sponsor makes for you, and it positions you to count toward Datadog's diverse-spend goals. The certifications that carry weight with corporate programs like this are the council-issued ones: NMSDC for minority-owned (MBE), WBENC for women-owned (WBE), NGLCC for LGBTQ-owned (LGBTBE), and the relevant veteran credential for veteran- or service-disabled-veteran-owned firms.
If you're not certified yet, that's the higher-leverage move than chasing a Datadog portal that doesn't exist. Our NMSDC certification guide walks through what minority certification requires, and CertifyAll handles the application paperwork across multiple certifications at once if you want to skip the 40-hour DIY slog.
The Tier-2 side doorThere's a second way in that many diverse suppliers overlook: don't sell to Datadog directly, sell to the firms that already do.
Large companies routinely ask their existing prime vendors to report Tier-2 spend, meaning the dollars those primes pass through to diverse subcontractors. So if you can't land a direct sponsor at Datadog, you can still earn Datadog-adjacent revenue by subcontracting under one of its established staffing, consulting, marketing, or IT-services vendors. Your certification then shows up in their diversity numbers, which gives them a reason to bring you on.
The practical play: identify Datadog's larger services vendors in your category and pitch yourself as the diverse subcontractor that helps them hit their own supplier-diversity commitments. It's a faster path than waiting for a direct invitation, and it builds the track record that makes a future direct relationship credible. Listing your firm where corporate buyers and their primes look for certified subcontractors helps too; our supplier directory is built for exactly that.
Where to point your energyBecoming a Datadog supplier is less about filling out a form and more about getting one Datadog employee to want you in their stack. Get certified, build the capability statement that makes you easy to champion internally, target the function that owns your spend, and keep the Tier-2 subcontracting path open in parallel.
Datadog isn't the only corporate program built this way. If you want to see how other large buyers structure their supplier and diversity programs, and which ones actually run open registration versus invitation-only, the corporate program directory is a good next stop.
