Malwarebytes’ Mike LaPeters: Convergence, Unity Fuel New Channel Strategy
… most partners a leg up over everyone else because of the fact that that’s built in to how we provide value to our customers. But if we take and layer on top of that our ability to engage however the customer wants to, I think that that’s one strong component of it, and then I’m only going to tease a little bit of this because we still have a lot of finalization left to do, but when we release the partner program in its final stage where we’ve got all of our new features and all of our new benefits that we’re coming out with, I think we’re going to be in an incredibly differentiated position, especially as it relates to partner education, enablement and maturity or sophistication around security.
CP: What sort of feedback have you been hearing from partners during this past seven weeks and is that playing a big role in shaping all of your plans?
ML: I’ve met with almost 50 partners in the last seven weeks, and I’ve discussed what our strategy is, what our direction is. I’ve understood what their challenges are, not just working with us, but working with all vendors working in the security space, and this is absolutely what’s defining our new programs, our new strategy and how we’re going forward. If the partners are not engaged and don’t view that the direction you’re moving in will help them be more successful, then I think we’re all wasting our time. They’re ratifying it, they’re suggesting, and in some cases when we go with ideas, they’re shooting them down and saying that’s just not important.
CP: How is your previous experience with AlienVault and then AT&T Cybersecurity coming into play as far as what you’re doing now with Malwarebytes?
ML: I’ve been attached or associated with channels for about 30 years and I’ve been working in one way or another my entire career with indirect channels, and a lot of that has been in architecting and building out programs. For me, the biggest impact that AlienVault really has had on what I’m doing today is the hyperfocus that I had on the managed services space as opposed to traditional channels. With AlienVault/AT&T Cybersecurity, the significant component of the engagement strategy there was built around working with managed security services, so the MSSPs. The programs we put together, the engagements we did, the key learnings that I pulled away from that four years engaged there really is helping set the stage for how we’re engaging with the partner communities here. There’s some similarity; however, it’s a different part of the discussion. The USM solution that AlienVault provides is security information and event management (SIEM); it’s more of the advanced security versus looking at Malwarebytes, which is more of an endpoint discussion. But the thought around enablement, around building effective and powerful service offerings, these things apply with very little translation in the Malwarebytes space as much as they apply to anywhere else.
CP: Is Malwarebytes in growth mode? If so, what role are partners playing in that role?
ML: We are absolutely in growth mode on all fronts. At the macro level, we have our consumer business that is in growth mode, and then we also have our business market, which is also in significant growth mode, and that’s on all different segments. The area that we as an organization feel has one of the highest potentials for growth right now is …