Mike Valentine On Why He Left Sophos, What’s Next And Why Vendor Channel IQ Is ‘Deteriorating’

Mike Valentine, a perennial channel sales superstar known for building long-lasting partner relationships, says he is ‘itching to get back into it’ and urges solution providers to ‘get as smart as you can as fast as you can about everything.’

Trusted Adviser Role Of Partners Has Never Been More Critical

Channel sales superstar Mike Valentine said he made the decision to step aside as CRO of Sophos because of a change in direction at the security software powerhouse.

“The new direction of the company and the priorities were not my strong suit or what I was good at doing or what I wanted to do,” he told CRN. “Sophos was good to me, and I have been good to them. We had a good relationship and we made a smart business decision to part ways.”

Valentine said he is already in discussions with several security software providers and is looking forward to his next “channel adventure.”

In fact, he said the role of partners as “trusted advisers” has never been more critical.

“Everyone is saying it is all buy direct, it is just order through the marketplace, just call the manufacturer, ‘don’t worry about it,” he said. “In the small to medium enterprise down that is just not the case. Customers have got to have a trusted partner. They have to have somebody that understands the technology and implements it.”

Even with some security software vendors moving to a full-fledged cloud-based security as a service model, the role of partners is vital, said Valentine.

“Customers don’t want to do that security themselves,” he said. “That is where the partners come in. They can be that expert and understand what the service is and be that extra arm for the customer. If you are a smaller end user, you need to have a relationship with someone that is known and trusted. Why? Because it is security. You have to trust the people that are messing around with your security.”

Valentine led the channel charge that helped drive Sophos revenue from $300 million in total contract value in 2013 when he took the helm as senior vice president of sales to more than $1 billion when he left as CRO.

Valentine said he is looking forward to taking another role potentially as a CEO for a smaller security company or as vice president of worldwide operations for a larger company. He said his plan is to spend time with family, take a vacation break for the month of August in Hawaii and then return to the industry in a new position in September. “On Sept. 1, I’m coming back hard,” he said. “I’m looking forward to my next channel adventure.”

In the meantime, Valentine is going to be busy spending time with family. His son Nick is graduating from Texas Christian University’s Neely School of Business. His son Tony is entering his junior year at TCU’s Neely School of Business and his daughter, Bella, is going into her junior year at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications.

Valentine and his wife, Allison, are also preparing to move into a new home in Westlake, Texas, later this year.

Why did you leave Sophos?

The new direction of the company and the priorities were not my strong suit or what I was good at doing or what I wanted to do.

Sophos was good to me, and I have been good to them. We had a good relationship and we made a smart business decision to part ways.

What is your message to partners you have developed strong relationships with as you look toward your next career move?

First of all, the relationships are why I have a career. The message to all those partners around the world is ‘thank you’ because without all their support we would not have been successful. Every single partner, digital distribution point, SI [systems integrator] and MSP that we have worked with have always been more than fair to me and I have always been fair to them.

I want to let those partners know I’m itching to get back into it. I can’t wait to work with all of them again soon and have a beer with them at some point. I’m looking forward to my next channel adventure.

What kind of job are you looking for and why are you excited about your next move?

I want to look at a company that has ARR [annual recurring revenue] or TCV [total contract value] with $250 million or $300 million trying to get to $1 billion working with the mid-enterprise market and the SMB. There is just no better way to do it than the channel.

There are tons of these companies. The biggest things now are services like security as a service. Large corporations absolutely want a one-stop shop with someone doing security as a service with someone taking care of it so they don’t have to worry about any of the underpinning products or new threats. That is all true. But the companies that can really benefit from that are the small to midsize companies working with the channel. They look to the channel for everything. They are looking to get enterprise-class expertise and security from the channel. So many small businesses require the channel.

I’m looking to join a company that has a Software-as-a-Service business with a managed service provider model. I’m looking at doing a CEO role for a smaller company or going back into a president of field operations role for an up-and-coming security software provider. I’m already in discussions with several security software companies.

Where are you most likely to land given your long history working with security software providers including Sophos, Fortinet, SonicWall and WatchGuard?

It’s more than likely I will be going to work for a security software company. That is where my expertise is. I am definitely not going into a high enterprise direct model. I am going into a channel-focused company that works with partners in the mid to upper enterprise and down to SMB. I am looking at working with partners that don’t want to invest in a SOC [Security Operations Center] and want to provide security and service with enterprise-grade security. It’s all about partners that are pushing themselves into a mode where they are now a managed services provider, partnering with the end user. That is what I am looking for. That is what I am coming back to do.

Everyone knows how I run the channel. They know that I am fair. Sometimes it is tough, but we do the right thing. I am not the only one doing that. There are a few of us out there. But partners know who I am. When I come back, they’ll know it.

What is your view of the channel and what the opportunity is for partners serving small and midsize businesses?

Everyone is saying it is all buy direct. It is just order through the marketplace, just call the manufacturer, ‘don’t worry about it.’ In the small to medium enterprise down that is just not the case. Customers have got to have a trusted partner. They have to have somebody that understands the technology and implements it.

Even in a security as a service model where you are turning the security of your company to a vendor you still have to as a small business maintain somebody that is a security expert. Customers don’t want to do that security themselves. That is where the partners come in. They can be that expert and understand what the service is and be that extra arm for the customer.

If you are a smaller end user, you need to have a relationship with someone that is known and trusted. Why? Because it is security. You have to trust the people that are messing around with your security.

The second part of this is the timeliness of the managed services provided by partners. You can’t just lob a call into ‘big security.com’ and hope they are going to call you back in three hours. If you are hacked, you are hacked. That’s where partners really come into play. Services play right into that.

With security as a service the vendor does the product and the code, but they are entrusting the channel to be the face to the customer, to be a salesperson. The partners basically become an extension of the vendor. And those partners need to understand the products and services so it is a one-stop shop. The manufacturer is doing the product and the code, but who is actually selling it and implementing it? It is the channel that is telling the customer the story behind the service, that is doing the selling and the implementation.

There is not a company on the planet that can say ‘I am going to go global and take the midsize and small enterprise down and do it direct and be able to talk to you, know you, have a relationship with you and be down the road from you.’

Security timeliness and trust are the two biggest things. And that’s what the channel provides. Partners are still going to sell routers, printers and other stuff. That is in their blood. But where the business is going is to services. And all of these services are making everyone that much better in security. It is good for everybody.

If security as a service is not deployed correctly or if the end user is not comfortable with the people that are deploying it, it doesn’t matter how good the security as a service is. The channel has those relationships in that piece of the market. Security services are making partners that much smarter and their relationships with customers are bringing the whole package together and making it work.

With security software has the channel ever been more critical?

It is now more important than ever to rely on partners. Look at the number of end-user customers that smaller MSPs deal with, maybe it’s 20 to 50 users. That takes time. To expect a manufacturer to put their products all up on a marketplace—any marketplace—and then expect the customer to go get it and go deploy it does not make sense.

That is not going to happen from an end-user perspective. There has to be a partner. It has to be tested. If they install it wrong or something is incorrect, they can try to call the manufacturer or service provider, but those vendors don’t have the manpower to do that in hundreds and hundreds of accounts.

A large company can probably do 100 to 200 companies globally really, really well. There are millions of companies that are small to medium enterprises down that need security and are just as important as those large companies. They don’t have the wherewithal or the expertise in security. They don’t understand about [cyber] insurance and what happens when there is a ransomware attack. Do they pay the ransom? Who negotiates for them? There is just so much that goes into security.

One of the things that [Sophos CEO] Kris [Hagerman] said long ago when everyone had servers in the backroom is that eventually security needs to be as a service. It needs to be a service.

Having security as a service takes the hardware and expense out of it. It works. But you need the channel. Customers can’t do this on their own. It is too complex. It changes too fast.

You have got to pay somebody to do security as a service. The channel doesn’t work for free. You just can’t say, ‘I’ll put it up on AWS and expect it to be deployed without any issues.’

What happens if the customer can’t make it work? They have to call the local partner. That is why it is important to have some sort of a program that supports the channel. You need the support of a trusted provider. That is how it becomes sticky and grows at a nice consistent pace.

Is there less channel IQ in terms of the vendor landscape than there was years ago?

I think the channel IQ of vendors is deteriorating, but in the same breath vendors learn quick and fast.

The idea that vendors can do it all by themselves especially in small- to medium-size enterprises down is just not viable. Track a company that says they want to do it all themselves and go back and look at what their go-to-market strategy looks like in 12 or 18 months. Money drives it. Companies learn.

The security as a service model is great. You are servicing the customer as the manufacturer. But who is the face to the customer? Who is the customer going to call at 2 a.m.? Some guy in a call center in Gary, Indiana?

At the end of the day, companies learn. And that education is quick. There are lots of smart people in the industry and they move fast. If you are in the channel, you must remember it ebbs and flows.

But at the same time, I always tell every partner: ‘Get as smart as you can as fast as you can about everything.’ You have got to.

You can’t just know the speeds and feeds of the latest monitor or router. You have got to know what is going on in the industry and the market and be able to speak intelligently and interpret it for the customer.

Partners have got to keep educating themselves and understanding and specializing. Security is a great example. You have got to specialize. You can’t be a generalist.

You need to understand the basics of security—not just how to plug in a firewall. You need to understand ransomware. Partners have got to continue to educate themselves.