Marvin Blough
New StorageCraft Channel Chief Marvin Blough is hitting the ground running at the backup software company. During a ChannelE2E interview moments ago, Blough said his first priorities include expanding the sales force to better support partners worldwide -- while also enhancing the partner program within the next few months.
Blough, like new StorageCraft CEO Matt Medeiros, is a Dell SonicWall veteran. The two had worked together for more than a decade at SonicWall. Their mutual success -- and SonicWall's strong performance -- opened the door for Blough to pursue a potential next chapter at StorageCraft.
Wanna Talk?
TA Associates -- the private equity firm that recently invested $187 million in StorageCraft -- reached out to Blough a month or two ago about potential opportunities at the storage company.
"It was exciting to me because they have really good products," says Blough. "I kept hearing from people that StorageCraft's technology and products are good. And the partners kept speaking highly of them, too. Plus, StorageCraft has real revenue. They're profitable and they're all about the channel."
Indeed, StorageCraft’s backup, disaster recovery and data protection solutions are supported on-premises by 8,000 VARs, and available on a subscription basis from 3,100 managed services providers (MSPs). The company serves more than 10,000 MSPs either directly or indirectly through OEMs, the company said.
"The more I looked that the opportunity the more I realized: It's very similar to what I've done in the past. My channel DNA says this was a great fit for me."
Next Channel Moves
Blough says he'll work very closely with VP of Marketing and Business Development Curt James to accelerate StorageCraft's go-to-market strategy.
The moves will include:
New hires worldwide on the sales team. Those new hires, in turn, will focus on channel partner success. Blough didn't mention expected headcount numbers.
A new partner program that includes tiers that rewards partners based on technical expertise, capabilities and more.
A new deal registration system.
Those components, and more, should surface in the next few months, he said.
More StorageCraft Products
StorageCraft CEO Matt Medeiros is seeking to diversify the company's product line -- which Blough will ultimately promote through the channel.
"Matt is really taking a look at what our technology and engineering teams can offer partner," Blough says. "If you take a look at where we sit on the network the answer involves the data -- we're holders of the data. There's a log of different opportunities in terms of potentially cleansing the data, ensuring it contains no malware and plenty more. We've got a huge opportunity to expand the portfolio."
First up: Sales hires and partner program enhancements. And later this year? Perhaps the first hints of a diversified product base...
Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.
