WIN
Business is a battle, and we came here to WIN!
Carrie and Ian Richardson are partners and serial entrepreneurs who specialize in strategic growth and exit planning for SMBs.
Every week, we ask business owners and leaders two important questions:
"What's Important Now?"
"How are you winning?"
Created by entrepreneurs who love strategy, sales and strategic selling, we interview business owners and sales leaders at all stages of growth across multiple industries.
Learn from experts sharing their strategies and the tactics they use to identify and pursue opportunities.
Take away actionable ideas that you can use to help you scale and/or sell your business.
Learn more about Fox and Crow Group at https://foxcrowgroup.com
WIN
Why SASE is a WINNING part of the Modern MSP Security Stack
Carrie Richardson and Ian Richardson host the WIN Podcast - What's Important Now?
Serial entrepreneurs, life partners and business partners, they have successfully exited from multiple businesses (IT, call center, real estate, marketing) and they help other business owners create their own versions of success.
Ian is certified in Eagle Center For Leadership Making A Difference, Paterson StratOp, and LifePlan.
Carrie has helped create and execute successful outbound sales strategies for over 1200 technology-focused businesses including MSPs, manufacturers, distributors and SaaS firms.
Learn more at www.foxcrowgroup.com
Book time with Carrie here!
Be a guest on WIN! We host successful entrepreneurs who share advice with other entrepreneurs on how to build, grow or sell a business using examples from their own experience.
Hi, good afternoon everybody. My name is Carrie Richardson and I'm your host for the WIN podcast. With me today is Pinar Ormeci, who is the CEO of Timus Networks thanks for joining us today, Pinar, how are you doing?
Pinar Ormeci:Thank you, Carrie. I'm doing well. Thanks for having me.
Carrie Richardson (2):We are so close to Pax eight Beyond, and that's what we're here to talk about today. tell me a little bit about how your team is preparing for an event of this size.
Pinar Ormeci:We are goal sponsor, so you know, we get to do things a bit bigger. We have five, six people joining, our CTO is flying in. I will be there. Our COO will be there. We'll be there in full force because it is an important event for us. Like you said, it is huge. There are thousands of MSPs and we are a channel only company. So it's really important for us, to be with our existing partners, meet new ones, and so on. So the way we prepare is, for example, I. didn't go to Nation secure this week. I need some time to prepare for PAX eight. So that's one thing. dotting the i's crossing the T's, making sure all the booth collateral is there. What we are gonna wear. We had our meetings, for the pre-event, on how to. talk about our solution in the best, latest, and greatest way.
Carrie Richardson (2):Is everybody wearing matching outfits?
Pinar Ormeci:This time, we are wearing all bomber jackets too, like with Timus Networks, SASE behind, but it makes my life easier to be honest. you don't need to think like, Hey, what t-shirt, what jacket I'm gonna wear? You're just wearing the same t-shirt, which I actually like. But yeah, we'll be like all decked out in Timus.
Carrie Richardson (2):What have you seen, at previous conferences as far as, different outfits or wardrobes that you thought was really interesting and you thought, well, maybe we'll try that one day too.
Pinar Ormeci:Sometimes people go crazy, right? Rooster outfits and dinosaur outfits. Our theme is spaceman, talk about going to the moon with our partners. this year we'll have, the helmet. we are not gonna wear a full astronaut costume ourselves. we tried it. it wasn't comfortable. We have, visions of putting more space theme into our booth. We are giving away a PS five though, latest PlayStation. so we are part of the raffle with, our integration partner, Acronis and all the MSPs who are getting the stamp across the, raffle, have a chance to win a ps five, every day.
Carrie Richardson (2):I understand you're hosting, a social event the day before PAX eight. Tell us about that.
Pinar Ormeci:Yes. So with our dear friends at Cyber Fox, we will be taking, some of our partners or, any MSP who wants to join us to the baseball game. I'm not the biggest baseball fan. I'll be there for the drinks, I'm flying early on Saturday to be there.
Carrie Richardson (2):If you don't drink baseball is just a very long day. So I rarely end up going to sporting events, we arrive on the Saturday as well. I'm looking forward to the better weather. It's been very rainy here in Michigan.
Pinar Ormeci:I'm in Miami, so, talk for yourself.
Carrie Richardson (2):it'll be cooler in Denver for you.
Pinar Ormeci:Although, to be honest, Miami, in the winter is perfect. I moved here, last year from New York. and of course, the summer becomes pretty unbearable. Today is a beautiful day.
Carrie Richardson (2):Is this your gonna be your first summer in Miami?
Pinar Ormeci:It's gonna be my second summer last year I moved here in May. I literally moved here in the worst time. but I don't mind it, to be honest. I'm always at home working.
Carrie Richardson (2):When we moved our office to Las Vegas, somebody went to look at it, but I wasn't there. And they were like, oh, do you want covered parking? And I'm like, I'm not paying extra for that. then when I showed up, the windows were all, covered with film and I was like, take this off the windows. It looks terrible. It's so dark in there. And they're like, no, you can't do that. And then I realized during the summer in Las Vegas, they have to put, the pool noodles? on the doors so you don't burn your hand. I wished that I'd bought the covered parking at that point because I learned that lesson the hard way,
Pinar Ormeci:I think Vegas is worse because you know, at least like I'm right on the water, there's always this breeze in. In Vegas, you're just like cooking.
Carrie Richardson (2):I guess we could give the weather forecast all day, but we're really here to talk about, SASE So tell us about that.
Pinar Ormeci:I will explain what that means. We are the only dedicated SASE vendor completely. Built for the channel. we are a vendor that does not sell direct. We only win when our MSP partners, sell us. so we sell through, MSP partners. what SASE is, is a modern way of doing security. The old ways of doing security if I draw a picture of it, you have like firewalls in the office. People go to the office, they put their devices, the firewall check there, like, Hey, is this device okay to be in the network? Everything is device centric. If the people get out of the office, meaning take their laptops, take their mobile devices, they have to remember to connect to the VPN if they even have VPN. and VPNs are notoriously easy to steal the credentials off. if their credentials are stolen, basically the hacker can just use the credentials, get into the network, they can do all kinds of lateral movement. Access to financial data, sensitive customer data, credit cards, all of that. So that's the old way of doing things. So the new way of doing things is SASE. There are three pillars to what we do. One is, giving seamless security to the end users wherever they are. With phish free browsing. So not only you can be wherever you are, you can be in the office, at home, in a coffee shop, airport lounge by the pool, drinking pina coladas. If you are going to your business email, business email compromise is very dangerous. 54% of data breaches start with business email compromise. You really wanna make sure that traffic is encrypted'cause it's so easy for hackers to steal your credentials with men in the middle attack. the first pillar is protect everything a user does wherever they are. The second thing that we do is rich, insightful, actionable reporting to the MSPs. So they have a lot of real time visibility and data into the network. they can send automated hero reports, and have a great view of what's going on, We use AI to the extent possible. And then the third pillar is giving back control of the modern network. to the MSP. nowadays data is everywhere, right? Data is in on-prem, but data is also in the cloud. Data is behind the SaaS apps. Data is on your laptops. Data is everywhere. Users are everywhere. Laptops are everywhere. if I'm playing golf and I'm checking my. Business emails and somebody sends me a file, I open it in in my Gmail, workspace, I'm screwed, like if I don't have a VPN. So we give back the control of this type of network to the MSP. they have deep visibility into everything that's going on and securing anything anywhere. So that's really what SASE is, and we are one of the vendors in this space.
Carrie Richardson (2):So with over 145 sponsors for PAX eight this year, and I would say looking at the list, a full 60% or more are cybersecurity focused. How can Timus Networks stand out?
Pinar Ormeci:I'll be there. So there are a couple of things that we are doing. I have a 30 second pitch in front of the whole audience. So I get to tell our story where our booth is. A good friend of mine, Lisa Schurr, she's one of the keynote speakers. she's giving an excerpt, from her book and at the end of her talk, she's gonna say, Hey, if you want a copy of my book, go to the Timus Networkss booth. and then you'll be able to get a free copy of her book in the Timus booth. And as I mentioned before, we are giving away a playStation five every day together with some of our, partners like Acronis. But beyond that, Carrie, let me tell you one thing: I've been to a lot of conferences even this year, and it's so different than last year when it comes to the awareness for the need for SASE SASE is not a nice to have anymore. It's a must have. it's Part of the Modern security stack or the security first MSP. my hope is that MSPs actually come to our booth to learn about. Why we exist, why this is needed, what the use cases are, And how to make money with this. This is one of the low hanging fruits right now to drive their revenue. We have, MSP partners that are making a lot of money, selling SASE because it's a real need, especially in, sectors that are compliance heavy, like finance, healthcare, manufacturing, construction, legal, education. MSPs, you really wanna hear about us, how we differentiate ourselves. and if you're using SSL VPNs, all of them needs to change. In two years, everything will move to SASE. Like it says, ditch VPN with SASE
Carrie Richardson (2):I love the idea of the cross pollinating between a company that focuses on sales and marketing, and then a company that's focused on cybersecurity. As a sales focused organization, one thing that we know is that MSPs do struggle to talk about cybersecurity and they do struggle to explain the value of cybersecurity to their current partners. They struggle to explain it to prospects. So having somebody talk about marketing, sales, and branding and then tying it all in with the go visit the booth thing. I love that idea. That's probably the best idea I've heard of all the podcasts that I've. Done before PAX eight.
Pinar Ormeci:You need to find this fine balance between being annoying and assertively nice. So I'm an electrical engineer as a background, but I've been in sales for a very long time, so you need to be able to walk that line very well. What you said about MSPs, needing help from their vendors on how to talk about cybersecurity is a hundred percent, valid. because there's the shift. That really needs to happen in how MSPs see themselves. Change the context, change the world. I personally believe that content might be the same. You just need to change the perspective. These are dentists, lawyers, they don't have any clue about the dangers lurking. You have to show up there with confidence that you are the trusted advisor. You know security, This is not a nice to have. And security in this digital age is not a cost center for SMBs. It is a business enabler. hundreds of SMBs go bankrupt literally every day because their business emails are compromised. So I'm not saying go and scare people, but at the same time, your SMBs rely on you to stand up for them. Otherwise the hackers will win.
Carrie Richardson (2):So are you a fan of using cybersecurity as an upsell, or do you believe that managed service providers should be making it mandatory and bundling it into their offering without a choice for the prospect or client?
Pinar Ormeci:the second, it should not be up to the end users to secure their companies.'cause they will fail, right? Like even I will fail. we have day jobs, we have lives. So I cannot remember to do the right thing at all times. We know that small medium businesses have much less budget. They don't have the awareness, they don't have the training. So in a scenario like this where they have enough money and data, hackers love SMBs, they're easy targets. It's easy pickings because they don't have the same defenses. I really think every MSP today should be security first.
Carrie Richardson (2):So with multiple pillars to explain to a prospective MSP partner. How do you train your team to disseminate that message quickly to somebody whose attention you might have for one second walking past your booth?
Pinar Ormeci:Yeah, that's an interesting question. It's always a process, right? Because you have new BDRs, new AEs, and the buyer's journey, or the MSP journey when they come to Timus is usually they do a demo, then they go into this 30 day free, satisfaction guarantee period where they can really use the full powers of Timus. But before we get them to a demo, how do you really catch their eyes? and it starts with, what do you do for network security today?" they're like of course we have firewalls. what do you do, when users take their laptops" oh, we have firewall, VPNs, SSF, VPNs, then ask are you happy with it? I can guarantee you 99% will say no,'cause VPNs caused so many issues, so many tickets. they're a headache to manage. And there you can really pull in the conversation because it's all about the pain point, It's not about the benefits definitely not about the features, it's about the pain points and what you can solve for your partners.
Carrie Richardson (2):How far in advance does your team begin preparing for PAX eight? Are you sending out emails? Are you inviting people to dinner? when does the real planning begin?
Pinar Ormeci:yeah, so our marketing team, we do have the social media campaigns, that we are going to PAX eight. We have some type of, campaigns like nurture campaigns to our, database we will be there talking about the Grand Slam that we are doing with Cyber Fox and some other vendors. I would say like couple of months ago, we start preparing the checklist, right? Do we have our banner? Do we have the printing material? What are we giving? we, manage that project. T minus seven, T minus 14.
Carrie Richardson (2):I have a living room full of t-shirts right now.
Pinar Ormeci:Exactly. UPS lost all our banners from Vegas. We are currently trying to, get a, banner. For the backstage, and it was a huge banner, so expensive. Literally cost us$10,000. it's a whole mess. But real life is a bit different than in theory what needs to happen. we try to over prepare because these events are so expensive and PAX eight is no different. as a startup, we need an ROI, a reason to go back the next year. So it's, always important to prepare properly.
Carrie Richardson (2):And what do you consider a good ROI is this your first year sponsoring PAX eight? Have you been at all three of the events?
Pinar Ormeci:So this is actually our first time in pax8. For us, it's two things, is brand awareness. It's not like we've been here for 10 years. Ultimately for a channel only vendor like us, it's all about landing and expanding, It's lead generation, scheduling demos, scanning badges. And ultimately sign up some customers there as well. I love this part. We are very close with the Timus partners. We love them. I hope they love us back. So it's always fun to engage with our existing partners. We are, we are doing some dinners. so that's always a fun part because again, with the existing MSP partners, the goal is to work together to sell to more clients, And, that's a true partnership.
Carrie Richardson (2):The one question I love to ask people is. Do you attribute first point of contact or final point of contact when you're interacting with an MSP when they purchase? If you met them at one of the other events that you went to and then they attended PAX eight beyond and they bought at or after PAX eight. Beyond, are you attributing the win to PAX eight beyond, or are you attributing it to the first trade show that you met them at?
Pinar Ormeci:That's an interesting question. I think we attribute them to the first time they got into our database. All right, and what is your booth number for, PAX eight. Beyond. Where can people find you? Our banner is lighted, so the back banner is lighted. it's actually another thing that we do, it really pops and draws people to our booth.
Carrie Richardson (2):I'm a big fan of just like, bring a pull up banner and throw it in the garbage before you go home. I don't like setting up booths anymore. I just takes so long and then something breaks now you've got your very expensive booth and that one little piece of it that's caved in and you're looking for duct tape to fix it up.
Pinar Ormeci:That's what happened to us in Vegas, we have a very expensive booth, It is amazing. we had a couple of vendors that came and said how did you guys do this? Can we check it? this is amazing. And I'm Turkish American, I believe in evil eye, negative energy. if somebody likes something so much. UPS held that shipment back for fraud. And then it went into a black hole. Apparently, we put the wrong label for the size. So UPS lost the other banner. We had two back banners. In literally four week, this company lost both of our banners. and coming back to your point, if you have these suddenly expensive things and then the thing goes wrong, it's a trade off. To be honest, last year we've done the, shitty banners. and I can tell you the big nicer booth makes a difference. it's a security company. I think we need to be buttoned up. And our booth, this year conveys that.
Carrie Richardson (2):Well, you're gonna have to bring some selenite crystals or something to protect you from those evil eyes.
Pinar Ormeci:Turks we wear these, blue eye things. I'm wearing it now in multiple places. Is a bracelet, is a ring. I believe in it, you know, my mom believes in it. We are Turks, we don't apologize. It's superstition and look at it the guy really liked the booth and both banners are gone.
Carrie Richardson (2):You'll see them at the next trade show they'll have crossed out Timus network and written their own name on it. We had a booth go missing once and instead of having a booth, my sister Tracy took tape and made a chalk outline of a dead body. Just wrote, if your pipeline is dead, call us and put the number there. we didn't even bother working in the booth that year. We just went outside and smoked cigars.
Pinar Ormeci:Did you get
Carrie Richardson (2):any, leads? not really, but it was Comptia ChannelCon, and that show never has MSP attendance anyway. We wouldn't have done that for IT Nation, for example. we would've been scrambling. We would've been off to Kinko's printing, pull up banners or building something.
Pinar Ormeci:a hundred percent.
Carrie Richardson (2):Well I am looking forward to seeing you at, PAX eight on Saturday.
Pinar Ormeci:Thanks so much again. I had an amazing time. I'll see you in Pax8. it was great.
Carrie Richardson (2):Thanks for joining us and we'll see you soon.
