Partnerships Unraveled

Todd Hass & Williams Pineda - What Bitdefender Learned from Building with Pax8

• Partnerships Unraveled

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Inside the Pax8-Bitdefender Partnership and What It Takes to Scale with MSPs

In this special live episode from the Pax8 Beyond event, we’re joined by Todd Haas and Williams Pineda from Bitdefender to unpack what it really takes to build standout partnerships, drive scalable MSP enablement, and launch innovative go-to-market strategies.

From managing one of Pax8’s most successful vendor relationships to introducing Phaser, Bitdefender’s new cybersecurity innovation, Todd and Williams share practical lessons on trust, alignment, and execution.

Key topics we covered:
- How to tailor enablement to MSPs at different levels of maturity and security expertise
- Why relationship-building across sales, technical, and executive levels is critical to long-term success
- What makes Pax8’s culture and model so uniquely effective for channel growth
- How Bitdefender launched Phaser and generated pre-release MSP excitement through strategic GTM

Whether you’re a channel leader, vendor strategist, or partner success pro, this episode is packed with insight on what modern, high-performing channel execution really looks like.

Connect with Todd: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thass/
Connect with Williams: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williams-pineda-12562430/

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Learn more about Channext 👇

https://channext.com/

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Speaker 2:

Welcome back to Partnerships Unraveled, the podcast where we unravel the mystery about partnerships, and channel on a weekly basis. My name is Alex Whitford, I'm the VP of Revenue here at Channext and this week I'm very excited to welcome our special guests. Todd, how you doing.

Speaker 1:

Doing great.

Speaker 2:

Williams, how you doing.

Speaker 1:

Very good.

Speaker 2:

Thank you. Maybe for the uninitiated Todd, you can give us a bit of an introduction about who you are and what you do.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, todd Haas, I've been at Bitdefender for almost six years now. I'm a senior global cloud account executive on the cloud team, managing partnerships and MSPs alike. Sounds fun, and Williams.

Speaker 3:

Been at Bitdefender for eight and a half years. I've done many roles, but now I'm doing a product specialist with msp um space enablement, trainings, demos, practices awesome.

Speaker 2:

Well, we're actually at uh, pax8 beyond, and the energy is amazing. There's three and a half thousand msps here, which is absolutely insane. Um, maybe, todd, you can talk to me about how that experience is running a global partnership like Pax8.

Speaker 1:

And it's amazing actually. So managing a company like a Pax8 is really great and has a lot of benefits Working with someone like them. The way that they think outside the box is very exciting, because a lot of times you're very kind of stuck in a specific way of doing things, but they like to do things completely different and for us that makes it really challenging but also really satisfying.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, I'm, I had a Haley on the on the podcast yesterday she runs this vendor strategy, um, and we were sort of laughing because Pax8 is like all about automation and like digital no touch, while also being like the best community builders in the world. So is this very like out of the world, out of the box thinking, which clearly is working, because Beyond seems to double in size every year?

Speaker 1:

Some of the people they've brought on over the past couple years to help with the community involvement and everything like that is a big reason why they're so successful, especially at events like this.

Speaker 2:

And so one of the complexities about managing a PAX 8 but also managing other aggregators, marketplaces, distributors I want to make sure I'm using the right terminology, especially in this event is they require different approaches, right? And how do you go about making sure that you build the partnership in the way that's most conducive to that particular partner?

Speaker 1:

You know, that's a really good question, because lots of partnerships that we have are more I'd say more old school.

Speaker 2:

Yeah traditional, yeah, more traditional.

Speaker 1:

There we go, exactly, and one thing you find with the traditional relationships is that they have a specific way of doing things, that they've done it for 10, 20 years. Pax 8, they're so new school, they're more refreshed in today's market. If I showed up to a PAX 8 event in a suit and a tie, it'd be fine, but you're much more going to be accepted if you're wearing just more casual clothes. You're more yourself. I think that when it comes to managing someone like a PAX 8 versus our other partnerships, it's really the same, but it's just the types of people that work at PAX 8 are a lot different. That's what I've seen. I mean, and I've worked in traditional distribution, if you want to call it that, and everything like that, for the past almost 11 years now, and that's what I've seen is the main difference. It's just the people, the lifestyle, I think is what it is, but yeah, and Williams maybe coming to you.

Speaker 2:

You obviously are helping enable MSPs, but I imagine the MSPs that PAX 8 work with aren't necessarily the same types of people, profiles, cultures. How does that change? How you make sure you're enabling and driving the right value towards those MSPs?

Speaker 3:

For me, I think the most important is enablement training, but also high-sharing environments where you can see sometimes a lot of changes, consistency and scalability. Be able to tailor enablement based on gaps they have, either by how they are in their security fundamentals or either how their knowledge is about being a defender product in general. So understanding how they are where they are at that time. That makes me tailor enablement sessions, trainings for them specifically to cover those gaps. Edr, xdr, different technologies that are available.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. Now it's quite rare to speak to two people who are six and eight and a half years within the same company In this space. That is rare. But that must mean, Todd, maybe coming to you, that you've seen huge changes, right? We just talked about beyond doubling in size year over year over year.

Speaker 1:

Talk to me about what, the major shifts you've seen at pax 8 and the relationship and what's really driven that success you know, I think, uh, I've known pax 8 since they were 38 employees and a lot of people can't say that because they're almost, I don't know, 2500 or something like that they're now and what I've noticed is they have managed to keep the same demeanor they had when they were 38 as to where they are now, which I think is really, really cool, because they've continued to strive to be that new next-gen cloud marketplace and that was their entire focus.

Speaker 1:

And one of the things that I really like is everybody that is at Pax8, from the executive level all the way down to the salespeople, whoever it may be they all have the same type of focus and the same determination for that overall goal and it hasn't changed. And I think that's really cool because a lot of companies will go through adversity, which I'm sure Paxate has right but the way that they have managed to keep everything on the same track, chasing the goal, is really really cool to me.

Speaker 2:

And one of the things is funny working with MSPs right, there is the strategic element and then there's the relationship element, and both are very important. I would actually think in this particular market, the relationship is actually the most important. Williams coming to you, why does managing that relationship matter so much when we're talking about enablement and you're trying to actually correct or improve someone's business, that you really have to rely on that relationship?

Speaker 3:

so building a relationship, create that bond, you know, between the sales team or the engineering team that's going to position the product. So it is very important for me to build that relationship because I have to become trust, advisor, any question, be defender, related for for anything they need to trust that I'm going to give them the right answer or I'm going to point them in the right direction. So building that, you know, friendship per se, I think is very important because that generates that trust, you know, between me delivering the message or are they coming for me for questions like I have. You know I have a specific scenario or case with a, with a customer, and they, you know I want to be the first person they think of. Like you know, if I have a hard question I don't know how to answer, I can go ask, go ask Williams, you know how can I approach this or answer this question.

Speaker 2:

Awesome and one of the really great things about channel is, if it's working well, it's very light touch right, just the thing starts to drive. But when you have to course correct or introduce new products, introduce new strategy, it's a lot of work to sort of get the plane off the ground. Let's talk Phaser. You're introducing what I think is an extremely innovative go-to-market. How do you think about that in terms of the opportunity, but also into the execution, into the partners?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Willie, why don't you take that one?

Speaker 3:

So Phaser, like you mentioned, is a new technology, a new innovation, and Bitdefender is well known for being a innovative company, so we're focusing on living on the land type of attacks. You know, basically tools are generally operating system tools, like PowerShell, for example, that 96% of IT admins use that technology or use those protocols to run their day-to-day activities. What Phaser does is it reduces the attack surface by basically disabling those type of tools from users that don't really need to access a tool. They never access those tools so automatically, the solution can help IT administrators be sure that those type of attacks capabilities are going to be blocked for specific users, so enabling them being in front of them ahead of time, letting them know, like this is what we see in the market. You know like there is a huge spike of attacks. Because of this reason, it's important for us to give them that enablement, train them ahead of time, so when those conversations start happening, they already have the knowledge and they know that B Defender can help them fix that problem.

Speaker 2:

And so now you've got a great product and you're building that value within the MSPs. However, that's only part of your sort of execution motion. There's also how you build the program, the incentives, the partner relationships, the energy and the excitement within the base. Todd, maybe coming to you, how do you ensure that MSPs want to understand the opportunity but to attack it?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I mean Phaser is a really good example of how Bitdefender has been really improving our go-to-market with products. We've had a lot of really positive feedback on Phaser. We've done a lot of marketing. It's really neat to see, because I see Bitdefender as a company really putting a lot of effort into this product launch and the launches we have coming down the road. But we're doing a really good job pointing that marketing towards the MSP, towards the person who's going to be consuming that product, and so building the awareness of what it is, why you need it. Here's how it's going to help you. Here's how it's going to help you save money, resources, protection before the product's even available, and then the partner's just kind of waiting out the door waiting for it to be available to consume it. So we've done a really good job with that. We have a lot of great marketing materials out there.

Speaker 2:

Um, but yeah, so a lot of our audience, they'll have got a good program, they'll have a good product, but they won't have the level of sort of relationship and buy-in that you guys have managed to build with Pax8. Talk to me about if someone wanted to build that relationship and build that strategy and really drive that execution within Pax8, what would the advice be?

Speaker 1:

Where would you get them to start start? So it's a different answer than it was, you know, 10 years ago, I think. With pax 8, being the size they are and the amount of vendors that they have now on their line card, I could see where it could be maybe particularly tough for a newer vendor to come on board. However, build the relationships, like willie was talking about, those relationships in the industry, specifically with pa, pax 8, as we're talking, are so important Because if you don't have the relationships, you really don't have your key in the door right and I think you can have the best product on the market.

Speaker 1:

But if someone at PAX 8, in this case isn't aware of who you are, it's going to be hard. So I think building the relationships, coming to these events, even if you're not a marketplace partner or something, and building those relationships with the higher ups or sales teams, whatever is really going to help you guys get into the door and then following through with your commitments. I think if you tell them one thing and you provide you know X, y, z to your products or solutions and you don't fall short on that, it's going to hurt you. So I think following through with your commitments, meeting your timelines, helping them do everything they can you know better is going to help you in the long run.

Speaker 2:

And so you touched on something there that I think is really interesting, because you said people at all levels I think lots of channel people. You know they either build a great relationship with the engineering team, or they build a great relationship with the sales team, or maybe a relationship with marketing, but it's rare to find someone who does all of it and also up to senior leadership and the executive team. Talk to me about why that's so important to make sure you've got that wide and deep alignment.

Speaker 1:

I think a lot of people including myself in the beginning of my career we really silo ourselves into what's comfortable, right and a lot of this tech, security and everything you can find your niche and do really well at it Like. For me, it's talking with people, for Willie it's the more technical side, but if we can stretch our abilities and learn more about the technical side for me, talking to executives who are above my you know my title personally, but I think a lot of that has to do with building the overall relationship. You can build a relationship with the people who are your peers at that company or you can build a relationship with the company, and I think that's the biggest takeaway is making sure that you're reaching as many people as you can. And you want to be known, as you know. Oh, it's Todd from Bitdefender, right, you don't want to just be known to a couple people.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I think maybe Willie coming to you, you obviously have to do some of that into PAX 8, but you also have to do it into the MSPs. Talk to me about why building that cross-functional alignment is so important to continued success or problem solving.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, definitely goes back to the relationship. I think that's very important. I know we said the same thing over and over in relationships, but I think that's really the key, the key that is going to open that door, to get there and be that trusted advisor. Different partners have different ways of doing stuff. We always try to adjust to them, see what fits their environment better, and that's what I think makes us very successful at what we do. It's like going back to Todd it's not just knowing people themselves, but I know people themselves. I know people in the technical world. I know people in higher level titles, like Todd mentioned. So it's like being known. Maybe I don't know the question for something themselves, but I can help them get that question answered. So that's for me.

Speaker 2:

That's a perfect example. You mentioned making sure you follow up on everything you say. Right, it's really easy to make big commitments and get a lot of excitement and then I've seen lots of people burn their channel career because suddenly they made all these commitments and weren't able to deliver on them. Why? Relationship is sort of half of it. The other half is trust. What is building that trust been like at pax8, where you've consistently delivered, and what does that bring you as a result?

Speaker 1:

you know, that's a one thing that I think pax8 did really well for me at the beginning was just accepting me with open arms, even though I was new. I was as new as you could get in the tech space. I came from a banking career, so completely opposite. And they never judged me or perceived me to be something else and it was always just hey, welcome to the team, you know, here's how we do things, and it was just an introduction along the line of who's who, who's who. That was really beneficial for me because I didn't have to really try to go outside of the box or anything, but I completely felt trusted right at the beginning and so what I did is, once you receive that trust, you don't want to lose it, right. So you keep building it, building it, building it and you season it to where, like Willie was mentioning, if they need something, we want them to think of Bitdefender first. We want to be top of mind.

Speaker 2:

Awesome, well, we put a lot of trust in our guests as well, because we always ask our current guests to recommend our next guest. Who did you have in mind?

Speaker 1:

So there's a gentleman that we worked with for about six years or five years at Bitdefender, and I worked with him for about four years prior. His name is Michael Reeves and he is the. I think his new title is like the senior director of sales globally for 1Password.

Speaker 2:

It's a great job title Awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your wisdom. It's been awesome.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, thank you Appreciate it. Thanks for having us.