Holiday Encore – John Jester: Reshaping Veeam’s Future with a Partner-First Approach

Yeah, know it's great to be here. I think we shared eight years together at Microsoft, so quite some time together.

Yeah, you bet. So you know we already mentioned this, but I spent almost 20 years at Microsoft in various roles, including the global accounts business, so the top 100 enterprise accounts around the world, the worldwide specialist sales team which was basically where Microsoft had the specialist focused on cloud, and then building out Microsoft's customer success business which owned global adoption of Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, and then consumption for Azure. So a long time at Microsoft, and then a little over three years at Google Cloud running worldwide professional services, customer success, support, learning, and the executive engagement program. But it was all about how do you work closely with partners to add value to customers, make them successful using Google Cloud, make them successful using Microsoft. So yeah, a long history working with partners, long history in the enterprise space.

Yeah, so I've been at Veeam as CRO for 9 months now, and you're right, we are a leader in the marketplace. We're very proud we're number two worldwide market share according to IDC, and probably even more importantly, we have 450,000 customers. And I talk to those customers, I talk to our partners, and we know that data is one of their most important assets. And we really aspire to help them manage that data, protect that data anywhere they have it. Could be on premises, could be in the cloud, could be through a cloud solution provider, but we want to provide that solution to help customers manage data wherever it is and protect that data. So that's our mission, that's what we're focused on.

Yeah, so I think the main thing that we want to do is help customers manage and protect their data wherever it is. That's the goal, that's our focus, and we're going to do that by working closely with our partners. I think one of the things that we're so proud of at Veeam is we are a 100% indirect business. Every deal we do goes through the partners, and it's core to how we think about our strategy, it's core to how we think about going to market. But even with that focus working closely with partners, I think the main thing that we need to anchor ourselves in is how do we make our customers successful. And I think that's how you create the best partner models: you don't just sit down and talk between the vendor and the partners about what we're going to do together. You actually start with the customer: what's the innovation we're bringing to the customer, what are the business problems we're trying to solve, and then reverse out what's the right partner model so that you can go to market together and make those customers successful. And I think that's so important. And you know, a couple things that we're starting to see at Veeam: our product portfolio is getting broader. We've added protection for Microsoft 365, we just launched a new product for Salesforce, and then we've really seen tremendous growth for a product we call Kasten, which is protecting Kubernetes. But all that means we're getting a more complex product portfolio, and that means we have to work with our partners in new ways. We've launched a competency program so that we can help make sure partners have the right competencies across that product portfolio. And the other thing that our partners came to us and said is, 'Hey, we're starting to specialize. How can you help us work together in the partner ecosystem?' So that's something we've really focused on lately: bringing our partners together so that we can create better solutions for our customers. So I'd say those are things that we're really trying to get done, but anchor ourselves: let's make the customer successful and how do we work with our partners to make that happen.

Yeah, absolutely. And hey, it makes me incredibly proud when I hear you say that about partners really wanting to work with Veeam, because it is part of our DNA, working with partners. And you know, we do our partner advisory councils every quarter, it's like gold to me, the feedback I get from partners. But yeah, working with Veeam: we have 35,000 partners that work with us, we're proud of that. But what we want to do is engage with each partner. And I mentioned that competency program, that's something that we've really been investing in. But work with us, help us understand where do you want to focus, where are your competencies, how can we help you develop those and go to market together. One of the things I'd call out is we have something called Veeam Cloud Solution Provider program, and this is something customers started asking for: 'Hey, we want more of a cloud solution provider type service that we can consume like cloud, but can be customized, can meet our needs.' And we now have over 10,000 VCSP partners who are hosting Veeam, who are working with customers, creating these unique solutions. And I just bring that up as one example of thinking about a customer need, reverse engineering what's the right partner model, coming up with the competencies, and then really taking that to market together. So that's a great example of what we do together. Of course, some of our customers want to work with the hyperscalers, so we're in the marketplace for Azure, for AWS, for GCP. And then our distribution partners, they've got their own marketplaces, and they came to us and said, 'Hey, how can you be part of that?' And I would just mention a couple: StreamOne from TD Synnex, ArrowSphere, Ingram Marketplace. So you know, we really try to listen to our customers and then work with our partners to build the solutions they want and then create it in a mechanism that they can purchase and consume it based on their choice.

Yeah, so we have a dedicated onboarding program where we go through the technical competencies. And a lot of those VCSPs actually customize our product and they add value-added services on it. And that's where we spend the time with them: we don't just want partner number 10,001 offering Veeam as is. As much as I love our partner ecosystem, what we want to do is understand what are the unique competencies they have, how could they extend our product, how could they add additional services on that to add more value for the partners. And that's the type of conversations we really lean in and spend time on. I think we're somewhat unique in that we put part of our partner organization actually in our engineering team, because I really find that's how we do the most innovative things: understanding what the partner is trying to achieve and then actually working with our engineering team, how do we engage, how do we create some of the APIs some of our partners need to really customize that solution and make it unique. But that's what I'd say on the VCSP front: come work with us, talk to us about your customer base, the competencies you have, and then let's create something unique in the market. And I'd even say the GSIs have approached us and talked about building out business continuity practices, building out data protection practices. How can we work together to make Veeam part of that? And it's the same thing: doing some engineering work, doing work to understand what customers need, and then create that unique and differentiated solution that makes the partner have a unique offer in the market and also frankly makes Veeam more relevant to our customers in that space. So these are areas that I get excited about: how do we really think about the customer, reverse engineer the solution, and then do the engineering work or do the commercial work to bring it together.

Hey, I think there's three things that jump out to me when I think about the best partnerships. The first is what we've already hit on: start with the customer, reverse engineer the solution you need to bring to market. So start there with the customer. Second thing is partner models have to have success and profitability for the partner and for the vendor. Getting that right, I know it sounds simplistic, but the long-term partnerships I have are ones where we sit down together, we do our quarterly business reviews, those metrics, those KPIs mean that the vendor is being successful, the partner is being successful, and ultimately the customer is being successful. And that's just one thing I've got to brag on about Veeam: our net promoter score, NPS, is 82. And hey, that's about having a product that customers love, it also is about having partners that implement that product and make it work. And we would not have achieved that NPS of 82 without our great partner ecosystem, without great product. So it's bringing it all together that I think is so important. So three things: start with the customer, reverse engineer that solution, and then the second thing that is so important is building the right model from the start that ensures mutual success, and then great communication in QBRs and reviews.

Yeah, and I think that's so important. That's if you build that type of model, you're going to create long-term success, and that's what we're oriented on.

Hey, I'd say the first thing that I always run into when something goes wrong in a partnership is poor communication. Sounds so simple, but how many times is someone maybe unhappy with the dynamics of the partnership, or you've got a big customer implementation that's going wrong, and instead of communicating, saying 'I need help' or saying 'Hey, this is just not working for me, it's putting pressure on me from an economical standpoint, that's not sustainable.' Like, be transparent, have the conversation. And I've always found that when you have an open dialogue, you can course correct, you can fix partnerships, you can fix a challenging customer implementation, etc. Where it goes wrong, you don't have the open communication, things build up, and inevitably there's some type of blow up, and that can be unrecoverable. And so that's my number one thing: open communication. You know, we're only successful if we make our end customer successful, and that comes by working and adapting and thinking that we're going to have everything right from day one and we're going to have the perfect model and the perfect deal. It's just not realistic. We're going to have to adapt, we're going to have to change, and if we communicate and we talk to each other, we can make that happen.

You know, you're spot on. I spent three and a half years in the UK while I was working with Microsoft, and there was a term I picked up on there: they called it 'tea and biscuits,' which means you sit down, you have a meeting with a partner, maybe you have tea, you have biscuits, you're very nice, you don't talk about anything difficult. And it's so important to stay away from that type of relationship, because it may feel good in the meeting, you may walk out and everyone's like, 'Oh, we didn't rock the boat,' but you're not actually creating a great partnership, you're not building better solutions, you're not taking care of customers. So I always say, avoid the tea and biscuits meeting. I do enjoy the tea and biscuits, don't get me wrong, but talk about the tough issues, go after that elephant in the room. That's how you're going to have a better partnership.

Yeah, so I'd say this is not anything that's rocket science, but I'd say early in my career, someone pulled me aside and gave me really good advice, which is: it's not what you accomplish, it's how you accomplish it. And I know that sounds simplistic, but I think a good test for all of us to have, especially early in career when you're leading teams, is: you're going to work on a tough project together, and that project, let's say it's a successful project, that's not actually what's going to determine the long-term sustainability of your ability to get things done. It's going to be the people on that team: would they volunteer to work for you again, to work with you again? So how you get things done, how you treat people, how you make them successful, is actually much more important to the long-term sustainability of delivering results than, 'Hey, you go in, you're aggressive, you get a project done, the project is a success.' Early in our career, we think, 'Hey, we did it, high five, job well done.' It's actually, 'Really? You did it, and do people want to continue to work with you?' That's what will drive long-term sustainable results.

Yeah, I think the big thing, and I sound like a broken record, is start with the customer, reverse engineer what you need to get done, enable your teams, put the KPIs in place, open communication, doing all those things I think is what sets us up for success.

Yeah, it's a fascinating question. So who I would invite: I would invite Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton. And why would I do that? Because I think all of them obviously were innovative and were thought leaders in their respective time frames. They were all also thought of as probably slightly crazy by the mainstream for coming up with these creative and innovative ideas. But I think the level of personal conviction, the ability to think through incredibly difficult challenges... you think about Albert Einstein, theories he came up with are still being upheld as we do additional research, etc. So I just think it'd be fascinating to just try to get a sense over this dinner conversation into their thought process, how they went about things, thinking through completely new undiscovered areas, and then coming up with inventions on the back of it. So those are my three. I'm a bit of a geek, so you can see who comes to dinner.

Uh, I think I could see this happening probably in Napa Valley down in California. I think if we had the right wine set up, little sunset action, we could get the most creativity out of this conversation, really get people to open up and chat.

Hey Vince, you know it's early February, I think most of us have just wrapped up our sales kickoff. What I say is: take that energy, take that excitement, go meet with your partners, go meet with your customers, craft the solutions that our customers need. It's a better environment right now from a business perspective, that's the signals I'm getting from customers, from partners, etc. Take that energy and excitement and use it to get off to a fantastic Q1.

Thanks for having me, Vince. Really enjoyed it.