CRN Exclusive: OpsRamp, An IT Operations Management Startup, Brings On Chief Revenue Officer With Channel-Building Knowhow

OpsRamp, a startup challenging some big names in the IT operations management space, has a new chief revenue officer who's ready to expand the company's go-to-market strategy by opening it up to a broader channel.

Mike Munoz comes to OpsRamp after more than 25 years leading sales teams at successful startups and name-brand technology vendors, where he's worked closely with partners to scale those businesses.

OpsRamp presents a unique opportunity for growth, Munoz told CRN, given the technology's impressive adoption, even as its market has been limited almost exclusively to MSPs.

[Related: OpsRamp Intros Lightweight IT Operations Platform For The Modern MSP]

"While they are a startup, a young company without a whole lot of people on board and just figuring out their go-to-market motion, turns out they have a substantial number of customers with recognizable names," Munoz said on OnRamp in an interview with CRN.

That market reach—the platform is used by more than 1,400 organizations, including Coca-Cola and McDonald's—came as an outgrowth of the product's origin inside a global IT services provider.

The founding team of the San Jose, Calif.-based startup came from NetEnrich in 2014, led by current CEO Varma Kunaparaju, previously NetEnrich's CTO.

OpsRamp's platform was born out of a tool NetEnrich built to simplify management of its customers. That ultimately evolved into the commercial product aimed at enterprises that have deployed hybrid cloud environments.

"The platform was really designed out of that service provider market, and that was the first place OpsRamp went. And it didn't require a massive market organization or motion to get those people excited," Munoz said.

The close relationships OpsRamp fostered with MSPs that were facing challenges similar to NetEnrich's allowed bootstrapping development. Near the end of 2017, OpsRamp accepted funding from Sapphire Ventures.

The platform helps IT teams discover assets across hybrid environments, then manages, monitors and automates service delivery.

Munoz said one of his duties as the new chief revenue officer will be to scale the market beyond its current limited base.

"We'll build a healthy channel there of systems integrators and resellers," he said. "That's a business they didn't quite understand, and I understand it very well."

As a Software-as-a-Service offering, OpsRamp can help those solution providers build a recurring revenue stream, he said.

And the SIs and resellers bring to the startup "longstanding direct relationships with massive organizations that have their trust," he said.

At the same time, the MSPs OpsRamp already works with often have diverse practices with opportunities to upsell and cross-sell without disrupting their current revenue streams, he said.

Munoz, who started in the job Monday, has already been talking to several potential partners beyond the current mold.

Having worked for years with the channel, Munoz brings to OpsRamp relationships with those types of companies.

"The people I will be hiring to represent our technology also will have longstanding relationships in these markets with these people," Munoz told CRN.

Munoz has spent 25 years in Silicon Valley, mostly working with young companies. His last position was as chief revenue officer of Cherwell Software.

Munoz started his career in networking, first with Ungermann-Bass and then FVC, a video networking startup that went public before being acquired by Polycom. He later held positions at NetApp and then Data Domain, moving from a sales director to vice president, a position he held through its IPO and subsequent acquisition by EMC.

Munoz also spent nearly five years as a vice president of worldwide sales at Nimble Storage, where he helped shepherd the company to an IPO. Before coming to Cherwell, he was chief revenue officer at Pernix Data, then senior vice president of worldwide sales at SkyHigh Networks.

Munoz told CRN he wants to be cautious in the coming expansion phase and plans on leveraging the channel to build relationships so OpsRamp can "look a lot larger than we are."

"Certainly now is the time to accelerate. The market is ripe," he said.

OpsRamp is taking on some industry giants—the 'Big 4' in the space are BMC, HP Micro Focus, CA and IBM. But he's confident the company can stand out among those competitors, who he said still have a legacy mindset.

"We just need the selling motion with SIs and resellers," Munoz said.