Rob Rae On Leaving Kaseya-Datto And Pax8’s Bright Future

‘It’s just so natural and easy with Pax that it just makes life and the job so much easier,’ says Rob Rae, Pax8’s corporate vice president of communities and ecosystems. ‘I don‘t have to worry about a direct sales organization or to worry about any other type of divisions that would conflict with what my sole agenda is, which is growth of MSP.’

After much speculation regarding his next move, Rob Rae, the former senior vice president of business development for Datto, has landed at Denver-based cloud distributor Pax8.

In his new role as corporate vice president of communities and ecosystems, Rae will continue to improve and grow MSP relationships, provide guidance and consultation to implement new programs and partner with Pax8’s channel team on industry events and community operations. He will also be hosting Pax8’s inaugural Beyond 2023 conference in June.

Despite the shiny new title, a new position for the company, and a new employer, Rae’s goal remains the same: to help MSPs grow their business.

“The ultimate goal that any of us are doing, and Pax included, is growth, not just of the actual vendors but the MSPs themselves,” Rae told CRN. “It’s making sure that we’re all marching in the right direction, making sure that we’re all selling the most relevant technology and that we‘re all ultimately, at the end of the day, growing our businesses.”

Rae comes to Pax8 after nearly 10 years at Datto, which he left in October just months after Miami-based Kaseya bought the company for $6.2 billion, even after Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola said Rae would be staying on after the acquisition.

“It was time to just go and do something new,” he said. “I’m kind of at that point in my career where I’m either going to have to stick it out with them for the rest of it or I’m still young enough, and this channel is still growing fast enough, that there‘s opportunities to go and do more things, try new things and do different things.”

CRN spoke with Rae about his new position, his thoughts on leaving Datto and his continued committment to the MSP community.

What attracted you to Pax8?

There‘s several different things when I was going through this, like what is going to be my next venture, there’s very specific things that I was looking for. I was looking for, and I think this is where Pax really hit those buttons, a deep-rooted understanding of the MSP channel, a deep -rooted caring of that MSP channel and, on top of it, the channel needed to love that organization as well. That was kind of important for me that an organization fit all those things. Pax8 is growing significantly quickly. The leadership over at Pax8 is significant. I‘ve known Nick [Heddy, chief commerce officer] and Ryan Walsh [COO] for more than a decade. Just watching these guys work, watching them interact with each other, talking to other Pax8 employees, seeing them out on the road…everybody’s just so overwhelmingly happy with this company. Why would you not want to be a part of it?

How did it feel to leave Datto?

It was hard for a couple of different reasons, I did nine-and-a-half years there. It was time to just go and do something new. I‘m kind of at that point in my career where I’m either going to have to stick it out with them for the rest of it or I’m still young enough, and this channel is still growing fast enough, that there‘s opportunities to go and do more things, try new things and do different things. For me, that was part of the reason, there’s no doubt about that. It was hard, it was really hard because you live and breath something for 10 years and then you just stand up and don’t do it. It’s almost like a death.

Fortunately I developed really strong relationships with partners and I was able to maintain a lot of those relationships and connections with the MSP channel over the last couple of months while I‘ve been looking for what the next journey is. This whole community is like a tight family and it’s just really hard. On top of that, nobody‘s emailing you, which is weird. There’s no meetings in the calendar, which is also weird. The first couple of weeks I was really antsy and really uncomfortable but then I started finding my stride and going to Home Depot and perusing the shelves there.

Will you tell me your thoughts on Kaseya buying Datto?

No.

Pax8’s Nick Heddy

So tell me about your new role at Pax8 and how it will help partners.

It’s interesting because in talking to Nick about it, and kind of exploring what it is that I could do to actually contribute to this organization…when you think about the vendors that are born into MSPs, if we look at it from that perspective, Pax is arguably one of the biggest leaders in that space. So for me, when I first started thinking about a new career opportunity, you start thinking startup, you started thinking about a newer technology that‘s coming in, and then just in conversations with Nick and what Pax wants and needs in this particular role, which is community and ecosystems, it’s just kind of gluing a bunch of different things together. And not only that, I think the other exciting part about it is just the global reach and the rapid expansion globally is super interesting to me. I was doing that and venturing into new spaces for Datto back in the day. It’s the same thing when I joined Datto, we created the term business development. It‘s not really a typical name like marketing or sales or something along those lines. This is going to be working with a lot of the great people that are already at Pax, a lot of the great teams there, and just leveraging my experience to bring some of this together, leveraging some of my connections to be able to bring all this together as well and then also being able to stay really active in the community and out there, which is something that I enjoyed quite a lot of.

What are you most excited about when it comes to being a part of Pax8?

If I had to pick one I think it’s continuing to foster the relationship they have with their MSP channel. Going through this interview process and meeting with a number of different organizations through this process, their view and passion for the growth of the MSP is second to none. I think that was probably the thing for me. I found a career and a niche in the MSP space and I continue to be the one that fights for it, continues to be a big endorser of it internally and externally within our space and outside our space. It’s just so natural and easy with Pax that it just makes life and the job so much easier. I don’t have to worry about a direct sales organization or worry about any other type of divisions that would conflict with what my sole agenda is, which is growth of MSP.

Datto had a huge emphasis on culture. From what you know so far, how would you describe Pax8’s culture?

I mean, all cultures are different but it‘s similar from the perspective that it is a culture that wants to win, but it’s also a culture that is very nurturing of its employees. I‘ve watched this firsthand and i’ve been listening to how they approach things like HR and things like individual contributors within the organization. I haven‘t seen anything like it in a long time.

I feel like you going to Pax8 was the worst-kept secret.

It‘s funny because…it’s like this worst-kept secret and I think that’s probably going to be the reaction of everybody, like everybody knew this was going to happen. But there were rumors, even Nick and I connected about it and said, ‘Are you hearing these rumors because I’m hearing these rumors.’ Apparently people are making up where we‘re all going to work next.

It was a natural fit and I think everybody saw it. You see an organization like Pax, great culture, great organization and channel only. You see somebody like me that‘s passionate about all those things and I think it was just a normal, natural fit for everybody. And then everybody just assumed that that’s what was happening. So I think that’s probably where it was all stemming from, whether that fueled it or hindered it I don‘t know. But ultimately at the end of the day it worked out.

You’re going from a vendor to a distributor. How does that change impact you? Is it weird?

Yeah, I don‘t think so. I mean obviously I’ve got a lot of history with working with Pax8 and other distributors throughout the course of my career. I just look at it as we‘re all part of the same community and I think there’s strengths that can be brought there. If anything, it probably makes life a little bit easier because it allows me to work not only with multiple MSPs and those particular individuals but all those vendors. I think the whole idea of ecosystem just expands even further than what it was in previous roles.

What do you want to do for Pax8 and its partners?

The ultimate goal that any of us are doing, and Pax included, is growth, not just of the actual vendors but the MSPs themselves. We‘ve all been kind of watching it day-by-day but when you take a look back at where the MSP channel was five years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago…when you see how much growth has happened within the MSP channel and those vendors and now that it’s a formidable part of the actual channel, I think it’s just continuing that growth. That has to come from all different angles, from Pax8’s perspective, the vendor’s perspective, the MSP’s perspective, making sure that we‘re all marching in the right direction, making sure that we’re all selling the most relevant technology and then we‘re all ultimately, at the end of the day, growing our businesses.

Let’s talk about the Beyond conference, which you’re hosting. What can we expect from that?

I‘m actually excited about this for a couple different reasons. The events that I actually enjoyed were the distribution-type shows. So coming into it, for me personally, they’ve got that particular angle where the partnership isn‘t just trying to drive MSPs and sell more of that one product that we have. It is literally creating that ecosystem. I will tell you right now, and Pax8’s competitors may not be happy about this, but I don’t think there has been a good show like that in a while. I think it‘s time. The focus is exclusively on MSPs, as opposed to just a reseller channel, and it is new and relevant and it’s continuing to focus on growth of those MSPs rather than just selling more stuff or training them how to use a system better. I think there’s lots of opportunity there to expand what you can do in this medium to be able to really engage, work with and build that relationship stronger with partners.

What are some projects you want to tackle first in your role?

I think Beyond is probably the first one. We’ve been talking about objectives, there’s a number of them as far as which ones to prioritize. I think for me, as much as I‘ve been at this, I still have a lot of learning to do. I have to sit back, watch and learn for a little bit, get to know individuals, then just really start isolating the areas where I can really add some value very quickly. But beyond that, Beyond is probably one of the marquee strategic initiatives that we have and something I think I can add a lot of value to right out of the gate.

What are some of the challenges you foresee happening and how do you plan on tackling them?

I think it‘s just going to take a little bit of time to learn a lot of it and the way in which business is done. When you look at the organizations that I’ve worked for it’s, ‘Here‘s a product. Here’s how you link it up to the MSPs.’ With this one there‘s certain dynamics. It’s the dynamic with the vendor community, the dynamic with the channel community and the dynamic with Microsoft as an organization. I‘m jumping on a train that’s already moving a million miles per hour, and it will take me a while to catch up to their speed and be able to jump on that actual train. I think it‘s just trying to learn as much as I can, as quickly as I can, without slowing them down. I think that’s probably going to be the biggest challenge.

There’s been a lot in the past six-to-nine months with your past company, with you leaving and with you now at Pax8. With all of that, what is the message you want to give to partners?

It‘s the same [thing I said to] anybody that’s reached out to me over the course of it. You‘re not getting rid of me that easily. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to continue to deal with me, and in my mind, my agenda is still the same. It‘s going to be growth. It’s going to be growth for everybody. I‘m here to help in any which way that I possibly can and I think that’s what I‘ve been able to build success on. I think that’s what Pax8 has been able to build on. I‘m just hoping I can add enough value to them that we can continue to this rapid growth plan that we’ve all been on.