VAST Data, founded by CEO Renen Hallak, emerged on the scene in 2016 to take advantage of the potential of storage technology to become a high-end, all-flash, storage supplier. Almost seven years later, the company has executed that vision and is enjoying formidable growth across Europe, particularly in the UK.
In the last year alone, VAST has secured £69.7m in sales through UK channel partners, achieved 2100% growth and completed 62 UK channel partner sign-ups - much of which is down to the combined leadership of Peter Gadd (pictured), International VP, and Phil Manez, Director of Channel Sales.
“This is a very exciting time for the channel to work with us,” Gadd said. “We work with current partners, like Vesper and Protec, who were very early to realise the value that we were bringing to the storage market.
“They took us to heart and went out very quickly. We had a great distributor Spinnaker, who introduced us to quite a few of these sorts of more niche partners."
“We've also worked well with Softcat, CDW, and many others as well. The revenue has been evenly spread between enterprise channels and niches. I don't think I could apportion a huge amount of revenue to any one partner, but the top five or six that we operate with helped us reach our targets. We hope to hit the hundreds of millions in less than two years.”
Manez joined VAST Data in 2020 as the Director of Channel Sale and since his arrival, he has built out VAST’s global channel go-to-market. With a history of overachievement, Gadd has a track record of delivering rapid growth through impactful leadership, business transformation, clear vision and repeatable operational excellence.
VAST Data’s channel strategy
Known for being the fastest-growing storage start-up of all time since its inception, Gadd said the channel underpins VAST’s ambitions and it will continue looking to develop a strong network of partners in Europe.
“Our channel strategy remains intact, and we continue to work together with our channel partners to attack that high-end market space, but in a different way,” Gadd said.
“Other companies are not getting the same access with competitive OEMs because they want to own those relationships, where we are trying to disrupt large standing relationships like the balance of trade and complicated ELA and other agreements.
“We work together with channel partners to do that, which I think is a very different model than I've seen at any other company.”
European Expansion
Gadd and Manez both emphasised the firm is keen to maintain and build on its growth in Europe by adding more channel heads in territories like France and Germany as it continues to look for more channel partners who recognise the opportunities in the changing storage market.
“The UK continues to grow at pace,” Gadd said. “That was obviously the first place where we added heads. France and Germany are the next two big territories.
"We have sales teams in both those regions, and we are adding more channel heads in those areas as well, which is helping bring more relationships and partners. France has started winning huge logos, while Germany is growing exponentially as well.
“I don't see VAST’s growth slowing down; we've grown so much since our founding. That just gives us more and more opportunities to partner.”
