NinjaOne-the latest unicorn of the MSP software industry, ChannelE2E believes-has tapped ConnectWise and Liongard veteran Adam Slutskin as the channel’s chief advisor. The official announcement about Slutskin came today, though chatter about the move has been circulating for weeks.
In fact, NinjaOne CEO Sal Sferlazza came out to Slutskin in April for business meetings in Tampa, Florida. Their collaboration comes at an important time for NinjaOne, MSP partners and the broader channel ecosystem that ranges from small businesses to mid-market and enterprise clients.
Before NinjaOne: Sal and Adam’s Career Journeys
Adam Slutskin, channel chief advisor, NinjaOne
Sal Sferlazza, CEO, NinjaOne
The backdrop: The overall MSP ecosystem remains in growth mode-growing approximately 8% to 12% annually, depending on which research company you trust. But even as the market expands, it is witnessing rapid consolidation. In fact, ChannelE2E has tracked nearly 2,000 M&A deals since 2020 – including Kaseya’s recent announcement to acquire Datto.
Where does NinjaOne fit in with all this growth and integration-and why does Slutskin align with the software company? The back-story is pretty interesting. NinjaOne CEO Sal Sferlazza and new Chief Channel Advisor Adam Slutskin will meet for more than a decade.
- Prior to NinjaOne, Sferlazza launched, developed and sold several software companies dedicated to MSP. Names like Anchor (acquired by Axcient predecessor eFolder in 2013) and PacketTrap (acquired in 2009 by Quest Software then Dell) are conceivable.
- Meanwhile, Slutskin played a key role in expanding ConnectWise from PSA (professional automation services) to RMM (remote monitoring and management) with ConnectWise’s LabTech investment in 2010 that eventually turned into an M&A deal. By the time Slutskin left ConnectWise as chief revenue officer (CRO) in 2017, the company was one of the first unicorns of the MSP software industry – privately held and valued at more than $ 1 billion.
Dig a little further, and you’ll notice that Sferlazza (an Accenture veteran) and Slutskin (a CA Technologies veteran) both have enterprise software experience.
NinjaOne: Expanding From SMB-MSP to Enterprise Channel Partners
Meanwhile, NinjaOne has gradually expanded from an RMM software provider to an extensive IT operations platform-designed for MSPs and corporate IT departments. Instead of selling the software directly to those IT departments, NinjaOne Chief Revenue Officer Dean Yeck quickly built and expanded the network of channel partners, VARs and IT consulting firms.
The unified platform-a dashboard for all IT services-acquired cloud-based backup and disaster recovery software in 2020, and Ninja Ticketing for MSPs and IT support help desks in the last year or so. Take a look at the company’s overall business strategy, and the NinjaOne software platform is designed to support functions such as:
- IT asset management
- Endpoint monitoring and management
- Patch Management
- IT Documentation
- Software Development
- Remote Access
- Service desk capabilities
- Backup, disaster recovery (BDR) and data protection services
NinjaOne code is home-grown rather than acquired, and more feature capabilities are coming soon. In some ways, NinjaOne could compete with ServiceNow as a midmarket platform for co-managed services, ChannelE2E believes. And in the MSP software market, the main rivals remain ConnectWise, Datto, Kaseya and N-able, along with upstarts such as Atera, SuperOps.ai and Syncro.
NinjaOne: Sal and Adam Share Similar Visions
While many of NinjaOne’s rivals are backed by private equity firms, NinjaOne remains supported by venture capital dollars – including a $ 30 million minority investment from Summit Partners in 2020. Translation? Sferlazza ultimately controls the fate of NinjaOne.
David Bellini, CEO, Password Boss
Liongard CEO Joe Alapat
In some ways, I think Sferlazza regrets selling some of her previous businesses too early – even though she didn’t tell me that directly. Alas, Dell eventually shut down the PacketTrap business – which was growing nicely and poised to reach from RMM to PSA by the time Dell hit the market. Fast forward to the present, and Sferlazza quietly but tightly controls the direction of NinjaOne. Instead of pounding chests and shouting from rooftops about NinjaOne’s momentum, Sferlazza doubled down on R&D to further ride – and shape – the trends of IT automation.
In contrast, Slutskin, is a dollars-and-cents person who fully understands the math behind successful MSP software sales, partner programs, market-going activities and revenue models-whatever the size or dimensions of the business.
The outcome? Sferlazza, Slutskin and the broader NinjaOne team seem to have the experience to extend NinjaOne-through partners-deeper into mid-market and enterprise end-customer accounts. The NinjaOne team also has the DNA of the MSP industry that sometimes lacks so many software entrepreneurs and next -stage investors.
Unicorn Builder at MSP Software Angel Investor: Instead of running away from his source, Slutskin keeps coming back to them. As Chief Revenue Officer at Liongard, he helped CEO Joe Alapat measure fast-growing, end-to-end business visibility that has surpassed 2,000 MSPs in recent years.
Additionally, Slutskin has partnered with ConnectWise Co-Founder and former President David Bellini on numerous MSP software startups and various angel investments. Take a closer look, and you’ll see that Bellini and Slutskin have built an MSP software incubator in Tampa, Florida. Their recent steps include: Acquiring and developing Password Boss – a password management platform for MSPs – and putting AutoElevate into that business.
NinjaOne: MSP Software Unicorn’s Next Moves
At NinjaOne, Slutskin’s first priorities are to “review NinjaOne’s current sales engagement strategy on the MSP channel and work with sales leadership to optimize team structure and implement new strategies.” The effort is to maintain a channel-friendly approach, NinjaOne insisted.
Even before Slutskin arrived, NinjaOne had momentum. The company now has more than 430 employees, and supports more than 7,000 customers and 3 million end-points.
Poke Silicon Valley, and there are rumors that NinjaOne now has a valuation of approximately $ 1.5 billion, I suspect, and a potential path to an IPO (initial public offering). But you never heard that from me. Stay tuned…