Tell me about your role at MuleSoft.
I am the Channel Manager across all of Australia and New Zealand. I manage not only the large GSIs like Accenture and Deloitte but also the smaller, more boutique specialized partners. A channel manager covers all aspects of account development from business planning to marketing and enablement. We also act as the conduit between them and Mulesoft, making sure all levels and areas of the organizations are connected with their relevant counterparts.
The channel is very important to Mulesoft as it acts as an extension to our own Sales and Services teams. You need to be much more sales, and business development focused rather than relationships like it used to be, quick to adapt to change.
What’s the most interesting problem you’re working on solving right now?
Currently, we are working on the plan for 2017. How can we further develop the channel across ANZ? How can we increase the marketing we do with our channel? Do we have the right individual plans running with each partner and the right mix of partners across ANZ? This is what is needed to make sure we maximize the business that we do with and through the channel in 2017. Additionally, we’re looking to expand the team with smart, motivated individuals who have senior channels experience working with GSIs and are excited about the opportunity to have direct impact on the business and help grow an amazing company. MuleSoft Sydney is a really friendly, nice environment to go to everyday, has a very cool office, and of course, great people I have the pleasure of seeing (when I’m actually in the office and not visiting partners!)
What was your path to becoming a Channel Manager?
Well, I trained in Sports Science and Sports Therapy, surely that’s a natural path to becoming a channel manager 🙂 After my days of physio’ing for a professional rugby team, I ended up working in procurement for a PC manufacturing firm. Knowing little about business, I decided I should spread my wings and ended up working in channels for an IT security vendor. Fast forward more than a few years, and I’m still doing what I found out I loved, which is channel sales.
Why did you choose to come work for MuleSoft?
When I moved back to Sydney from working in Asia for a few years, I decided my next job should be with a company that had new and innovative technology. It would have been easy for me to go back to security or infrastructure, but I liked the idea of learning about a whole new area of IT. So with those two things in mind, I set about my search. I saw a lot being written about MuleSoft, and the more I read into the company, the more appealing it became. I was really impressed throughout the interview process at what I saw—the caliber of the people I met and the reviews I was reading about the technology. Of course, Mulesoft just happened to be needing a channel manager while I was on the lookout! It was an easy decision for me.
Take us through a typical day in the life in your role here.
This question is hard because the work I do in my role moves so fast and changes so quickly! One of the really cool things about the role is that I’m always stretching and changing what I do. On any given day, I could be doing training, marketing, business development, jointly engaging with Account Executives, the list goes on, and that’s why my role is so exciting, because it varies so much. Generally, my days are split between being at one of the Mulesoft offices and being out at partner meetings.
What teams do you work with most, and how do you collaborate?
Sales and Marketing are my everyday go-to teams. I am involved in territory reviews, forecast reviews, etc., but more often than not, I work one-on-one with the reps on deals, getting introductions into the right partners for their territory, and developing marketing plans to help in their lead creation. Marketing is a large part of a channel plan, and at any given time, we’ll have several partners rolling out events or campaigns and others in planning phase. So I see Marketing as a part of the channel team, working not only with me but within each partner’s business.
What’s your favorite activity outside of the office?
I have a dog and a horse, so a lot of my time outside of the office is spent entertaining them.
My horse is kept near our forests, so I spend many hours doing trail rides on the weekends which, is just exceptional and very relaxing. Plus, I live in a beautiful place, by the beaches in North Sydney, and I love spending time there.
What’s your proudest accomplishment in your role here so far?
It’s amazing to watch the interaction between our teams and the partner’s teams grow. And seeing this joint engagement end in long-term strategic wins with our customers.
What’s the latest technology or tool you’ve learned to use and why did you need to learn it?
Mindtickle, a platform we are using for our new sales training. It allows for all pre-work to be posted on the portal, recordings and examples to be stored, and then our own presentations to be recorded and marked. It’s kind of like being in school again, and I’m actually enjoying it!
What is your favorite thing about working on the Channels team at MuleSoft?
I love the variance I get in my job day to day and the great people both internally and externally I get to work with.
Our Channels team is growing! Check out our open positions and see where you can make an impact.
