SaaS provider sets $100m growth path

Earthwave will cut underperforming partners and low-value customers in its bid to turn the 10-year-old security-as-a-service provider into a $100 million company.

In an exclusive interview with CRN, founder and chief executive Carlo Minassian said the $100 million target would be achievable in the next five years.

"If we find we have to let go of a third of our customers and increase our profitability because those customers are draining our resources, we will," he said.  "We've got over 40 partners now, and not everyone is performing."

Tasked with this job is newly appointed commercial director former IBM ISS Australasia general manager Simon Ratcliffe. 

"I pursued Simon for about three and half years before I managed to convince him to join," Minassian said.

"He took IBM ISS and grew it tenfold during the six years he was there.

"He did that through the channel and through a partner model and established a brand awareness for the company.

"He'll focus on the partners that are performing and he'll get the marketing and messaging right," Minassian said.

Meanwhile, Minassian can focus on higher-level engagement.

"I'm passionate about innovating and [being] customer and channel centric.

"I'm not talking about innovating the next iPod or iPad, I'm talking about simply finding new ways to keep customers happy, improve customer service and finding faster ways to get things done.

"Automating a lot of these things and processes, that's my passion, that's what I'm good at doing," he said. 

Earthwave has grown over 70 percent in the past five years and continued to grow during the global financial crisis, Minassian said.

Key vendor partners included McAfee, Cisco and PaloAlto; customers included the Parliament of NSW, McDonalds and Independent schools of NSW.

When it comes to cloud, Minassian said Earthwave was not planning on competing with the likes of Amazon but was focused on its secure hosting business which has seen significant growth.