393: Kaseya is Leveraging Brand Recognition from Arena Naming Rights with CMO Mike Sanders

Mike Sanders is an avid freediving fisherman, self-proclaimed crypto nerd, and Chief Marketing Officer of Kaseya. Mike started his career as the head of IT for a private brokerage firm, but after a few years, he left to start his own business. He quickly learned that being an entrepreneur meant he would have to be able to do a little bit of everything, and he discovered a knack for the sales and marketing side. He followed that passion to a sales job at Kaseya in 2005. He stayed with the company for nearly 10 years before he left and started another new business, Cenersys. Eventually, that company was acquired by Kaseya, and Mike was brought back to launch and run Unitrends for them. After a while, he started to get more involved in the product marketing and sales side and was brought on to his current role as CMO in 2023.Mike has found that his entrepreneurial background serves him well as CMO at Kaseya, where his responsibilities are broad and reach across demand generation, product and customer marketing, global strategy, new customer acquisition, and helping account managers sell new products to existing customers. Being involved with the different teams allows him to see how things are working together and ensure everything is serving the larger mission as effectively as possible. As the leading provider of unified IT management and security software for managed service providers (MSPs) and small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), Kaseya is focused on an underserved market as most of their competitors prioritize enterprise-level clients.In this episode, Alan and Mike discuss the path from entrepreneur to CMO, Kaseya’s go-to-market strategy, and the stadium naming rights deal that led to the Kaseya Center, formerly the FTX Arena, in Miami. By keeping a close eye on the crypto space, Mike and his team at Kaseya were able to jump on the opportunity brought on by FTX's demise. Now they are working to make it work for them as they try to grow their presence in Miami, leverage the name recognition, and fit it into their overall marketing strategy.In this episode, you'll learn:The underserved market Kaseya has identified and how they are leaning into their nicheThe business impact of acquiring the Miami Kaseya Center naming rightsHow Kaseya is leveraging this boost in brand recognitionKey Highlights: [01:30] Hobbies to clear your mind[04:10] From spearfishing to spearing the target market[07:10] What does Kaseya do, and who do they serve?[09:20] The broad role of CMO at Kaseya[11:15] Kaseya’s go-to-market strategy: who do they sell to?[15:15] The Kaseya Center effect[20:50] After the initial splash, what now?[26:50] College dropout success story[29:45] Advice to his younger self[31:10] How Kaseya is using AI[35:15] Keeping an eye on the economic shifts[37:10] An important turning point: handling shifts with AI and the economy Looking for more?Visit our website for links to resources mentioned in this episode and ways to connect with the guest! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.