We sat down with Ken Patterson, Todyl’s Head of Community, to discuss how he got into the channel, what led him to join the team at Todyl, and his thoughts on how to succeed in the security industry.
I have what you might call an untraditional background. I went to a technical high school, taking basic electronics classes that sparked my interest in tech. After working at a Ford dealership for some time, my wife secretly enrolled me in a two-year technical school.
After graduating, I had an internship with Fidelity investments where I quickly picked up networking. Eventually, I met an owner of a computer company who offered me a job. I was a sponge, learning all their systems within three months. In six, I became their service manager. In just over a year, I took over the business as the owner.
I pioneered the “Bronze, Silver, Gold” model back in 1999. At the time, managed services didn’t really exist like it does today, but we pushed the envelope early to provide a deeper level of service to our customers. We ran into snags along the way, but as I stopped working in the business and started working on it, we started to grow fast.
In short, going to industry events and networking with my peers. I loved learning what worked for them and sharing our own “secret sauce” to help others. These people quickly became my friends, a group of trusted advisors that eventually evolved into a prototypical peer group we see in the MSP space today.
I eventually sold my MSP but remained heavily involved in the community. I learned so much running my own MSP and learning from my peers that I was eager to share with other MSPs so they could be more successful.
After running into each other at multiple events, Pax8 eventually asked me to lead their community efforts. I gave them all my tips and tricks, brought partners on stage to share their own lessons learned, and listened to their needs. In four years, my team and I took that community from 3,000 to 15,000 members.
Through all these experiences, I learned community is not your customers. It’s belonging to something that matters. It’s essential to build so much trust through authenticity, empathy, and collaboration that they transform into stark raving fans.
I started to hear a lot of buzz about Todyl from my peers and close friends about the technology. No one had anything bad to say about it.
Eventually, I spoke with John Nellen. John was incredibly passionate about the MSP community. He was several years into his founder journey and really understood the dynamics that drive MSPs to turn to certain vendors. John understands why community matters for MSPs, and knew it was time to find someone to take on this major initiative and do it in a way that serves MSPs, not just Todyl.
My goal here is to ensure MSPs have the tools, insights, and connections to succeed. I am laser focused on building out education, enablement, and events to help as many people as possible. I’m building a platform for our partners to connect, help each other, and solve difficult problems together, sharing the “secret sauce” so we can protect as many businesses together as fast as possible.
I’m a family first guy and prioritize spending time with my family. I’m a huge sports fan as well, especially hockey. One lesser-known fact about me is I love karaoke, although sometimes my audience doesn’t.
Learn from your peers. My success came from listening to others, sharing my mistakes and triumphs, and having others—my wife, family, and peers—push me to be the best. It didn’t happen overnight, but incrementally by listening, learning, and evolving. It’s the people who helped me along the way that got me to where I am today.
