15+ Yr Sales/Channel Director, CRN Channel Chief (2016), 1 IPO & 4+ exits/events

Farokh Karani, MBA

An award-winning senior business leader with broad-based high-tech industry experience, I have a proven track record in Enterprise Sales, Channel and Distribution strategy, Business Development and revenue generation. With deep security market expertise that spans more than 10 years, I have held leadership roles in sales, channels and services.

From high-value strategic partnerships to channel program development and go-to-market strategies, I have helped the organizations I serve carve out new paths to success in new markets. Throughout my career, I have put customers and partners first and have led my teams to consistently meet and exceed ROI and revenue goals.  

My experience spans pre-IPO startups to large companies including Computer Associates, Network Associates/McAfee, Kaspersky Lab, BullGuard, Power Computing (acquired by Apple), CP Secure (acquired by NetGear), Cyberoam (acquired by Sophos) and Quick Heal Technologies (IPO). 

Specialties: 
Sales & Sales Leadership
Channel Leadership
Business Development
Marketing
Operations
Software
IT Security
Network Security
Endpoint Security
Data Leakage Prevention
Cloud
Professional Services 
IT
Go-to-Market Expertise
Strategic Partnerships
Two-Tiered Distribution
Pre-IPO
Public Companies

Responsible for all Partner Sales & Management for the US & EU

Votiro is an award-winning cybersecurity company that specializes in file sanitization, ensuring every organization is safe from zero-day and undisclosed attacks. Our next-generation Positive Selection™ technology singles out only the safest elements of each incoming or outgoing file, ensuring every file that enters your organization is 100% safe. This way, we are able to leave our customers with a secure, fully usable data flow across all channels of incoming files.

With over 500 customers globally, Votiro has offices in the US, Singapore, Australia, and Israel. Votiro is a Gartner Cool Vendor award winner and certified by the international standard of Common Criteria for Information Technology Security Evaluation (ISO/IEC 15408).

Senior Partner Manager - US & EU

Fortra has acquired 15+ companies in the past 5 years. The Data Protection Business Unit (BU) comprises of 4 companies/products: Digital Guardian – DLP, Titus & Boldon James – Data Classification, Vera – Info. Rights Management. Responsible for all partner/channel management across the US East & Federal space, supporting 9 AEs in territory, including 6 Enterprise AEs, 1 Federal AE, and 2x MM AEs.

•	Responsible for driving over $7M in net new pipeline creation thru partners in territory in 2022
•	Managed & drove sales in region with national partners like Optiv, Guidepoint, Sirius/CDW, SHI/StrataScale, Defy, Herjavec Group (now Cyderes) & Softchoice (including Canada)
•	Managed & drove sales with regional partners like CDI, Atlantic Data Security, Anexinet-Veristor, Red River, AccessIT, Gotham TG, Mission Critical Systems, ICM Cyber, ISA CyberSecurity (Canada) & others
•	Managed all Federal partner sales efforts, including distribution thru Carahsoft, & Federal partners like Thundercat, Swish Data, SD3it, August Schell & others
•	Aggressively converted and enabled much of the acquired Digital Guardian channel partner network to Fortra Data Protection partners, thru working with their Exec teams, training their AEs & SEs on the new Fortra Data Protection lineup, engaging in joint GTM activities and putting together attractive upsell offerings from the Fortra Data Protection product line
•	Worked with regional partners to put together GTM business plans, & engaged in monthly/quarterly reviews
•	Engaged weekly 1-1’s with AEs to ensure that the partner engagement plan for their territory was on-track/updated & all net-new opportunities were quoted to customers thru the right partner. 
• Tracked deals and opportunities in SFDC & PowerBI for management visibility
•	Aggressively recruited new Commercial and Federal partners to the Fortra Data Protection partner program
•	Managed a 6 figure MDF/Channel Development Fund, to drive engagement and pipeline with partners & AEs

Partner Manager - Data Protection BU (US East/Federal)

Digital Guardian was acquired by Helpsystems (now Fortra), in Nov 2021, to serve as the flagship offering within their newly formed Data Protection Business Unit.

Partner Manager - Acquired by Helpsystems (rebranded to FORTRA)

JetPatch is a VC Funded, Israel-HQ’ed startup, focused on Next-Gen Vulnerability Remediation & Patch Management for mid-large Enterprises and DataCenters. JetPatch’s innovative solutions work across AD/vCenter/AWS/Asure deployments, integrate with multiple Vulnerability Scanners including those from Rapid7, Tenable, Nessus & Qualys. JetPatch’s proprietary “Predictive Patching” and process Hyper-Automation significantly speed up the Vulnerability Remediation process, minimizing the potential attack surface presented to hackers and malware, and decreasing the amount of manual work needed to remain patch compliant, for a very high ROI. JetPatch competes with Ivanti, ManageEngine, AutoMox BigFix, SCCM and other players in the endpoint patch management space.

Sales: Closed 1st Sale in Company to a Wall Street Financial Institution. Closed 1st Federal (FedRAMP) Sale in Company. 
Developed and maintained a pipeline of $500,000+ on a rolling basis. 
Initiated trials & POCs with leading accounts in North America including Crate & Barrel, Dish Network, IGS, Goodwin Proctor, Madison Square Garden, Harris Health and Tesla.

Channels:
Recruited/on-boarded Resellers, MSPs, Solution Providers & Global System Integrators in US & EMEA
Lead Account/Partner Manager for Global Systems Integrators – Microland, Zenzar, Mphasis & Infosys. Closed 1st deals with Mphasis & Microland.

Part of the JetPatch team that raised/closed a $6 Million funding round in H1 2021, to fund further development & growth. Originally reporting directly to JetPatch CEO. Reporting to new EVP WW Sales for JetPatch, post-funding, H2 2021.

Regional Director (North America) - Sales & Channels

HQ’ed in Clifton, NJ, Comodo is focused on improving/enhancing endpoint and network security with the Comodo 360 Platform. Comodo’s modular offering is a SAAS solution that covers upto multiple layers of security to any organization, including Comodo’s patented AEP AV w/EDR (competing with numerous vendors including SentinelONE, TrendMicro, Crowdstrike & Kaspersky), DNS-based Malware & Content Filtering (competing primarily with Cisco OpenDNS/Umbrella & DNS Filter), RMM & Patch/ Systems Management (competing against NinjaRMM, Connectwise & SyncroRMM), Cloud-based SIEM & MDR/SOCaaS Services, and Email Security (competing with Proofpoint & Mimecast).  

•	Put together go-to-market plan for North America, and LATAM, to expand Channel Partner base 
•	Recruited, negotiated with, and on-boarded 6 Distributor level partners, covering the US, Canada and LATAM
•	Built up a Partner Network in the US/Canada, and LatAm, targeting VARs and MSP/MSSP
•	Implemented launch promotions and programs to rapidly grow channels and revenue from each channel partner
•	Worked with Comodo Product Management & Engineering teams to make Comodo’s offerings more appealing to MSSP & Distributor level partners. 
•	Player/Coach: Individual contributor, plus hired, trained & managed a team of 8 BDRs & Regional Managers to expand the channel in the US/Canada, LATAM & APAC.
•	Worked with Comodo Marketing team to put together MSP/MSSP specific marketing material for selected products

Senior Director - Channels & Alliances (COVID *COMMISSION ONLY* 6 Month Contract)

Founded in 2014, Heimdal is a privately held startup HQ’ed in Denmark, focused on improving/enhancing endpoint security. Heimdal’s modular offering is a SAAS solution that covers upto 5 distinct layers of security to any PC/Endpoint, including “Next-Gen” AV w/EDR (competing with numerous vendors including SentinelONE, TrendMicro, ESET & Kaspersky), DNS-based Malware & Content Filtering (competing primarily with Cisco OpenDNS/Umbrella), Vulnerability & Patch Management for 3rd Party App & Microsoft/Windows competing with the likes of ManageEngine & Itarian), Admin Rights/Privilege Access Management (competing with BeyondTrust & Thycotic), and Email Security (competing with Proofpoint & Mimecast). Heimdal was acquired from its parent company, CSIS, by Marlin Private Equity/Capital in early 2020. 

•	Put together go-to-market plan for North America, and acquired key “logos” and reference customers
•	Selling/Quota carrying rep, covering both end-user customers and channel partners
•	Delivered 100-200% Growth in revenue, YOY, for 3 yrs in a row, with ZERO VC funding
•	Built up a Distribution/Partner Network in the US/Canada, and later LatAm, targeting VARs and MSP/MSSP
•	Managed large opportunities directly to start with, while passing on smaller ones directly to channel partners
•	Managed a team of CSR/BDR's, based in Heimdal’s Romania offices, for customer and partner fulfillment	
•	Presented on Heimdal’s solutions to potential customers and partners, in person and over the Web

Sales Director - North America

Responsible for North American sales & channel strategy for Quick Heal, with a goal of bringing increased growth, profitability and partner enablement to the company as part of its worldwide business. Under my leadership, Quick Heal has become recognized as a network security newcomer to watch in the North American market, building upon its success in India, Europe and other global regions. During my tenure, our North American channel program has been honored by CRN. In addition, our award-winning end-point security technology was well reviewed in SC Magazine, earning 4/5 Stars, and was spotlighted in InfoSecurity Magazine for its impact on small business/SOHO IT security. In 2016, I was named a CRN Channel Chief in recognition of my channel leadership at Quick Heal.

Director - Sales & Channels, North America

ArcMail’s solutions enable fast and easy retrieval of data across Terabytes of data, whether stored on appliance, VM or LAN/SAN, within seconds/minutes instead of minutes/hours, competing with products from MimeCast, Barracuda Networks, EMC, Symantec and Commvault, at a fraction of the cost of other solutions. ArcMail was recently named a “Vendor To Watch” in Gartner’s Enterprise Information Archiving MQ for 2012 &2013.

• WORST TO FIRST – Top grossing RSM/Territory for 2014 to date. #1 out of 4 in Q1, #1 out of 5 in Q2.

• #1 generator of New Business/Customers, out of 4 RSM’s in 2012, 2013 & out of 5 in 2014

• Achieved the 1st ever monthly sales level in territory of $100k and $150k.

• Presented on ArcMail’s solutions at numerous industry events as a speaker, and subject matter expert. 

• Road Warrior: Constantly on the go, meeting customers, partners, and generating leads.

• Engaged & motivated new & existing channel partners to sell ArcMail solutions over competing solutions. Recruited & ramped up 2 of the top 5 VARs in the company.

• Directly managed large 5 figure deals, while working with channel partners on smaller opportunities.

• Grew average monthly revenue 300%+ from $25k/month to $80k/month, achieving a $1Mil run rate in 2012.

• Immediately made an impact within the territory taking it to the #2 territory out of 4, in 2012.

• Took over the worst performing territory in the company, out of 4 at that time, in early 2011.

Regional Sales Manager

• Recruited by BullGuard Americas CEO to grow BullGuard’s presence in, and establish distribution and reseller channels for, the US and Canada from scratch, starting with zero revenue in mid-2010

• Setup key Distributors in both the US and Canada, to give BullGuard a credible presence in the channel rapidly. Recruited and ramped up local Resellers and key Reseller partners, such as MicroCenter, NewEgg and Frys Electronics, in the US and Canada, to drive revenue and establish visibility for BullGuard 

* Established a 6-figure revenue stream for BullGuard, taking Americas sales operations to cash flow positive.

* Recruited, hired & managed a team of 3 reseller sales reps

Sales Director - BullGuard Americas

Regional Sales Director - North America

Channel Sales Manager - North America

Channel Sales Director

CP Secure is a “start-up”, HQ'ed in Cupertino CA, founded by executives from Trend Micro. CP Secure received $5 million in Series A funding from Mitsubishi Capital. The company makes a series of high performance Web Security Appliances, provide real-time protection from web-based threats/malware.

Regional Sales Director - NorthEast
·	Targeted with a yearly quota of $1.25 million in 2007. Achieved tens of thousands of dollars in sales in a short period of time. Developed pipeline of ~$500k in under a quarter.
·	Responsible for dealing with large/enterprise customers such as Readers Digest, Baltimore County, US Patent &amp; Trademark Office, Charles River Labs, US Dept of State.
·	Responsible for recruiting new Channel Partners in the Northeast US &amp; driving sales thru new and existing Channel Partners.
·	Increased number of channel partners engaged by over 300% in geographically key areas.
·

Regional Sales Director - NorthEast

·	Awarded Kaspersky Lab Performance Excellence Award, in 2005.
·	Lead Account Manager for the Largest Sale in Company History: a six-figure 50,000+ node sale to a Top 5 Wall Street Bank competing against Trend Micro (the incumbent) and other competitors. 
·	Helped grow sales by over 600% from 2004 to 2005 to over $3million.
·	Helped grow Kaspersky Lab from 4 people to over 25+ people.

·	Exceeded quota in Q1 2005 &amp; Q2 2005. Worked with Inside Sales Account Managers on large/key accounts to close sales.

·	As the 1st sales hire in US, worked closely with VP of Sales to hire, train and drive sales with the Inside/Inbound Sales team for Kaspersky Lab in 2005. Worked closely with technical support team to overcome any technical obstacles to closing sales.

Director - Strategic Accounts

Eastern Region Sales Manager

TLIC is a multi-location VAR, of Network Security and Network Management solutions. TLIC was McAfees 2nd largest VAR in the US, and partnered with companies such as McAfee (Network Associates), Checkpoint, ISS, Symantec, eEye Digital, Trend Micro, Computer Associates, Zonelabs, Websense and Sophos to deliver best of breed Network Security and Management solutions and services. 

·	Achieved sales of up to $400,000 per quarter. Achieved 200% of Q103 quota, 145% of Q203 quota, 215% of Q303 quota & 125% of Q403 quota. 
·	#1 salesperson out of 12 sales professionals.
·	Built up a pipeline of over $1,400,000 in sales of products and services.
·	Prospected for new customers, and worked with existing customers, for sale of products & services, thru cold/warm calling, customer visits and networking. 
·	Focused on sales of Anti-Virus, Vulnerability Assessment, Firewall/VPN, Anti-SPAM, Content Filtering, Intrusion Detection/Prevention, Help Desk and Network Management solutions.

VP Business Development & Regional Director - North America

Responsible for the sales of all of Network Associates products in Territory. These included McAfee Anti-Virus, Gauntlet Firewall, Cybercop Intrusion Detection/Protection and Vulnerability Assessment, Magic Help Desk, and Sniffer Network Analysis software/tools.  

·	Managed and maintained Key/Large Accounts, Government/Educational Accounts, and Strategic Accounts in Territory.
·	Overachieved target for Q2 & Q3 FY 1999-2000, Q1 FY2000-2001. Achieved sales of up to $5million a year.
·	Increased sales by over 125% in territory, while retaining NAIs leading market-share despite stiff competition.
·	Cross-sold NAI products into existing NAI/McAfee/Dr Solomon/Sniffer customers, and trained partners to do the same.
·	Worked with and managed team of pre-sales engineers, to close each prospective sale as fast as possible.
·	Worked with Channel Partners to penetrate Key Accounts. Went on joint sales calls with Channel Partner sales executives to customers.

County Sales Manager (India & South Asia)

Responsible for the sales of all of CA products sold through indirect sales channels in territory. The products included Desktop and Server Management, Security Management, Storage Management, and Network Management Software.

·	Promoted to position with the integration of Cheyenne Software into core CA operations
·	Overachieved target for Q1 & Q2 FY 1998-1999. Awarded Sales Excellence Award.
·	Increased sales by over 75% in territory, to a rate about $3.5 million a year. 


Territory Sales Manager  Cheyenne Software (A Division of Computer Associates International)			
Responsible for the sales of all of Cheyenne products in territory.  

·	Managed and maintained Key/Large Accounts, Government/Educational Accounts, and Strategic Accounts in Territory.
·	Achieved 150% of target for Q3 & Q4 FY 1997-1998. Awarded Sales Excellence Award. 
·	Increased sales by over 100% in territory, to a rate of over $2 million a year. Increased channel strength by over 250%.

Senior Sales Manager  Channels

Power Computing was Apples first licensed clone vendor, and grew to over $100 million in sales, before being bought by Apple Computer in 1997 for $400 million. 

Helped grow Power Computing from 25 people to over 250+ people. 
Closed more sales than anyone at Power Computing except Director of International Sales and V.P. of Sales & Marketing.
·	Awarded Power Computing Sales Excellence Award.
·	Awarded Power Computing Sales Achiever Award. 
·	Achieved sales of over $600,000 a month.

National Account Manager (Western Region, USA)
·	Promoted from Account Manager in 6 months time.
·	Responsible for all direct sales to all Fortune 500, MacWeek 200 and Government/Educational institutions within territory.

Account Manager 
·	Top grossing Account Manager (Out of 25): Aug. '95, Sept. '95, Oct. '95. 
·	Second Top grossing Account Manager (Out of 25): Nov. '95, Jan. '96
·	Closed largest sale in company history at that time.