The Channel Strategy Most Vendors Get Wrong, With Vic Guerrero | Ep. 15

In February 2026, roughly 285 billion US dollars fell off software valuations in 48 hours, on the theory that AI would gut per-seat SaaS. NinjaOne sells per-seat SaaS and is growing about 70 percent a year.  **About the guest**  Vic Guerrero runs channel and enterprise for NinjaOne across Asia Pacific. He has spent more than two decades in the channel, from Adobe in the late 1990s through to chief revenue officer at Jabra and nearly eight years at Orro Group before joining NinjaOne. He grew NinjaOne's APAC partner-led revenue 166 percent year on year on a deliberately selective model, and he may be the original source of the phrase things, reasons.  **What this episode covers**  - Why NinjaOne runs almost all of its growth through the channel when going direct would be easier <!--THE END--> - The selective, go-deep partner model, and why 25 to 30 partners can cover most of the ANZ market <!--THE END--> - The question Vic uses to expose a weak vendor relationship: what do they actually do for you <!--THE END--> - The SaaS apocalypse, and whether AI is a threat to platforms or a tailwind for consolidation <!--THE END--> - What Vic learned at Adobe in the late 90s that he is deliberately applying now <!--THE END--> - Two IT confessions, including the outage that accidentally killed an unprofitable contract **Why now**  Every IT leader is building an FY27 plan against the same open question: how much to keep buying from SaaS platforms, and how much to try to build in-house with cheap models and AI agents. NinjaOne is a live test of the case for buying, a per-seat platform embedding AI and still compounding while the market debates whether SaaS is finished. For MSP owners and vendors, the channel thread is just as timely, because the recruit-wide playbook is under pressure.  **Who this episode is for**  - MSP and IT services owners choosing vendors and planning FY27 <!--THE END--> - Channel and partner leaders inside technology vendors <!--THE END--> - CIOs and IT directors weighing build versus buy on AI <!--THE END--> - Anyone selling or buying per-seat SaaS as AI reshapes the stack **Show notes**  The Quick Fire Three in this episode is supported by NinjaOne.