Ending 2020 with a Change

When we look back at this year, I don't believe 2020 will be viewed only through the lens of the pandemic, but also for some of the positive outcomes -- especially within technology. I've dedicated much of my 30-year tech career to knowledge management and collaboration technologies, and for practitioners of these areas, this year has seen incredible growth. Companies around the world, many of whom thought they would never be able to operate in a hybrid or fully-online environment, have instead thrived, and the companies that provide the tools and software that make remote work possible have flourished.

Since starting CollabTalk LLC in January 2017 as an independent research and technical marketing services company, I've been able to work with dozens of the largest independent software vendors (ISVs) in the Microsoft ecosystem. Throughout the pandemic, I've been lucky to have had continued success -- however, I've always been open to new opportunities if the "right" role came along.

One key requirement was that I wanted to remain within the Microsoft ecosystem, considering only those opportunities that allowed me to build upon my existing network and my long history as a product marketer and technology evangelist, and to continue participating in the community, including the Microsoft Regional Director and MVP programs.

When one of my former clients approached me with a new opportunity that met this criteria and more, building on my experience while also offering great career growth, I knew it was time to make a change.

As of this morning, I am joining AvePoint as the Microsoft GTM Director, responsible for leading partnership efforts across product engineering, marketing, and field team co-sell between AvePoint and Microsoft, and managing strategic Microsoft corporate relationships. You can read the press release here.

If you've been following the news, it is truly an exciting time to be joining AvePoint. The company is preparing to go public in February (TechCrunch), they have been experiencing rapid growth (Benzinga) within their traditional Enterprise and Managed Service Provider (MSP) offerings (ChannelFutures) to reach small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and are expanding into new products and partnerships. 

As I told Channel Future's Jeffrey Schwartz (ChannelFutures) in November,

“AvePoint was very smart during the early years of Microsoft’s push toward the software-as-a-service model. They recognized this shift toward the cloud early on, and while it would take years for most ISV partners to recoup any of these investments, that early insight and strategy is paying off immensely for AvePoint today. They have been making solid inroads into the MSP space, and now find themselves in a dominant position within the M365 ecosystem. (Few) companies have the depth of expertise and comprehensive offerings to compete with AvePoint in the Microsoft 365 cloud ecosystem.”

AvePoint is the clear leader in data management solutions for the Microsoft 365 platform, and when presented with the opportunity to help them further shape their leadership position, I jumped.

I am excited about this next step in my career, and look forward to an amazing 2021.