SignalWire Appoints Startup Channel Guru Ezra Hookano As Channel Chief: Exclusive

‘I‘ve been really lucky to work for some fast-growing companies that have started with an almost 100 percent channel focus in the beginning and have made VARs an awful lot of money … The approach here will be exclusively channel, as quickly as possible,’ Ezra Hookano, SignalWire’s new channel leader, tells CRN.

SignalWire, a startup specializing in “virtual office” and videoconferencing technology, has brought on Ezra Hookano as the company’s new vice president of global channels and business development.

SignalWire‘s goal is to drive all of business for the brand-new SignalWire Work product -- a virtual office and videoconferencing platform -- through the channel, Hookano told CRN.

“We absolutely won‘t sell direct once we have the channel in place, Hookano said. ”I’ve been really lucky to work for some fast-growing companies that have started with an almost 100 percent channel focus in the beginning and have made VARs an awful lot of money … The approach here will be exclusively channel, as quickly as possible.”

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The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company, which got its start in 2017, was launched by a group of engineers who built FreeSWITCH, an open-source application server for real-time communication, WebRTC, telecommunications, video and VoIP. FreeSWITCH is the most widely-used, open-source product for telephony and video on the market. Technologies such as Zoom videoconferencing and the Ring Doorbell product, for example, was built on top of FreeSWITCH, according to SignalWire.

After spending time helping other companies build apps, the firm decided to build their own product -- SignalWire Work -- which was just launched in July.

The SignalWire Work platform, which will be available through partners via the new channel program, includes several “rooms,” including a coffee house for impromptu meetings between coworkers, a broadcast room for recording webcasts or podcasts, and even a karaoke room for events. Users can schedule formal videoconferencing meetings at a specific time and date, or use the platform to communicate with colleagues on the fly to create more of a “water cooler” work experience, Hookano said.

The firm expects the offering to be a competitor to Microsoft Teams, but SignalWire Work won‘t be a good fit for businesses or educational institutions that are only looking to schedule future meetings, Hookano said. “If you want to run a live event, have a virtual office or lobby-like experience, or broadcast to hundreds of people, this is going to be significantly more efficient than a regular videoconferencing solution,“ he said.

Hookano‘s first order of business with the company is to create and launch a channel program for SignalWire. SignalWire plans on kicking off its channel efforts by signing 30-50 resellers and MSPs over the next six months in specific geographies. The company will be offering exclusive territories to specific partners during the first year of the product launch to give early adopter partners access to high margins and net new customers, while allowing the company to scale, SignalWire said.

“I hope to get up to 60 VARs profitable and stable within the first year with me sending them $100,000-$200,000 worth of business and them bringing me back that amount of business. That‘s the kind of ramp I’m used to,” Hookano said.

SignalWire Work will be a subscription-based, SaaS service for end customers, Hookano said. The company said it will be flexible with end customers, such as schools, who may be looking for an upfront license instead of a monthly licensing model for the product. The offering will be available initially in North America with an expanded, global roll-out planned for later in 2020.

Hookano is no stranger to helping companies and startups build out their channel programs.

His work has spanned across seven startups, including Barracuda Networks, Drobo, Fusion-IO, and Exablox. Hookano has helped two companies go public and had a hand in several acquisitions.

Hookano comes to SignalWire after most recently serving as vice president of channel for Barracuda Networks for the last four years.