Memorable Scenes From CRN Fast Growth

Everything Channel welcomed IT vendors, sponsors and some of the most successful VARs in the country to the 2009 CRN Fast Growth Conference in San Francisco this week. VARs who were able to grow their businesses by as much as 3,605 percent in 2008 despite the collapse of the stock market in September were on hand to network and share success stories.

Everything Channel Vice President/Editorial Director Robert C. DeMarzo (left), and News Editor Steven Burke (right), get chummy with one of the iconic Beefeater doormen at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco, site of the 2009 CRN Fast Growth Conference. The landmark hotel opened its doors in 1928, offering guests such temptations as an indoor golf course, ice water on tap and radios in every guest room -- as well as assorted panels and cubbyholes built to get around the rules of Prohibition.

Everything Channel Brand Events Conference Manager Dawn Walton (left), registers attendees for the 2009 CRN Fast Growth Conference. VARs whose companies showed remarkable growth in the most challenging economic climate in decades were on hand to network and learn from their peers and vendor partners at the one-day event.

Everything Channel Vice President/Editorial Director Robert C. DeMarzo kicks off the day's events at the 2009 CRN Fast Growth Conference, which included keynotes from top IT vendors, executive roundtable sessions and an awards gala to round it all out.

The day's activities at the 2009 CRN Fast Growth Conference included keynotes from Stephen Cho, director of Google Apps channels, and Janet Schijns, Motorola's global channel chief, as well as executive boardroom meetings, a "speed networking" session, vendor product demos and an excellent lunch.

Bob Cagnazzi, CEO of Bluewater Communications Group, gets started with some breakfast at the 2009 CRN Fast Growth Conference. Bluewater, a New York-based VAR that plays squarely in the midmarket, enjoyed whopping 3,605 percent growth in 2008 -- putting Cagnazzi's company at the very top of the Fast Growth list. Bluewater's secret? A commitment to delivering Fortune 500-quality IT solutions to midmarket customers, Cagnazzi said.

Janet Schijns, Motorola's channel chief, delivers a rollicking, Halloween-themed keynote at the 2009 CRN Fast Growth Conference. Schijns warned a packed room of fast-growing VARs that successful business strategies during the economic downturn won't necessarily work under the different conditions of a possible recovery in 2010. She suggested VARs take a good look at their demand generation efforts, and predicted that many would begin redirecting funds away from older outbound sales structures and into newer, social networking-oriented marketing models.

Curtiz Gangi, right, director at Eaton, gets to know some fast-growing VARs during the "speed networking" session at the 2009 CRN Fast Growth Conference in San Francisco. Later in the day, Gangi displayed his Guinness-pouring skills in Eaton's demo room meet-and-greet at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel.

Evan Fromberg (left), director of U.S. channels at Fortinet, holds court with several VARs, including Brian Longoria of Dallas-based M&S Technologies (fourth from right), during the "speed networking" session at the 2009 CRN Fast Growth Conference in San Francisco.

Joo Kim of Chantilly, Va.-based Nova Datacom takes time out from the conference to catch up with an issue of CRN magazine -- one dedicated to Fast Growth VARs like Nova Datacom, naturally.

Steve Burgess of Nashville, Tenn.-based Guidant Partners (left), chats with Google's Stephen Cho at the 2009 CRN Fast Growth Conference. Cho delivered a keynote focused on -- surprise, surprise -- cloud computing and the value proposition of Google Apps for solution providers.

The top three VARs on the CRN Fast Growth list offer insights into their business strategies at a panel discussion during lunch at the 2009 CRN Fast Growth Conference. From left, Bob Cagnazzi, CEO of No. 1 Fast Growth company Bluewater Communications Group, New York; Andrew Cayouette, vice president of sales and a principal at No. 2, Rockville, Md.-based FedStore, and Tony Jimenez, president and CEO of No. 3, Vienna, Va.-based MicroTech.

FedStore's Cayouette lays out the law when it comes to hiring salespeople: "We've found you really get what you pay for in this business when it comes to salespeople. So we pay for it up front, but with a commission structure as well. And there are accelerators we've built on to the top of that structure, but nothing too complicated."

A big lesson to come out of the CRN Fast Growth Conference was the value of spending money to promote your brand. "I think we're phenomenal at marketing," said MicroTech's Jimenez, whose company sponsors the undefeated UFC fighter Cain Velasquez and several other mixed martial arts stars. "We don't ever want to go into a fight without somebody knowing who we are."

EMC's Maureen Perelli talks up IT infrastructure during an executive boardroom meeting with VARs at the CRN Fast Growth Conference. Driving recurring revenue with a Hardware-as-a-Service model was a recurring theme at the San Francisco event.

Doug Ford, CEO of San Diego-based The I.T. Pros, talks shop with a fellow VAR at the CRN Fast Growth Conference. Bring together scores of the fastest-growing IT companies in North America and you're sure to get some lively conversation.

Adtran's Ted Cole is a regular at Everything Channel events and the vice president of channel sales for the Huntsville, Ala.-based networking and communications equipment vendor wasn't about to miss the chance to meet with fast-growing VARs at the CRN Fast Growth Conference. Here, Cole prepares to greet VARs in Adtran's demo room at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel.

VARs and vendors at the CRN Fast Growth Conference spent the afternoon in Executive Briefing sessions like this roundtable breakout hosted by IBM. Here, small groups of solution providers got down to the nuts-and-bolts of potential and existing partnerships with some of the most prominent vendors in the channel.

Fast-growth VARs get down to the brass tacks of IBM's value proposition for channel partners during the Armonk, N.Y.-based vendor's Executive Roundtable session during the CRN Fast Growth Conference at San Francisco's Sir Francis Drake Hotel.

Chris Lorenz (left), vice president of marketing and alliances at Buena Park, Calif.-based Partners Consulting, explains what he needs from a vendor partner to Dell's Mike Meyer in Dell's demo room at the CRN Fast Growth Conference.

Dell's demo room at the CRN Fast Growth Conference, where the vendor displayed an assortment of all-in-one PC and notebook products for reseller partners. It's all about the netbooks, baby.

VARs gather around the table and absorb EMC's pitch during the Hopkinton, Mass.-based vendor's Executive Briefing Session at the CRN Fast Growth Conference in San Francisco.

VARs get a double-dose of vendor pitch from Eaton and Motorola during the CRN Fast Growth Conference in San Francisco. The two vendors delivered their messages to fast-growing solution providers in keynotes and breakout sessions at the event.

Fortinet's Evan Fromberg talks up the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based network security appliance vendor's end-to-end security message. Fromberg, director of U.S. channels at Fortinet, was one of several channel chiefs from top IT vendors on hand for the CRN Fast Growth Conference.

Getting locked into the information and networking opportunities on offer at the CRN Fast Growth Conference was obviously important for VARs in attendance -- but that didn't stop them from occasionally checking back with the home office via their BlackBerrys, iPhones and other handheld devices. Hey, they've achieved explosive growth for a reason, and going off the grid isn't it.