Today we’d like to introduce you to Alan Sandler.
Alan, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
It was 2001 and I was coming down from a run with a few entrepreneurial companies I had co-founded (i.e., Justice Telecom and TelePacific). The primary company I had been working on at the time was a victim of the dot-com crash. I was getting ready to start a new one and went to an industry event in Washington D.C. on September 10th, 2001. The next day, my uncle was killed when his firm, Sandler O’Neill was hit in the World Trade Center attack. In the first few days following 9/11, there was no certainty that Sandler O’Neill would continue, so I resolved that my new business would keep the Sandler business name alive. It turns out the team from Sandler O’Neill was resilient; they fought back and the company prospered.
My family, like so many others, was devastated. I spent most of my time at home with my young children (who are now 15 and 17), and it took me until 2003 to really be mentally ready to launch Sandler Partners, which today is the both the largest independent company of its type and the fastest growing.
So, my story is definitely one about the roller-coaster life of an entrepreneur. My partners and I had a company that was the fastest growing private company in America in 1998, http://www.inc.com/profile/justice-technology, an Internet company I was involved in imploded during the dot-com crash, my attempts at launching another firm were delayed because of personal tragedy, and I started all over again in 2003.
In 2017, Sandler Partners is a consulting distributor of connectivity and cloud services, but when I started the company in 2003, it was just connectivity services (think telecom – voice and bandwidth). Communications technology changes too rapidly for people not employed in that industry to keep up with, and we realized that businesses were desperate for guidance and advice from independent consultants and distributors rather than living at the mercy and bias of “suits” working for the telecom carriers. Today, it’s even harder for CTOs, CIOs, CFOs and even IT personnel at companies to keep up with their best technology choices— not just in communications and connectivity, but in cloud and IT services, security, collaboration, etc. It’s especially difficult to navigate which providers to use and why. And the new cloud technology is so intertwined with sales, marketing and data analytics, we find ourselves educating many divisions of companies outside of the IT-related groups on how the technology offerings can increase productivity throughout the organization.
We offer the expert advice on all these matters free to our clients through more than 5,000 sales partners (e.g., communications and IT consultancies, cloud consultancies, VARs, MSPs, etc.). In our space, companies like ours are usually referred to as distributors or master agencies and we function as brokers between providers and business customers (similar to how an insurance agency might work).
Through our network of partners we have consulted and negotiated service contracts for more than 35,000 businesses. Some clients know who we are, but many don’t know our role in that process because we advise our sales partners and they, in turn, advise end-user businesses. And that consultative approach is becoming increasingly valuable as market evolution becomes faster and faster. Currently, the five most valuable companies in world – Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Berkshire Hathaway and Microsoft – all have businesses (or business lines) involved in, or are substantially invested in, the cloud services model. There are thousands of smaller companies also offering the same types of services.
Sandler Partners is one of the largest distributors of these services on behalf of those providers, and in the process, we help to match up best-in-class solutions with the individual needs of business users.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I refer to myself as neurotic, and my definition would be unbalanced between worry and excitement, calm and nervous, and reminding myself and our team, not to make perfect the enemy of the good. My kids will tell you I am incredibly anxious and overly empathetic. I am not sure how my incredible therapist/career coach would describe it, but fear and excitement are definitely my “drug” addiction. It’s how I learn, remember, create and make a call to action every day if not every hour. I keep myself in check with my company’s staff, and we have a very laid back and peaceful atmosphere in my company – including a yoga and meditation room, but I feel sorry for some of my senior advisers that have to deal with my nervousness all the time. The former CEO of Intel, Andy Grove, wrote a good book many years ago, “Only the Paranoid Survive.” I’m definitely that kind of CEO, even if I mask it fairly well most of the time.
I think the “smooth road” is a myth for any significantly successful company. You have to take risks and blaze new trails to set your company apart, both of which invite challenges. And I can tell you from my experiences in two firms now that even rapid growth brings about significant challenges. At the end of 2015 we were a company with 40 million in revenues and we will generate 80 million this year. That kind of growth will challenge anyone – we either stay on our toes or we collapse under the weight of rapid expansion.
We are lucky to be well positioned with a very reliable revenue stream, so I can confidently invest in the right personnel and position them to succeed. It was challenge getting all the pieces in place., because of I’m a “paranoid survivor – what I think of in business terms as healthy paranoia – I’ve sought out the best people I can as advisers. People I’ve known for decades with proven track records who help me live up to my own mantra of not making the perfect the enemy of the good. So, while our road to success has not been entirely smooth, I’ve had the right kind of support around me to navigate difficulties quickly and not get stuck – literally or emotionally – in the rough patches.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
In our ecosystem there are really four stakeholders— the providers we distribute for, our employees, our consultant partners and our end-user customers (e.g., the businesses that contract for the connectivity and cloud services). We care greatly about the success of all four groups and I am most proud of our reputation with all of them. Our employees love working with us and bring to the job incredible attitudes and effort. Our independent partners never stop working with us. Our provider partners always tell us we are their favorite distributor to work with and they invest time, money and resources as a result. And, we have testimonial after testimonial from customers satisfied with our education, recommendations and support.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
I’ve had some powerful mentors in my life. Growing up, my Father Maurice, who now plays an integral part in guiding our finance team at Sandler Partners, my Uncle Herman and my Grandfather Harry all were mentors and role models that showed me anything was achievable with hard work and a great team. I learned from them that there are never ceilings you can’t break through.
And Sandler Partners has been built on the shoulders of so many incredibly talented people. Leon Richter, our COO, has advised and supported me since the early 1990s. When you thrive on creative sales and marketing and the relentless pursuit of growth, you need someone incredibly talented to plan, organize and clean up your messes, and to make you look good. For me, that’s Leon. I have a business development person, Caleb Tucker, I refer to as my consigliere (and that’s what his business cards say) that helps balance my ideas and his not afraid to challenge them when needed. We also have old industry friends from the 1990s that guide our marketing and events strategy – Casey Freymuth and Khali Henderson – that help us resonate with our business target market segment and drive so many partners and customers in our direction.
I also believe it’s vital to get advice and council from people outside your work sphere of influence and I have a tremendous therapist and coach, Sarah Stoker, who has helped guide me since 2003. Business is about numbers and analytics, but it’s also about passion balanced with emotional intelligence. If you’re not able to separate and understand your emotions when you’re making decisions, the ramifications can be painful.
And then beyond my personal advisers we have so many talented team members, Paul Seeley, Cesar Navarro, Drew Kenworthy https://www.sandlerpartners.com/about#our-team in both sales and operations, that perform so well and have made significant contribution to our dramatic growth. Our number one source of new business is referrals, and that’s because of the heart, effort and intelligence of our team.
Contact Info:
- Address: Sandler Partners
1200 Artesia Blvd.
Suite 305
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254 - Website: www.sandlerpartners.com
- Phone: 310-796-1393
- Email: [email protected]
