ALTR Looks To Diversify Partner Base With New Program

July 16, 2020, 09:00 AM EDT

ALTR says its new program will allow cloud architects, application development partners and AWS-focused SIs to get involved in deals as a consultant without having to execute the transactions themselves.

ALTR looks to expand its channel community beyond security VARs and SIs with a new program that compensates partners for identifying and referring net new opportunities.

The Austin, Texas-based data security startup said the new ALTR Stackable Margins program will make it possible for cloud architects, application development partners and AWS-focused SI to get involved in deals as a consultant without having to execute the transaction themselves, according to Brian Stoner, vice president of channels and alliances.

“I wanted this program to be as innovative as our technology,” said Stoner, who became ALTR’s channel chief in October 2019 after nearly three years at endpoint security pioneer Cylance.

ALTR currently has 38 consulting, resale and referral partners, and Stoner said the company is looking to double that over the next year in addition to forming tighter relationships with its existing partners. The company also wants to go from having partners spotting 30 percent of net new opportunities when Stone started at ALTR to 70 percent of net new opportunities a year from now, he said.

Stoner said the company previously didn’t have a way of compensating consultants for referrals, and took more of an all or nothing approach where solution providers had to close the deal themselves in order to get paid.

But now, Stoner said a channel partner that tests ALTR out and successfully introduces the company to one of its customers can receive a referral fee equivalent to 5 percent of the overall transaction value. Referral partners that quality the opportunity themselves are eligible for a margin of 10 percent, according to Stoner.

From there, Stoner said partners that also conduct a proof of concept (POC) so that the customer can test the technology would be eligible for a total margin of 20 percent. And solution providers that see the transaction through and close the deal themselves would receive a total margin of 30 percent, according to Stoner.

ALTR’s previously reseller program provided partners with a 20 percent margin for registered deals, so Stoner said existing partners will fare much better under the new program. The ALTR Stackable Margins program will also provide internal leads to folks invested in the program, sales enablement, joint webinars and virtual marketing events, according to Stoner.

As far as renewals are concerned, incumbents that help ALTR retain customers are rewarded with a payout of 20 percent of the renewal purchase price. And non-incumbent partners receive a 10 percent margin on renewals, according to ALTR.

ALTR’s biggest goal with its new partner program is generating net new opportunities, Stoner said. The company also plans to evaluate its success of its program in the marketplace by examining how many solution providers are getting enabled to do POCs and implementations, according to Stoner.

Finally, Stoner said ALTR plans to assess the effectiveness of the Stackable Margins program by tracking topline growth and average sales price on a per-partner basis.

“Because we’re entering into a newer market space with a lot more players that’s a lot more diverse than the traditional security marketplace, we wanted our program to be innovative,” Stoner said.

ALTR was founded in 2017, employs 64 people, and has raised $30 million in two rounds of outside funding, according to LinkedIn and Crunchbase. The company has increased its headcount by 42 percent from 45 employees a year ago, with the most aggressive hiring taking place in ALTR’s sales organization, LinkedIn indicated.