ThreatCaptain Gen 4 Unbundles Pricing: Brad Powell Explains Impact for MSP Growth Strategies

[00:00:01] Dave Sobel here reporting from the floor of ChannelCon with Brad Powell. He is the co-founder and president of ThreatCaptain. They've just launched their Gen 4 product. Now, Pat, welcome to the show. Thank you, Dave. Thanks for having me. So let's dive right in. Gen 4 was generally available yesterday. So tell me what shipped and what can this version do that the last could?

[00:00:22] Gen 4, we're super excited about the launch of this and we thought what could be a better place than ChannelCon? And we're here with a lot of our friends, community and peers. But the platform itself is really helping MSPs in three ways. We're helping you find net new ICP clients with our lead gen tool. We're also helping you have better business conversations and winning those business deals. And then we're also helping you retain and have better ROI conversations.

[00:00:50] And we've done that in the new platform with three modules. So in Gen 4, the previous platform in Gen 3 was really an all encompassing platform. And so what we've done is we've really made it easy for an MSP to say, here's where my biggest pain is and here's where I want to start in the platform. All right. So somebody downloads it, turns it on. Day one, what's the first thing that they should be spending their time with? Setting up their service catalog so that it can use the analysis that we built into the platform with their service catalog,

[00:01:19] what they offer, the bundles that they're offering because we're using financial impact analysis as like the back end of what we're using in our algorithm to help them simulate what they offer. So more of a current state. And then if you work with us, here's where we can take you to the future state of risk and lowering your risk. So you've got a methodology, boats, build, open, accelerate, tell the story, smooth sailing. Is that a methodology the MSP learns?

[00:01:47] Or is that a workflow that the software runs for them? That's a great question. So the software is really built around that methodology to help you think through where do I start? How do I kind of move through each one of these modules? And so that's really where we've we build a framework that when you step in, you can kind of say, OK, where do I start? Oh, let me work with the threat captain framework. And it really does help you. OK, if we need leads, here's how we go build those opportunities all the way into the final conversation.

[00:02:18] OK, let's actually get the sale completed. So, yes, it is a framework that you use to sell and understand the platform. OK, makes sense. So in March, you guys were priced at $14.99 a month with book a console and custom tiers tied to your workshops. But with Gen 4 publishing now, the pricing runs $199, $5.99 and $3.99 by bundle. So unbundling as a product is a maturation move. And I want to acknowledge that that makes it makes total sense. Yeah.

[00:02:45] So what changed the product or buyers you didn't think you could reach at $14.99? Great question. So what we found was that when we worked with more mature MSPs, I guess ones that had 10 to 20 client success and sales teams really could use threat captain and get one client and pay for itself. It's when we really began to work with some of the smaller MSPs that were really still trying to grow that we just are.

[00:03:15] We could not hit that TAM with where we were at a price point and what we were delivering. So what we did with Gen 4 is really help open up the market to work with everyone and give them different doors to walk into. I would say the $5.99 package is really the core and the $3.99 of what we've built in the Gen 3. And then the lead gen really is we kept hearing over and over, man, we can have some referral conversations or inbound conversations,

[00:03:44] really need some help getting leads and net new prospects. And so that's where we came to the table with our lead gen product. So help me get the mapping right, because admittedly, the trade reporting was a little ambiguous from my perspective. Which model is $1.99? What's $5.99? What's $3.99? And what does an MSP have to buy in order to run the full WISC model and revenue conversion package?

[00:04:09] Yeah. So if you really want to get going, lead gens is where we typically see a lot of our MSPs starting with the new lead gen, excuse me, gen 4. But most of our MSPs are already on that core platform. So it's a lot of upgrading to lead gen. But really, the core platform is where we're seeing all the kind of the bread and butter happening with the business risk assessments, as well as the really using prospecting.

[00:04:36] Okay. Now, you guys use Novus Insights as a name number, $80,000 in professional services in three months, a million plus in new AR in 2025. Credit where it's due, that's real numbers, right? Real numbers. Is that a best case or is that immediate? So that was within three months of using the platform. Now, again, very mature CISO that was using the platform. He had an audience of 15, what were they? They were a nonprofit.

[00:05:05] And he was really able to have the conversation of financial impact using our platform as a illustration and illuminated the conversation. And, yeah, he had a partner come up and said, yeah, I need to probably talk to you. My insurance, I'm not sure about this. And closed the $80,000 deal, professional services deal. So, yeah. Okay. How many MSPs, paying MSPs are on the platform today? And how many of those have closed the deal they attribute to threat capped?

[00:05:33] That's a great question because we're not a hammer and you hit all the nails with us, right? And you still have to do a lot of soft skills things as well. But right now we have around 65 partners and we are rapidly growing with new conversations. You know, we've had some new hires as well. So really high ambitions to work with a lot more MSPs as we grow.

[00:06:30] What I also found interesting is the original engine was built to help serve insurers and help them. And so what happened to change in order to pivot that and point it at like a 40-seat SMB? Great question. So when we first started ThreatCaptain, we were really going to be a professional services company consulting, not necessarily doing tabletops, but business roundtables with MSPs and enterprise clients. And we were using this algorithm where we used the IBM cost of data breach, Verizon's DBIR,

[00:07:00] really marry that in a Monte Carlo simulation to miter attack framework. And we could use that to show the annual residual risk and also what controls the client had in place. And so it was a 20-minute part of our business roundtable. And everyone kept asking us about it like, hey, great 30-page business roundtable report. But what was that financial information and that impact and the likelihood that you were showing us? That was really resonating with our team.

[00:07:27] And so after hearing that over and over and over again, Dave, we decided we need to build a platform for this. Got some grants from our great state of South Carolina and were able to build out the Gen 1 of the platform. And here we are at Gen 4. Well, congratulations. I'm going to pivot, right? Because I want to ask about the ISO. And I want to precise because you've wore two hats here. You've got not only the ThreatCaptain one, but the one here around the ISO. So you're running point on VTIA's ISO updates.

[00:07:57] So give me an update. What's new and what is it cost a member and how many solution providers are participating? That's a great question. I'm not quite sure of the actual number of participators in the ISO. But, man, we have a great group on the advisory board that I sit with that is just really hungry to get the right information to all the members here, specifically in the cyber hub.

[00:08:20] It's a challenge when you're trying to explain cybersecurity in a way that can resonate with an SMB. And so there's a lot of guys on our board and even in the group that are very technical and they want those technical conversations and they get into the weeds. Then we have others that just want to know, hey, is this applicable to the technology that I'm deploying to one of my SMBs? And I just need to know the high level, kind of the business-y thing.

[00:08:47] So one of the things that I bring to the ISO is I bring it from the vendor side, first and foremost, which is unique. Most of our members on the board are MSPs themselves that are in the trenches. So it's a unique perspective that I get to hold. And really for us, we're really building out that financial story to tell the clients, how can we help bridge that gap here at the ISO with the threat intel? So it's been a fun project.

[00:09:17] The people I get to work with are amazing. So it makes a lot of fun. So I want to ask, because Admiral takes real-time threat intelligence and it turns it into those sales opportunities. Things like ransom on dentists is up. Here are some dentists that you can help out with. But you also run point on the threat sharing in the ISO, right? So there's that too. And I assume the feeds are separate.

[00:09:39] So tell me where the wall is between intelligence members contribute and intelligence that becomes a threat captain sales stringer. How does that work? Well, I'd say for us, similar to Zillow is how I like to think about this. You've probably used Zillow before. And when you say, hey, we want to live in this neighborhood in Northern Virginia, West Virginia, and we like this neighborhood. This area is around 1.2. Oh, we really want to live in this house near the pond area.

[00:10:08] And it's 3.2. So we're doing the same things with MSPs. We're using industry data, like I was explaining earlier, to help simulate and give you a ballpark figure of what it could potentially cost. Instead of walking in selling cybersecurity where it's, hey, have you heard Home Depot? Yeah, I've heard Home Depot. Well, did you hear they got breached for $68 million? And I'm a dentist. I'm a CPA firm. Like, I don't care about that. I buy my tools from Home Depot.

[00:10:34] But we help MSPs walk in with a conversation and a business story around their business. So that's really where ThreatCaptain's data lives. With when it comes to what's coming in from the ISAL, we're ultimately just looking at it from a, this just came in, this was hit ransomware. How does that affect? What are the costs? That sort of thing. I think that's a great thing. To have a better story on that threat fee for members, if you see what I'm saying.

[00:11:04] I do, but I also want to press a little bit here because Wayne Selk has framed this as saying that shared intelligence lets the industry see those threats forming. Right. And what I want to make sure that I understand how you built the difference is if a member's contribution can surface in the prospecting engine, that would potentially risk the sharing mechanism. So how are you working to keep kind of the two portions of your engagement separate?

[00:11:32] Well, we're completely aligned with Wayne and the entire team. But we're not doing anything other than making sure that when a threat comes in from the ISAL, our team looks at it just like Acronis and some of the other vendors. I think we have five that are going to be participating in this so that we kind of all give different levels of intel from our perspective to ultimately help the whole community.

[00:12:40] So I also want to, I'm going to have a little follow this one. I want you to make the case like against your product. Like in what cases do you think an MSP should not buy threat captain? I would say not buy threat captain. If you're not looking to grow, you're not looking to have a better business conversation.

[00:12:59] If you are not doing any kind of risk analysis with your, with your clients or you are, you know, I really think everyone, when you think about it, either a owner led or a large hundred million dollar MSP, everyone is always looking for a better way to have a conversation. With a new prospect on the front lines or have a better retention conversation.

[00:13:25] And so, um, and if you have that all figured out, I would not, not, not buy threat. Fair. All right. So let's project out. You, you're launching Gen 4 right now, 12 months from now. We're sitting back down again and chat. That was a lot of noise. Just hold on. Fair. I can read you that one. Your answer was five. It was my question. I'll just pick. Until the earthquake. It is loud over here, isn't it? It's not as quiet as we want. You might help. Yeah. Sounds good.

[00:13:55] All right. Fair answer. So I want to, want to project 12 months out from now. You and I are sitting back down again at channel con 12 months past the launch of Gen 4. What's the number you want me to hold you to in 12 months? What number are we, are we thinking about? Are we talking revenue numbers? We talk in. I left it. I've been intentionally for you, but I want, I like this. What's success 12 months from now that I need to ask you about to see if you hit it?

[00:14:22] Man, you know, honestly, we would like to impact and help over 350 MSPs by the end of next year and really be more ingrained in their businesses, right? Like we're still fresh. We're still new. But I believe we can get, we can do that. Well, there we go. 350 next year. There it is. Hold me to it, Dave. I will hold you to it. Thanks for joining me today. Really appreciate it. Yes, thank you.

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[00:15:17] The Business of Tech is written and produced by me, Dave Sobel, under ethics guidelines posted at businessof.tech. Thanks for listening. I'll see you on the next episode. Produced by Picture This Video. Part of the MSP Radio Network. We'll be right back.