Wasabi CEO David Friend: The ChannelE2E Interview

by Joe Panettieri • May 28, 2020

Wasabi CEO David Friend is seeking to disrupt the cloud storage market — where giants like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Microsoft Azure loom large.

Sound impossible? Guess again. Wasabi is growing rapidly, attracting channel partners and MSPs — and turning heads in financial markets. This morning, the company announced a $30 million financing round led by Forestay Capital.

The big question: What is Wasabi’s secret sauce in the very competitive cloud storage market? David Friend shares answers in this ChannelE2E interview — recorded two days before today’s funding announcement:

The conversation covers:

• 0:00 – Intros
• 0:10 – Wasabi’s cloud storage services explained
• 0:26 – How Wasabi stands out from Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure
• 1:30 – Competing against AWS Simple Storage Service (S3) while being plug compatible
• 2:19 – Wasabi’s secret sauce: How the company drives down cloud storage costs
• 3:30 – Wasabi’s company history and business journey
• 4:50 – Funding clues – Wasabi’s latest round
• 5:35 – Initiatives for channel partners, MSPs and strategic alliances: Momentum, data points and milestones
• 7:10 – How Wasabi serves as a storage system for third-party backup and disaster recovery (BDR) software platforms
• 9:06 – The coronavirus pandemic: Implications for Wasabi, partners and customers
• 11:58 – Wasabi’s business priorities for the rest of 2020 and beyond
• 14;28 – Commodity technology: How to ensure it’s a profitable opportunity
• 16:27 – Where to find more info about Wasabi
• 17:00 – Conclusion