Get to Know: Tom Meusel, VP of Worldwide Partnerships and Alliances
Joined Everbridge
April 2016
Location
Burlington
What do you do at Everbridge?
I lead the Partner team, which looks for opportunities to work with other companies that can help us take Everbridge into new markets, verticals or geographies. Right now, we have 50+ partners around the world — some embed the platform and sell it as their own, others resell us, and others simply refer business to us. It’s kind of like having your own sales team, except the reps are working at other companies. It’s our job to figure out how to enable and empower those folks to help them drive business for us.
The Partner team itself is small: there are three of us here in the States and one in Europe. So we wear a lot of hats. Part of what we do is build the program by working with existing partners on sales activities, forecasting, and developing marketing programs to drive new business for Everbridge. We also recruit new partners that can add value for Everbridge, especially in countries where we don’t have direct salespeople.
What were you doing before Everbridge, and why did you join?
I started out at IBM, and I’ve since worked at eight different startups, including two I co-founded. So I have a lot of experience building things from the ground up.
“Our people care so much about our mission. Service is in the DNA of the company.”
In 2006, I was in a role similar to this one at a company called Gomez, and that’s where I met Jaime Ellertson and a lot of the other people who would later lead Everbridge. After a recent stint at another company, I reconnected with Jaime and we talked about the opportunity to build the channel at Everbridge. Honestly, at the time, I don’t think I fully understood the true power of this platform, but I did know there was an outstanding executive team. We had confidence in each other — and we already knew each other’s warts. I also knew I liked them, and I’ve been around long enough to know you have to like and respect the people you work with. So it was an easy decision for me.
What’s different about Everbridge?
For one thing, it’s an exciting product. I’ve sold a lot of software over the years, and it can be difficult to connect the dots to a real, tangible impact. But Everbridge changes people’s lives. I know it’s cliché, but it really does make a difference when you can explain what you do to your mother, even if she knows nothing about technology. It’s simple — we keep people safe and businesses running. That’s a lot better than saying, “We embed database technology in the bowels of a product, and you’ll never see it.”
Another thing is the people, because they care so much about our mission. Service is in the DNA of the company. Many of the people here were in the military, or were first responders, or volunteer in situations like the ones our customers face every day. It’s unusual to have that kind of culture, where people are living and breathing the work we do. There’s a shared dedication to the mission and a shared commitment to succeed.
What are some of the challenges you face?
One challenge is that, because we’re a SaaS company and so much of our product is automated, the bar for partners is high. We’re looking for companies that can truly add value for our customers or complement our technology in a meaningful way, not just transact for us. That can be tough to find, and our team has to be thoughtful about the types of partnerships we choose.
The other piece is that Everbridge is very much a direct sales culture, which means indirect sales isn’t always seen as central to our strategy. So part of my job is to make some noise and ensure we’re considering the impact on our partnerships as we make key decisions. I think we’re getting there. We have support from leadership, and we’ve had some key wins that help us demonstrate the value of our channel.
Tell us about one of those wins.
Our partnership with a company called International SOS is a good example. They provide services for people traveling around the world — whether that’s safety notifications, medical assistance and treatment, or lifesaving evacuations. The technology they used wasn’t performing well, so we embedded Everbridge in their platform. Now they have 1,200 customers who are much better equipped to avoid a dangerous situation or get in touch with their company in real time if, God forbid, they do end up in distress. We know it’s making a difference because they’re traveling more safely. That’s pretty rewarding.
“We have support from leadership, and we’ve had some key wins that help us demonstrate the value of our channel.”
What are you excited about in the next few years?
What’s exciting to me is the ability to create something from the ground up. Everbridge isn’t a startup anymore, but our team is sort of like a startup within the company. Partnerships only made up about two percent of the new and growth business when I joined. But we’ve more than doubled that so far, and my goal is 25 percent in the next three to five years. It’s a daunting task, and there are a million steps between here and there, but I believe it’s something we can achieve. And in a few years, we’ll be able to look back and see that impact.
I’m also excited to see the growth of Everbridge as a whole. I’ve been in a lot of companies that went from zero to $100 million, but never one that went from $100 million to $1 billion. To be able to go through and contribute to that experience, to see us scale and know exactly what it’s like — I’m really excited for that ride.
