Specialist
Former Regional Sales Manager at CrowdStrike Holdings Inc
Agenda
- Noteworthy cybersecurity trends
- CrowdStrike's (NASDAQ: CRWD) competitive positioning in endpoint security
- CrowdStrike's VAR channel and sales strategy
- Customer demand trends across SMB, mid-market and large enterprise
- CrowdStrike's key growth drivers
Questions
1.
Which key trends are you following right now in the endpoint market? What do you think investors should be paying attention to?
2.
You mention CrowdStrike building out around its offering, and notably you started on the EDR [endpoint detection & response] side. To what extent has it built out a more competitive EPP [endpoint protection platform] offering and how should we think about its evolution, thus far, as a holistic endpoint solution?
3.
It appears that CrowdStrike has been winning market share, winning deals vs new next-gen peers such as Carbon Black and Cylance. What is it that allows CrowdStrike to win deals vs the next-gen players? What do you think are a few of the core differentiations between some of the other EDR peers?
4.
CrowdStrike’s Q2 2019 subscription revenue grew over 100% YoY, professional services were closer to maybe 30-35% growth. How should we think about professional services growth as a function of subscription moving forward? Any kind of colour on attach rates and how you expect that to trend more broadly?
5.
Are you aware if CrowdStrike competes on sales with the legacy endpoint providers such as Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro, etc? In what scenarios does CrowdStrike lose deals vs win deals? What might be the general CTO impression of a CrowdStrike vs a more tested solution, such as Symantec?
6.
There has been a propensity to shift to suite solutions, for example Palo Alto is expanding into some adjacent security offerings like endpoint. How often would you encounter a Palo Alto in the field? What are your thoughts on the importance of a more holistic platform in winning deals vs more focused players, such as CrowdStrike?
7.
What is your assessment of CrowdStrike's product fit across SMB, mid-market and large enterprise? How does CrowdStrike’s large enterprise fit compare with Carbon Black?
8.
How big of an opportunity is cross-selling for CrowdStrike, with its current customer base? To what extent can CrowdStrike grow the contract value with its existing base?
9.
Are there any new product categories adjacent to what CrowdStrike is currently working on which makes sense to move into? What could provide longer term growth?
10.
Referring to CrowdStrike’s Q2 2019 earnings, it is yet to be profitable. What do you think is necessary from a sales and marketing spend standpoint? To what extent will it increase, where does it stabilise?
11.
You alluded to some conflict of interest with the channel strategy. To what extent can CrowdStrike optimise its channel strategy and exposure currently to VARs?
12.
How critical is CrowdStrike’s professional services when it comes to winning deals? Could it be ditched and spend be allocated elsewhere? Is there strategic value in that?
13.
Can you talk about the importance of CrowdStrike’s partnerships with other security providers? To what extent is this a driver of sales leads and what can be done to expand this?
14.
Are there any common recurring reasons why CrowdStrike would lose deals? Are you aware of any common customer pain points?
15.
You talked about consolidation as a major trend. To what extent do you think CrowdStrike would want to make an acquisition? Which acquisitions would make sense for CrowdStrike to jumpstart into a new category or expand on its offering?
16.
How do you think CrowdStrike might change its strategy or vision as a public company moving forward?
17.
What are the trends in the average length of sales cycle for CrowdStrike? To what extent is this expanding or contracting? Is the contract term length evolving in any way?
18.
If there are different sales cycle lengths for different customer sizes, how does that factor into the profitability of customer segments and CrowdStrike's subsequent focus?
19.
What are a few of the biggest risk factors that CrowdStrike faces over the next two or three years?
20.
What key questions would you ask CrowdStrike’s management team, if you were an investor?
21.
What might be a best-case, worst-case scenario for CrowdStrike? Given the risk factors discussed, what does the downside scenario vs the upside look like? In what sense could there be extrications?
22.
To what extent does being a cloud-based solution make CrowdStrike more or less sticky vs traditional software in the space?
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