In light of the news that Datto is being acquired by Kaseya, we’ve understandably had partners reach out asking for our take along with a variety of questions. In addition to responding 1:1, I also wanted to share some thoughts in a broader way here on the blog.
For starters, I think this acquisition reflects a reality that we have long believed — that the MSP market is healthy and growing fast. Investor interest wouldn’t be so high, otherwise. Datto has maintained a great reputation throughout its growth, and we have many partners successfully running Ninja/Datto hybrid stacks today.
In regards to how this move differs from our own approach and plans for Ninja, we’ve been responding by reaffirming our values.
Build vs. Buy
One of our guiding mantras from our early days on has been that we’re builders, not buyers. At the heart of Ninja is our belief that we can best serve our customers with a single, modern code stack, with the best and brightest engineers working hard to build products that are easy to use, high performance, secure, and powerful.
In some cases, that’s meant sacrificing speed to market, but ultimately, we think there are serious benefits that make it well worth it. Towards the top of that list is the fact that we view native integration and interplay within the platform as having the potential to be truly differentiating.
While it’s not really accurate to say that we’d never consider buying another product, that certainly isn’t our starting point when we think about expansion, and we would have to align extremely closely in terms of our DNA and the team behind it.
Founder-led
It’s also worth stressing in this context that we are proud to be an independent, founder-led company that has thrived in the channel, and we have no plans of changing that. Instead, it’s our intention to double down on the rapid growth that we’ve experienced throughout the past year by continuing to relentlessly innovate with new features, enhancements, and products, and by staying true to our commitment to providing world-class account management and support.
We understand and appreciate MSPs need choices
From the beginning, we’ve acknowledged that MSPs operate best when they have flexibility and the option to build the right stack that works best for them, without being locked into a particular ecosystem. With that in mind, we’ve had a continuous commitment to building best-in-class integrations with other channel-leading software, including Autotask, ITGlue, Brightgauge, and others.
In addition, we’ve always given MSPs the option to avoid long-term contracts and commitments by paying month-to-month if they prefer.
Looking ahead
As we grow, we remain deeply committed to the channel, and one thing partners can expect to see from us moving forward is even more involvement in the community. We’ve made strategic hires dedicated to it, and we’re enjoying more and more community collaboration on both internal and external efforts.
In the meantime, if you’re a partner and you have questions please don’t be shy about reaching out to your account manager. They’d love to hear from you.
If you’re curious to see the latest developments in the platform and what we’ve got cooking next, see our public roadmap. We’ve got some really exciting features and enhancements in store.
Onward, and more from us soon.
Sal
