The Apple Watch Officially Kicks Off Terminator & Borg Debates

Are you telling me that my Apple Watch is somehow funding Skynet? Arnold Schwarzenegger is coming back to stop the shipments of watches? 

Not quite, but let me get there after a little bit of background of wearing my watch for 12 days.

First, full disclosure. I am writing this on a Lenovo computer - I have tried really hard to honor my technical past and not become one of "those" Apple fanatics that buy everything that comes to market.

And I am failing miserably.

After 17 years at IBM/Lenovo selling industry standard, somewhat "open" technology, I just added the Apple Watch Sport to my collection of Apple products including the iPhone 6 Plus 128GB and iPad Air 2 128GB.

As far back as I remember, I have been excited about wearable technology - from the old do-everything Casio watches growing up to recent Fitbit and Jawbone experiments. In fact, I used to keynote about the future as far back as 1996 talking about "pervasive computing" where technology would infiltrate almost every product category - electrical or not.

I decided to wait on the smartwatch market for Apple to legitimize it.

By legitimize, I want to be clear - I don't mean make a better product, just a more popular one that will attract programmers and new companies that will incubate and innovate this new device category. 

With 3 million people now wearing (or waiting for) their watches, the mass market has officially started for wearable technology.

My first impression, however, was not good.

The kickoff event in 2014 was underwhelming. The initial view I had of the watch was very square, robust and clunky. Unfortunately that didn't change on April 24, 2015 when I unboxed the final product. While the packaging was stunning, sleek and undeniably Apple, the product itself looks like a version 1.

We will look back on this in 5 years and compare it to current product the same way we look at the first iPhone from 2007. Once the industry progresses on battery technology, smaller haptic and heart rate sensors, the watch will slim down to a more beautiful form factor. The square face is growing on me, but I was secretly hoping for round.

The syncing with the phone took about 20 minutes and used a visibly interesting QR code to pair the devices. Once I got my apps over and set the face to Mickey Mouse - I was off to the races. I was pleasantly surprised by the app support on day 1 - with a few notable misses from the likes of Facebook and Google (obviously).

My pleasant surprise soon turned to amusement as many of the apps don't do anything. Not that they aren't useful - it is that they literally have no value. For example, CNN sends me a push notification of breaking news and then tells me to take out my phone to read past the first paragraph. The mail app doesn't handle HTML and tells me to take out my phone. The Mint app tells me how much fun money to spend this month - that is it.

There are a few apps that deserve honorable mentions:

- Amazon really thought through the experience without a keyboard.

- Twitter allows you to look at trending and some timeline. (not a great experience, but not terrible)

- Slack (the fastest company to a $2B valuation ever) put some effort into the notifications, allowing instant replies.

10 Reasons why the Apple Watch is worth the $399 I paid:

1. I have already spent that amount on broken Fitbits and Jawbones that found themselves on the wrong end of the washing machine or hip check in hockey. This device is very well made, waterproof and there are only a couple of elements on earth that can scratch the screen.

2. The band fit and feel is excellent. Putting it on and taking it off is a snap (literally) after a few practice runs.

3. The battery life has been great and goes toe to toe with my iPhone 6 Plus for all day heavy usage.

4. Siri is 80% as good as the iPhone however with no browser on the Watch my frequent trips to Wikipedia require me to take out my phone.

5. The GPS on the wrist is clutch. It recognizes locations via voice command and I now use it instead of my in dash Navigation because of that. The slight tap on the wrist every time a turn is coming is a cool feature. Riding the Harley with this on my wrist has been a blast.

6. The messaging system is fantastic - getting updates on social, favorite apps and text messages is delivered in a nice way with a tap on the wrist or pleasant audio tone. Returning messages via voice or voice to text features is fast and easy, it won't solve the texting and driving problem however. Taking phone calls via speakerphone is another win - I thought it would be obnoxious in public places, but it is quiet enough to be personal and for quick 10 second "where are you in Walmart status calls" it works well.

7. Filling up the main time screen with weather, calories burned, the date and my next calendar meeting is surprisingly useful. The countdown timer combined with Siri has been used at least a dozen times while cooking and BBQing. No more walking over to microwave to set kitchen timer. The remote camera shutter is also a nice to have for propped selfies - no more holding your smile for 10 seconds hoping you kept your eyes open.

8. I checked in for a Delta flight this morning using the Passbook - it took an extra second or two for the machine to recognize the smaller QR code (a second or two feels like ten when people are behind you late for their flights however!)

9. The heart rate monitor combined with the health app provides more value than the Fitbit and Jawbone step trackers as I can better understand the amount of aerobic exercise I am getting while sitting in an office all day (d'oh).

10. It has me wearing a watch again. Something I haven't done since cell phones took over in the 90's.

8 Reasons why not to buy an Apple Watch (at least version 1 of it):

1. I mentioned above that the design is underwhelming. I am sure the $17,000 gold version with sapphire looks stunning but I can't get over the boxiness. It is the Volvo of watches! The rotary dial reminds me of my Blackberry 15 years ago. This is the one element that Steve Jobs would not have approved. For those that had those calculator watches in the 80's - this will be the perfect form factor for you.

2. Limited and low value apps. I won't spend much time on this because it will get better. I just need to remind myself what the first iPhone was missing. Navigation can at times be clumsy - the circles are small so you need to stop walking and focus in to hit the right app. Returning to the home screen should take one touch and not the multiple that it sometimes does.

3. The reliance on the phone. I believe the next major release of the watch will incorporate a cellular and GPS chip allowing the watch to function without the iPhone. I normally have my iPhone with me, but I would rather leave it behind when I am on the boat, a bike ride, run, etc. Samsung and others are already doing this and it was a version 1 misfire.

4. No browser or HTML support. This is frustrating and makes the mail app useless and Siri very limited. I wouldn't care that the font would be so small you couldn't read it - I would still like to use a browser and pinch and zoom full desktop sites when needed.

5. The charger is a big fat plastic disk that attaches via magnet to the bottom. I don't mind that it doesn't use the same cable as the iPhone (as others have complained) because I want it to be waterproof and big holes have a way of letting in water. The design of the charger disk is so fat and clumsy however that it is also in the non-Apple category of design. If it were thinner, you could wear the watch while charging. (Think an office setting, not sleeping)

6. The Health app can get annoying. "Please stand up and move", "You are a sloth and haven't burned many calories today", "Are you alive?"  I see what they are trying to do, but it doesn't have the intended effect on my behavior.

7. The music remote control is ok - but only ok. I would have like the option to use the speakerphone and play music from the watch not my phone. When I have the phone hooked up to the boat or home stereo it is nice to be able to skip songs in the next room over. The experience needs work though.

8. The Apple closed system. While the watch works great, doesn't crash and didn't take a manual to learn how to run, I still am a techie at heart that wants to fiddle with pixels at times. The settings are very limited and you get what you get with only a handful of Mickey Mouse and butterfly variations.

Ok, enough of the pros and cons. Let's get back to the Terminator and Borg argument.

I have a future prediction about a feature no one is talking about:

Haptic IS the future of communication!

I believe in 10 years (people always overestimate where we will be in 2 years, and underestimate where we will be in 10 years - so I will choose the latter), haptic communication will take over a significant chunk of human communication. It will be a resurrection of a Morse Code type of language that will develop with your kids that are quickly becoming too lazy to type 140 characters.

It will be a generational change from today's Snapchat/Twitter/Instagram teenagers. The kids (who are born after 2005) will teach themselves a new language based on touch. Tapping your phone (or other wearable device) with different cadence and rhythms will form an entirely new language not understood by parents and difficult to control in school settings. Remember, the watch doesn't have to be on your wrist - the new wearable technologies will be everywhere and anywhere.

A modern version of Pig Latin!

My prediction is in 2025 you will find yourself saying, "remember the good old days when we used to communicate in a full 140 character prose? Kids today just go around tapping each other all the time."

It is another step to being fully controlled by technology. After novelties like earrings and other haptic piercings wear off in 5 years, we will be in the middle of the internal body integrated technology debate. The Terminator or Borg concept from Star Trek is going to become very real and we are guaranteed to face the moral, religious and philosophical questions in our lifetime.

And history books will point back to 2015 when Apple sold 3 million haptic devices in the first weekend - kicking off the idea that we want to "feel" others, and maybe it is ok to have that technology embedded rather than simply on our wrist.

How big is the IT Channel?

This is the one question that really has no definitive answer. So let's give it a shot!

Using dozens of data sources, we can start from the top down and try to get into the right area code. The global IT industry is forecasted to be $3.828 trillion dollars (yes, with a "t") in 2015 according to Gartner Group.

North America represents about 25% of the world in both spend and number of IT providers. The simple breakdown is $240 billion hardware, $230 billion services, $190 billion software and $340 billion telecom.

The largest consumers of IT by industry vertical include Healthcare, Professional Services, Retail, Construction and Accommodation. About 7 in 10 businesses used some type of IT provider in 2014. (Source: CompTIA)

Ok, let's drill into the North American Channel numbers...

The North American Industry Classification System recognizes 333,965 companies that are channel-oriented. Of this, 208,463 are self-employed or sole proprietors. There could be thousands of additional companies mislabeled as well that have influence on IT purchases by business.

Remember, any of these numbers can be multiplied by 4 to get an estimate of global numbers.

The Channel Company, better know by their industry leading magazine CRN, has arguably the best channel database on the planet. The data has been collected over 30 years and they employ a full-time staff to keep it updated and clean. They report a total population of 170,000 North American partners, with their "ChannelBase" database capturing additional information on 150,000 of them,

CompTIA, the world's largest IT association, uses a research approach sourcing data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, BEA - Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce, TECNA, EMSI, Hoovers, IDC, as well as their own membership and communities. CompTIA reports a North American channel population of 125,502 firms.

CompTIA further segments the channel data by employee size:

• 160 Large Channel Firms (500+ Employees)
• 1,388 Medium Channel Firms (100-499 Employees)
• 13,680 Small Channel Firms (10-99 Employees)
• 110,274 Micro Channel Firms (1-9 Employees)
  
  125,502 Total

CRN Magazine devotes one of its issues every year to the VAR 500 - the top 500 channel partners in North America, ranked by revenue. Almost like the Forbes Billionaire list, channel partners are competing to make the prestigious list. By the way, in 2014, the magic number was $20 million in revenue to make the cut.

CDN Magazine in Canada also does a Top 100 List and the magic number in Canada is just over $5 million to make it into the top 100.

As a side note, I wrote in a previous blog how to get the revenue of any partner by just using Linkedin and some industry average multiples. Very powerful in building a recruitment strategy,

A third data point on size of channel came from my friend Rauline Ochs who leads the IPED Research, Consulting & Training arm of The Channel Company. She reported in summer of 2014 a number around 160,000 (and declining) since 2008.

With the 3 data points above, we can confidently conclude that the North American channel is likely in the 160,000 range. 

The important number however, is how many "real" partners exist?

In 2008, Chris Anderson wrote the book "The Long Tail". For those of us that have been in the channel for awhile - we could have swore this book was about our industry!

Cutting out part-time consultants, people between jobs, artificial tax break companies and other phenomenon, the numbers get dramatically smaller.

For example, Microsoft has unofficially reported their North American channel numbers at around 100,000. This doesn't do a good job of cutting out the non-producers as the barrier to entry is low for that program.

Looking at other large vendors doesn't help because of the 12 different types of channel partners selling unique solutions across dozens of industries. For example, big players like HP, Dell, IBM, Lenovo and Cisco have, on average, about 15,000 partners each in North America.

One good way to zero in on "real" partners is to look at Distribution. Companies such as Ingram, Tech Data, Synnex, Avnet, Arrow, ScanSource, BlueStar, etc. have tens of thousands of partners buying through them everyday and direct ship to end customer 80% of the time. This gives distributors an excellent source of big data about who the partners are and what types of end user customers they are selling to.

I just attended a conference where the President of a top-3 distributor mentioned 60,000 unique partners in the US. Two challenges with this number are that some partners are dedicated to one distributor, thus understating the overall number, and second, it includes the small partner who only bought one printer cable.

I did a piece of work about 5 years ago (while at Lenovo) that added up all of the distributor sales, then de-duped by partner and came up with 75,000 unique partners selling all brands. Unless you are literally 100% services or cloud, I figured it would be very difficult to avoid buying a cable or software license over the course of a year.

Another completely different way to look at the number of "real" partners is financially. In the end, people have to make a buck to be committed to something long term. Actually - more than a buck, each employee at a partner needs to pay for a mortgage and get a decent wage for their geography. The average is about $50K when you include technical, sales, marketing and owner/principals.

Interestingly, that same distributor President said their data showed 18,000 companies who have bought 4 different types of solutions from them in a year (think PCs, backup software, security devices, networking, etc).

CompTIA reported that the average North American partner has 8 employees. So the math would be 8 x $50K = $400K in salaries. Add the overhead and a partner would need to clear about $500K in revenue after cost of goods sold (COGS). So with partner margins somewhere in the 10-20% range - the average VAR type partner is likely selling more than $3 million per year. Services led partners work on different economics as the COGS is mostly the salary line. 

So, the million dollar question, where does the Mendoza Line sit in the North America channel? At what point in the list of 160,000 partners does it not make sense to cross to get a good ROI? After analyzing all of the sources of data, along with getting additional color from some of industries rock stars - this is my best guess:

There are 25,000 "real" channel partner firms.

This doesn't mean that your recruiting target should be 25,000 - it is simply the TAM or Target Addressable Market for North America. Remember that the top 10 vendors in the region only carry about half that many and their products are pervasive across every end customer.

Once you have determined your needs for increased geographic coverage, additional skill capabilities, sales capacity, brand commitment, and solution integrations, the right number may be much lower than you first thought.

There are very successful vendors selling millions of dollars through this channel with less than 100 partners. Depending on the solution you are selling, determining the delicate balance between quantity and quality of partners is much more important than chasing any of the big numbers above.

And don't forget about influencers and connectors - the right connection at the right time could tip a large deal in your favor. There are over 200,000 people in the channel that may not be a typical reseller VAR, but a consultant that holds the right sway over the deal you want to win.

How do you win the hearts and minds of these self-employed consultants en masse? The answer is taking advantage of communities - which I started writing about in 2010.

Final thought - this blog will be out of date once I hit publish. 15,000 partners will go out of business or be acquired this year. 10,000 new companies will be formed this year and may look and act much different than you are used to (or your program is geared towards).

The channel is a living, fluid thing - the moment we think we have it all figured out is the moment we should step down into retirement.

Recruiting Channel Partners? Here is one secret to help you succeed

On the surface, recruiting channel partners seems to be a straight-forward task. After determining your business requirements, you market to partner prospects at tradeshows, through the media and directly. When you gain their commitment, you then set off to train and build capabilities, change their behaviors and hopefully reinforce their performance to the next level.

Not so fast.

With over a half a million partner prospects world-wide, there are a number of challenges including language, legal and regulatory. Once you have cleared these, the different business models, product focus, competitive entrenchment and vertical industry specialties require a nuanced approach.

Whether you are looking for increased geographic coverage, skill capabilities, sales capacity, brand commitment, or solution connectivity, recruiting is one of the hardest thing a channel management team does.

Ok, I already knew it was difficult, how do I get started?

Segment potential partners by size before you start profiling. It will save a ton of time and allow you to target effectively.

Ultra-large partners look and act like Fortune 500 companies (and in some cases are). You won't be able to call the CEO and close quickly. It will take months, if not years, to work through the multiple layers.

Large partners are also likely entrenched with competitors and have well defined business models, legacy practices and can be slow to move as well.

To put this in perspective, in the United States, a partner would need more than $20M in revenues to be in the top 500 (according to CRN, The Channel Company). In Canada, on the other hand, $5M of revenues will get you in the top 100 partners (CDN).

So what is the secret to segmenting?

Channel Partners are individual businesses. They need to drive revenues, control costs, and after cost of goods sold (COGS), the largest expense is personnel. Salaries differ by employee type and country, but a similar pattern exists across the entire channel.

The average margin of these businesses can differ by many factors including business model, geography, and management skill. The range for traditional VARs can be in the single digits, Managed Service Providers closer to 20%, and software/service led companies can even reach close to 30%. There are always variances to these, but statistically it is a reasonable place to start.

Therefore, take a potential partner, look up the number of employees they have in Linkedin (actual people - not what range they say they are in), multiply by the average salary in their region ($50K is the average for most G20 countries), and you now have enough information to back into their revenue.

For example, let's take a IT VAR prospect with 15 employees. Multiply 15 by $50,000 gives $750,000 in salary costs. With personnel accounting for 75% of expenses, this VAR would have about a million in revenue margin dollars. Assuming this VAR runs about 15% margins, it would sell about $6.6M total revenue.

Knowing what your product mix produces as a percentage of channel sales gets you further towards the recruiting holy grail: Share of Wallet.

Recruiting is an art and a science. The good news is that Big Data is driving the science side of the equation. If you are still recruiting the same way you did years ago, it is time to look at it differently.

Understanding Partner Models

CompTIA, the world's largest IT Association, identified these 12 Channel Partner models for 2015.

Though ongoing convergence is sharply blurring the lines between distinct partner business models – everybody’s doing a little bit of everything, it seems -- the following identifies a set of individual models that have marked the channel ecosystem:


1. VAR / Solution Provider

To date, these are probably the most universal of terms to describe the majority of channel companies. VARs primarily resell products, while solution providers deliver a broad footprint of technologies and solutions. Solution providers sell within specific vertical(s) and/or to end-user focus or to several different verticals with no specific end customer focus. Services are often transactional, project-oriented or break/fix. The company’s revenue comes predominantly from integrating and selling hardware, software and services, including both cloud-based and on-premises solutions. They also rely on myriad types of rebates, discounts, margin points and other resources from the vendors they partner with.  They do not normally retain title to product, while VARs normally do.

2. Consultant

Consulting is typically part and parcel of every channel business type, but for some it is the primary specialty. Revenue comes predominantly from design- and planning-based consulting with a mixture of IT and business consulting.  Title to product is not usually taken.  Value comes from their ability to integrate and support technologies as well as determining product and brands, which has grown in importance with the proliferation of cloud solutions that can overwhelm end customers with choices. Consultants may serve as brokers, vetting various cloud providers, SaaS, IaaS and PaaS offerings for end customers.

3. Systems Integrator

Like solution providers, systems integrators have been bedrock category of channel business for decades. Revenue comes predominantly from design- and planning-based consulting with a mixture of IT and business consulting. Integrators often serve larger enterprise companies and they, themselves, are on average at the top-end size wise of channel firms. Traditionally, they realize approximately half of revenue from consulting services and 40% from IT services in design, implementation and post-transaction consulting. They differ from an IT consultant in that they also take title to product.

4. ISV

Independent software vendors (ISVs) develop proprietary software applications and solutions, including cloud-based SaaS offerings for sale either direct or indirect through their own channel. ISVs run the gamut from giants like Microsoft and Oracle to small applications players creating a single cloud piece of software. Revenue is derived in a variety of ways: selling software licenses, one-time sales of packaged applications and/or recurring payments for hosted or cloud-based software solutions or tools.

5. Direct Market Reseller

A direct market reseller (DMR) earns revenue by selling directly to consumers online or via the phone without a physical storefront operation of any kind. On the business to business DMRs include companies such as CDW and PC Connection; business to consumer counterparts include companies such as Amazon. DMRs are high-volume fulfillment specialists and constitute a market niche that sits between conventional big-box retailers such as Best Buy and distributors such as Ingram or Tech Data. They typically take orders for thousands of IT products from vendors across the industry. Deals are transactional.

6. Managed Services / Managed Print Services Providers

MSP/MPSP revenue comes predominantly from delivering recurring IT services provided on a contractual basis to maintain customer computers, networks, software and/or cloud-related solutions. The MSP assumes responsibility for the proactive management, monitoring and maintenance of the IT functions and/or systems covered by a service-level agreement (SLA) with the customer. Service is primarily handled remotely from the MSP’s data center, where techs mediate problems as they arise. Services also can be delivered either on-site at the customer’s data center or via a third-party NOC to which the MSP has negotiated access. Managed services differs from other types of IT that are billed on a recurring basis (such as a SaaS solution) in that there is a formalized expectation of ongoing technical support. Typically MSPs also conduct conventional IT sales of product and services alongside a managed services offering. Billing occurs in a variety of ways: per user, per device, flat rate monthly, etc.

7. Cloud Provider

A cloud provider is a company that offers some component of cloud computing – typically IaaS, SaaS or PaaS – to businesses and/or individuals. Today, the public cloud market is consolidating around a handful of major players such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, IBM and Rackspace. Smaller channel companies that fall into this category may be using those public cloud providers on the back end for infrastructure and compute support, but for their own business model be building private clouds for their customers. Private cloud development includes selling any on-premises infrastructure that may be necessary to support the implementation. Revenue is generated through recurring pricing.

8. IT Distributor

Distributors act as an intermediary between tech vendors and the channel firms that resell their software, hardware and other services and solutions. Essentially the hub in the tech go-to-market supply chain, distributors have morphed from basic product fulfillment entities to the channel to more complex organizations that provide training, support, financing and billing assistance. Since 2010, market-leading distributors Ingram Micro, Tech Data, Avnet, Synnex, Arrow and others have created cloud-reselling programs around emerging technology offerings to accommodate new market realities. Additionally, some have made investments in telecom services aggregation, reflective of the convergence of the traditional IT channel and the agent-based channel that sells carrier services to business.

9. Custom Systems Builder

Also called ‘white-box’ resellers, these firms generate revenue predominantly from designing, building and delivering their own brand of hardware infrastructure. Most typically these products are custom-built laptops, desktops, servers and other pieces of hardware.

10. Web Developer

Web developers’ revenue comes predominantly from development of Web sites for businesses and individuals. They typically handle all programming aspects of creating a Web site, including HTML programming, creating graphics, links, and other related tasks of building Web sites. Mobile application development is fast-becoming an in-demand sweet spot for those specializing in this business model, as more and more companies need their Web sites to be mobile-friendly for use on smart phones and tablets.

11. Telecom Services Provider

A telecommunications service provider (TSP) is a type of communications service provide, including competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), incumbent local exchange carriers and mobile wireless communications companies. Revenue comes predominantly from providing network services (NSP), Internet services (ISP), or VoIP services. They generally take and retain title to product.

12. Telecom Agents

Telecom agents represent the indirect channel middlemen and front line for the major telecom carriers. They include master agents, which serve a role similar to IT distributors in aggregating carrier services that can then be delivered by an ecosystem of sub-agents and independent agents. Those latter two groups sell recurring revenue-based contracts with end user customers of voice/data telecom services.

So, you want to be a Channel Chief?

The head of indirect channels for an organization is (by far) the best job an individual could hope for!

Spending your time traveling the world to glorious destinations, hosting parties and galas for partners, spending millions of dollars in marketing funds, and trying to drive more boondoggles than last year.

All this while not being held accountable to senior management.

Perhaps it sounds too good to be true.

But wait, it gets better…

What could be easier than dealing with people who are passionate about your products and want to promote them to the world? How hard could it be recruiting this fan base and keeping them motivated by dozens of expensive programs? Oh, and look at that, another industry magazine just put you on the cover!

Sounds good so far, but how do Chiefs get a free pass internally from management?

Easy. Channels tend to be nebulous – not only hard to measure because of their indirect nature, but time-delayed as you are collecting data through a complicated multi-tier supply chain. Sales in, sales out, end user reporting, return on invested capital…these are metrics that confuse even the best CEO.

The VP of Sales gets the brunt of the pressure because direct sales are easy to measure, forecast and build KPI’s around. And most CEO’s out there didn’t rise through indirect channels. In most cases they were engineers, direct sales leaders or financial people.

So, are you trying to make the case that a Channel Chief is basically a rock star without responsibility or accountability?

Not quite.

These common perceptions actually make the job harder. The average tenure of a Chief is only about 4 years – contrast that to the average CEO at 8.1 years. If the job was that great and liberating – why the short stay?

1. Channels take a very long time to develop. Trying to explain to a CEO who is (very publicly) measured quarterly that developing an effective channel takes years is not a very popular conversation.

2. The indirect organization is usually the red-headed stepchild. Getting access to top people, technology, resources or investments is last in line behind the sales, marketing and product teams.

3. The Rodney Dangerfield Effect. Because it is not understood by other executives, it can be glossed over in senior management and board reviews. While the commitment to channel differs by company, the attention it gets is, in many cases, out of alignment.

The end result is a high pressure job, without adequate support and dubious respect.

A Channel Chief is a part-time sales leader, marketer, finance and operations exec, lawyer, motivator, counsellor, trainer, product manager, strategist, economist, support agent and futurist.

A day in the life looks like an exercise in chaos. From contracts to rules of engagement, portal and PRM management to co-marketing and MDF return of investment. From segmentation to capacity planning, distribution, multi-tier and margin matrix. From managing back-end dollars to conflict. From education, training and certification to solution alignment and communication. From pre- and post-sales and technical support to fraud, partner satisfaction and endless customizations. From community management to motivation, loyalty and partner-friendly value propositions. From deal registrations to running partner advisory councils. From development of battle cards and competitive education to driving co-branding, co-selling and co-marketing initiatives. From controlling global branding to delivering a demo, try-and-buy and loaner program. From producing partner friendly product roadmaps to securing sales in, sales out and end user reporting from dozens of partner segments. From managing industry, geographic and technology verticals to optimizing distribution routes to market. From simplifying growth and new customer programs to making sure that your company is protected from gray and black markets. From administering international rules, regulations and legislation to ensure all collateral, communication and media is translated around the world. From observing pricing and fairness laws and norms to making sure the program is represented across social media, email, web, newsletters, and search engines. From attending dozens of tradeshows to publishing whitepapers, e-books, technical briefs and reference books. From integrating the PRM, portal and other tools into the companies back end to mediating internal conflict and deference. From representing the company in industry associations, peer groups and expert panels to making sure that RMA’s, rebates, MDF and loyalty payments are issued correctly. From engaging the industry media and bloggers to making sure that Channel Account Managers are deployed and managed correctly. From budgeting, forecasting and benchmarking to nurturing, converting and recruiting. From developing and accelerating top partners to developing an MVP program. From educating internal stakeholders to being the external face of the company. From extending floor financing, credit terms to ensuring the appropriate recognition program is in place.

If this is the life of a rock star, perhaps it is not as fun and rewarding as we once thought!

It truly takes a special individual to step into the above chaos day in and day out and maintain a sense of humor.

So, do you still want to be a Channel Chief?

2015 Industry Outlook: 46 Ideas from Channel Leaders

Vertical Systems Reseller Magazine this month published 46 predictions for 2015 by Channel Executives of all backgrounds.

Here are my Channel predictions for 2015:

Tell us the most significant changes you saw occurring in the channel in 2014.

The most significant change is around market sizing and demographics. We all expected the channel numbers to rebound from the 2008 recession along with the rest of the economy.

We are down 36% in total channel companies world-wide with another 10 to 15% decline expected in 2015. 

The other piece is the average age of the channel continues to increase – even with new born-in-the-cloud vendors hitting the scene. It is expected that 40% of current channel professionals will retire in the next 10 years.

Even more significant, is that the 75% of the entire channel will be made up of millennials by the year 2024.

What do you think will be the most radical shift for the channel in 2015?

There are very few radical shifts in the channel. The transformation from client/server and traditional break-fix into cloud, mobility & managed services has taken almost a decade – with no end in sight.

However, the trends we are seeing today will create some radical shift in the years to come. For example, the managed services market has stagnated – with flat growth over the past 3-4 years. 

Only 12% of channel partners drive over 50% of their revenue in a recurring model. Predictions from a few years ago would have over 50% of them driving their revenue this way.

What must solution providers do to stay relevant in 2015? Give us your #1 piece of advice.

Channel partners have always been highly adaptable and tend to gravitate towards opportunity. The shift of over 50% IT spending from the IT department to lines of business have partners building new relationships with sales, marketing, HR, operations and finance executives. 

Understanding how customers buy is also key to stay relevant. 

Researching real-world trends around cloud and SaaS purchases in your industry and geography, not what they hype would tell you it should be. Also, understand that the growth of software recurring revenue models hasn't translated into services and hardware recurring at the same level.

Does your company have tools or resources that may give solution providers a leg up in 2015? 

We build a mobile platform with numerous tools that solve big challenges for channel partners. Working with over a hundred vendors, we have found new and innovative ways to communicate, educate, grow and motivate partners.

Another area we are investing heavily in is “big data” for the channel. Understanding actions and behaviors and being able to predict and prescribe next best actions. Measuring the success of channel programs has always been difficult and many of the direct sales tools that have come to market in the past few years don’t work well in this environment.

What top 3 emerging technologies will be most important to the channel in 2015?

The proliferation of mobile devices and the management around them will continue to be hot. The 

average customer has 3 devices each today and that is growing to 10 by 2018. The internet of things will get a shot in the arm with the launch of the Apple Watch in 2Q.

The iPhone convinced people they needed 2 devices in 2007. The iPad and e-readers increased it to 3 in 2010. The Watch and other fitness devices will increase it to 4 and 5 by the end of 2015. The channel opportunity is when companies find valuable uses for these devices in the business world and need them integrated into the corporate network.

Software defined everything, hybrid clouds and 3D printing will also take hold and be the source of new practices being built by channel partners.

Summary

While the channel is experiencing some of the biggest shifts in size and demographics that we have seen in 30 years, the opportunity to recruit, develop and grow a highly engaged and motivate base of partners has never been stronger.

Those partners that survived (and thrived in) the past 6 years with massive economic and business model turmoil, are incredibly well positioned to take advantage of opportunities in 2015.

As the cloud matures, fear and uncertainty in the channel has turned into anticipation and even excitement. The complexity of IT continues to accelerate and the opportunities are growing faster than ever. 

Even the barriers to entry are increasing, meaning that new competitors, fresh from their A+ certification, aren’t setting up shop in your town.

Read the full article here.

10 Must-Try Channel Growth Hacks for 2015

Welcome to the future. Not the flying cars, robotic future that the Jetson's envisioned, or even the hoverboard, self-tying Nike's from Back to the Future.

The future of the Channel is grounded in new demographics, new business models and new definitions of partnerships. I talked more about these in a previous post:

http://thevarguy.com/cloud-computing-channel-partner-program/082514/10-things-i-learned-about-channel-summer-part-1

It doesn't come as a surprise to Channel Professionals that things are changing faster than ever across the partner ecosystem. A perfect storm of new technologies, transforming business models, rapidly evolving competition, consumerization and economic forces have fundamentally changed the traditional supplier/partner relationship.

Bill Gates keenly said that we overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Let's focus here on the next 12 to 24 months.

Not only are things moving much faster, the relationships have become significantly more complex. Ten years ago, a solid email, portal, phone, advertising and events strategy was all that was needed to communicate effectively to partners and customers.

Today we have more than 30 marketing vehicles in play, and the level of noise and clutter is, at times, out of control.

So with that in mind, how do we plan for 2015? How do we recruit the right new partners, develop our current partners to be stars, and take our top performing partners to the next level?


1. Go Mobile

Five years ago the average partner had one device (usually a laptop or desktop). Today the average is in the 3-4 range including smartphones, tablets and perhaps a rudimentary wearable device. By 2018, top researchers predict that number to be 10.

Cars, watches, smart walls, and other devices will drive new types of partner interaction and provide the platform for innovative selling and support tools.

Top vendors today are using technologies such as GPS, cameras, video and social in new and interesting ways that would have been unheard of even a few years ago.

Over 65% of partners report they prefer to use mobile as a primary source of doing business. With over half of all internet traffic now coming from mobile devices, many Channel vendors and distributors do not have a viable platform to leverage and grab a competitive advantage.


2. Leverage Big Data

Is your partner program still segmented by historic revenue? Perhaps you are thinking that a survey or partner advisory council meeting will give you the secrets to what is happening out there.

In reality, there are hundreds of data points that allow you to understand partner performance and loyalty to your brand. If you were able to combine these into one powerful set of predictive and prescriptive analytics, what changes would you make in your program?

Your partners keep telling you that they want better communication and support from your team. That doesn't mean sending more emails - it means understanding your partner deeper and connecting in the way that they prefer.

What if your partner program was ultra-customized by individual person and company? Understanding the who, what, where, when, and why of each partner persona could be the biggest channel growth hack you can make in 2015.

3. Expand Automation

The recent surge in marketing automation popularity has not yet worked its way into Channel communication. The ability to set automatic triggers based on a partner’s behavior results in a new level of insight.

Scoring each individual partner based on their actions can improve future communication and content to be more relevant and focused.

The win here is implementing a drip campaign across the channel catering to each person based on where they are in the marketing/sales funnel.

4. Move Away from Partner Portal as Primary Contact

Surveys show that 95% of partners do not regularly use partner portals. In fact, unless they are forced to log in for deal registration or mandatory education to keep their status, many partners do not come at all.

Channel marketing and communication has increasingly become a push versus a pull exercise.

There is no magic in push - every individual is different and making your program easier and more accessible across the myriad of communication vehicles is a must (unfortunately).


5. Re-look at Communities

You think your company is complex to deal with? The partner ecosystem is large and diverse, with dozens of different specialties, business models and types.

There are many sub-communities that have formed to serve these differences. These take the form of associations, online forums, social media, media groups, vendor & distributor groups, user and peer groups.

Communities tend to be more focused and specialized and have people that support each other with common interests and challenges. What makes them powerful is the ability to influence through the implied endorsement of the larger membership.

In many cases, participation is the only cost of entry.


6. Put your Social Activities into Context

Social media is no longer the “new” platform and has proven not to be the utopia that was once promised.

That being said, social is very important and is a core platform for communicating with the Channel. It is a place to amplify content, handle real-time conversations and extend branding and promotion.

Running a mix of 5-6 social platforms as part of your overall communication strategy is important. Social media will provide a place where you can listen to your partners, engage on a different level and interact in real-time.

7. Educate your Partners - Stop Selling them

Content marketing is becoming one of the most important tools for recruiting and nurturing your Channel. Finding your brand voice and sharing your domain knowledge with your partners on a consistent basis will build trust and keep them plugged in.

When combined with #6 above, a solid piece of content will amplify itself across numerous channels and give multiple ways to re-purpose throughout the time period.

As the old saying goes, you can't kid a kidder. So stop selling your best salespeople. Strong content - especially technical in nature - will go a long way to driving attention.


8. Re-invigorate your Press Strategy

Much like communities in number 5 above, the channel media have cultivated strong followings across multiple vehicles.

Many vendors look at the media as a source of advertising and not much else.

Over the past number of years, industry media has been forced to expand their offerings and deliver more value to their readers and sponsors. Getting access to their community of readers through co-marketing, sharing your updates and content, webinars, events and newsletters can be a very effective way to reach your established and prospective audience.

It can be surprisingly cost effective as well with the right level of negotiation, time commitment and bundling.

9. Go Back to the Basics - Direct Mail

Yes, I said it. Direct mail!

Most companies have abandoned direct mail over the past few years as the number of marketing vehicles have exploded.

Depending on the size of your Channel, sending physical mail to partners can be a cost effective way to connect. Keep in mind the average age of Channel professionals has grown every year since the 1980s and this demographic tends to prefer face-to-face, mail and phone calls to electronic communication.

Sending out innovative and useful sales kits can be done for only a few dollars per partner (or prospect) and may cost less than attending a tradeshow. Plus, you can achieve a high open rate and your competitors are likely not doing it.


10. Double Down on Tradeshows

Many Vendors I talk to look at tradeshows as an industry "tax". It is an area where a lot of opportunity (and money) is wasted.

Some of the common errors include:

• Paying for platinum status without getting much more than a "logo on a page" in return
• Paying for a breakfast/lunch/party and getting small signage that no one notices
• Thinking that booth hours are where the real action happens – then the real action usually happens in the hallways and the hotel lobby bar late at night
• Not having a plan covering pre-show, show-within-the-show and post-show tactics
• Spending too much money on trinkets and giveaways
• Not having a visible leader in your business that can seek out the media, develop strategic partnerships, and recruit based on reputation alone.

The vendors who take advantage of the tradeshow circuit by avoiding most of these pitfalls report it is there number one way to grow channel revenue.

It all comes down to recruiting the right partners, developing current partners to be stars, and taking top performing partners to the next level.


Happy New Year - And good luck in 2015!

Jay's 37 Favorite Movies of All Time

Movies are one of the most difficult things to rank.

How do you compare an action movie with a comedy? A historical documentary with science fiction? The answer, for me at least, is the emotional connection it created and the impact it had on your life at the time.

For example, I loved Superman I and II - not because of the superhero aspect (I never read the comics) - but for the story of a boy growing up different than others and how he copes. He could have been a track or football star - but he didn't. In the second movie he gives up all his powers for love, and that had impactful on me.

Of the 37 favorite movies, one was from the 70's (my favorite - Superman), 11 from the 80's, 18 from the 90's, 6 from the 2000's and only one from the 2010's. I am not a big fan of older movies and black and white is difficult for me to connect to for some reason (other than Schindler's List).

Some movies had lasting effects. For example, Top Gun has had an impact on my passion for cars and speed in general. Read more in My Car Story Blog.

Oddly enough, I think Pretty Woman made me very interested in business. I named my cat Austin Powers - oh, and yes, "Danger" is his middle name. Movies such as Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Forrest Gump, & National Lampoon's Vacation have become soundtracks to my life - with almost daily references to lines such as:

"Just a little buffing"

"I'm not a smart man, but I know what love is"

"If they are going to close a road, they will put up big signs"

Some movies were the perfect genre at the perfect time in my life - examples like Rocky, Top Gun, Terminator 2 and Back to the Future.

Anyway, enough talk, let's get to the list - in order - of the best movies of my life:


1. Superman (1978)

An alien orphan is sent from his dying planet to Earth, where he grows up to become his adoptive home's first and greatest superhero.

Director: Richard Donner
Writers: Jerry Siegel (creator), Joe Shuster (creator)
Stars: Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman



2. Superman II (1980)

Superman agrees to sacrifice his powers to marry Lois, unaware that three Kryptonian criminals he inadvertently released are conquering Earth.

Directors: Richard Lester, Richard Donner (uncredited)
Writers: Joe Shuster (character created by: Superman), Jerry Siegel (character created by: Superman)
Stars: Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder



3. The Sixth Sense (1999)

A boy who communicates with spirits that don't know they're dead seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist.

Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Writer: M. Night Shyamalan
Stars: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette



4. Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)

A man must struggle to travel home for Thanksgiving with an obnoxious slob of a shower curtain ring salesman as his only companion.

Director: John Hughes
Writer: John Hughes
Stars: Steve Martin, John Candy, Laila Robins



5. August Rush (2007)

A drama with fairy tale elements, where an orphaned musical prodigy uses his gift as a clue to finding his birth parents.

Director: Kirsten Sheridan
Writers: Nick Castle (screenplay), James V. Hart (screenplay)
Stars: Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers



6. Forrest Gump (1994)

Forrest Gump, while not intelligent, has accidentally been present at many historic moments, but his true love, Jenny Curran, eludes him.

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writers: Winston Groom (novel), Eric Roth (screenplay)
Stars: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise



7. Schindler's List (1993)

In Poland during World War II, Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Thomas Keneally (book), Steven Zaillian (screenplay)
Stars: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley



8. Pretty Woman (1990)

A man in a legal but hurtful business needs an escort for some social events, and hires a beautiful prostitute he meets... only to fall in love.

Director: Garry Marshall
Writer: J.F. Lawton
Stars: Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Jason Alexander



9. Top Gun (1986)

As students at the Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young flyer learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taught in the classroom.

Director: Tony Scott
Writers: Jim Cash, Jack Epps Jr.
Stars: Tom Cruise, Tim Robbins, Kelly McGillis



10. Fight Club (1999)

An insomniac office worker looking for a way to change his life crosses paths with a devil-may-care soap maker and they form an underground fight club that evolves into something much, much more...

Director: David Fincher
Writers: Chuck Palahniuk (novel), Jim Uhls (screenplay)
Stars: Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Helena Bonham Carter



11. Titanic (1997)

A seventeen-year-old aristocrat, expecting to be married to a rich claimant by her mother, falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.

Director: James Cameron
Writer: James Cameron
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane



12. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

A young F.B.I. cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims.

Director: Jonathan Demme
Writers: Thomas Harris (novel), Ted Tally (screenplay)
Stars: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Lawrence A. Bonney



13. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten-year-old son, John, from a more advanced cyborg, made out of liquid metal.

Director: James Cameron
Writers: James Cameron, William Wisher Jr.
Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong



14. The Skeleton Key (2005)

A hospice nurse working at a spooky New Orleans plantation home finds herself entangled in a mystery involving the house's dark past.

Director: Iain Softley
Writer: Ehren Kruger
Stars: Kate Hudson, Peter Sarsgaard, Joy Bryant



15. The Usual Suspects (1995)

A sole survivor tells of the twisty events leading up to a horrific gun battle on a boat, which begin when five criminals meet at a seemingly random police lineup.

Director: Bryan Singer
Writer: Christopher McQuarrie
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri



16. Life Is Beautiful (1997)

A Jewish man has a wonderful romance with the help of his humour, but must use that same quality to protect his son in a Nazi concentration camp.

Director: Richard Donner
Writers: Jerry Siegel (creator), Joe Shuster (creator)
Stars: Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman



17. The Green Mile (1999)

The lives of guards on Death Row are affected by one of their charges: a black man accused of child murder and rape, yet who has a mysterious gift.

Director: Frank Darabont
Writers: Stephen King (novel), Frank Darabont (screenplay)
Stars: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse



18. Rocky III (1982)

Rocky has been holding the title as the heavyweight champion until he is defeated by a brutal challenger, and now must regain his fighting spirit through a big rematch, trained by an unlikely ally: his old nemesis Apollo Creed.

Director: Sylvester Stallone
Writer: Sylvester Stallone
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young



19. Rocky IV (1985)

After iron man Drago, a highly intimidating 6-foot-5, 261-pound Soviet athlete, kills Apollo Creed in an exhibition match, Rocky comes to the heart of Russia for 15 pile-driving boxing rounds of revenge.

Director: Sylvester Stallone
Writer: Sylvester Stallone
Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young



20. National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)

The Griswold family's cross-country drive to the Walley World theme park proves to be much more arduous than they ever anticipated.

Director: Harold Ramis
Writers: John Hughes (screenplay), John Hughes (short story "Vacation '58")
Stars: Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Imogene Coca



21. Back to the Future (1985)

A young man is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his friend, Dr. Emmett Brown, and must make sure his high-school-age parents unite in order to save his own existence.

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writers: Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale
Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson



22. The Shining (1980)

A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Writers: Stephen King (novel), Stanley Kubrick (screenplay)
Stars: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd



23. Good Will Hunting (1997)

Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.

Director: Gus Van Sant
Writers: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck
Stars: Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck



24. Dirty Dancing (1987)

Spending the summer in a holiday camp with her family, Frances "Baby" Houseman falls in love with the camp's dance instructor Johnny Castle.

Director: Emile Ardolino
Writer: Eleanor Bergstein
Stars: Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Jerry Orbach



25. Austin Powers (1997)

A 1960s hipster secret agent is brought out of cryofreeze to oppose his greatest enemy in the 1990s, where his social attitudes are glaringly out of place.

DDirector: Jay Roach
Writer: Mike Myers
Stars: Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley, Michael York



26. Se7en (1995)

Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his modus operandi.

Director: David Fincher
Writer: Andrew Kevin Walker
Stars: Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey



27. Stand by Me (1986)

After the death of a friend, a writer recounts a boyhood journey to find the body of a missing boy.

Director: Rob Reiner
Writers: Stephen King (novel), Raynold Gideon (screenplay)
Stars: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman



28. The Matrix (1999)

A computer hacker learns from mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and his role in the war against its controllers.

Directors: Andy Wachowski (as The Wachowski Brothers) , Lana Wachowski (as The Wachowski Brothers)
Writers: Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss



29. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.

Director: Frank Darabont
Writers: Stephen King (short story "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption"), Frank Darabont (screenplay)
Stars: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton



30. Star Trek (2009)

The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful, time-traveling Romulan creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.

Director: J.J. Abrams
Writers: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman
Stars: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg



31. Ghost (1990)

After being killed during a botched mugging, a man's love for his partner enables him to remain on earth as a ghost.

Director: Jerry Zucker
Writer: Bruce Joel Rubin
Stars: Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg



32. Braveheart (1995)

When his secret bride is executed for assaulting an English soldier who tried to rape her, William Wallace begins a revolt and leads Scottish warriors against the cruel English tyrant who rules Scotland with an iron fist.

Director: Mel Gibson
Writer: Randall Wallace
Stars: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan



33. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial(1982)

A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape Earth and return to his home-world.

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: Melissa Mathison
Stars: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote



34. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

A Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers.

DDirectors: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan
Writers: Simon Beaufoy (screenplay), Vikas Swarup (novel)
Stars: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Saurabh Shukla



35. Juno (2007)

Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, an offbeat young woman makes an unusual decision regarding her unborn child.

Director: Jason Reitman
Writer: Diablo Cody
Stars: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner



36. The Notebook (2004)

A poor and passionate young man falls in love with a rich young woman and gives her a sense of freedom. They soon are separated by their social differences.

Director: Nick Cassavetes
Writers: Jeremy Leven (screenplay), Jan Sardi (adaptation)
Stars: Gena Rowlands, James Garner, Rachel McAdams



37. 12 Years a Slave (2013)

In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.

Director: Steve McQueen
Writers: John Ridley (screenplay), Solomon Northup (based on "Twelve Years a Slave" by)
Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Kenneth Williams, Michael Fassbender



So there they are - Jay's top movies of all time. I will come back and update this as new movies earn their spot on this list.

Good watching!

________________________________________________________________________

Read some other stories from A Few Thoughts - Jay McBain:

________________________________________________________________________

My Love Story - Michelle and met on October 15, 2010 in a serendipitous way. We were both part of a charity in Raleigh, NC and one night at a dinner struck up a conversation about many things - including our love of travel.

My Housing Story - After 13 moves and stops in three Canadian Provinces and three U.S. States, here is my journey in pictures from the Northwest to the Southeast of North America.

My Car Story - I have the dubious honor of getting speeding tickets on all 6 driveable continents - lucky that there are no cars in Antarctica! Did I ever tell you the time I passed the Polizia in Italy with my mom?

My Travel Story - The story started with a "Rollerblades and Red Bull" journey to 100 countries. It is now expanding in every direction after hitting 7 continents and the 7 wonders of the world (most with kids in tow).

My Nautical Story - I am pretty sure the love of water started in 1972 when I was six weeks old and my grandparents Bob and Dona McBain retired to Shuswap, British Columbia, Canada, and built a log cabin.

My Crazy MBA Story - In the summer of 2017, while climbing Machu Picchu, Peru as part of my wife Michelle’s International MBA from Manhattan College, I thought – why not me?

My Hockey Story - As long as I can remember, I have been playing hockey. Over four and a half decades and thousands of games later, I still lace them up a couple times a week, year-round.

My Cycling Story - When the Covid-19 pandemic first took hold in March 2020 we responded quickly as a family - including strict stay at home orders and no outside contact until we could get a handle on the risks. My attention now turned to exercise - and biking across North America (virtually).

My Retirement Story - I have no interest in disconnecting fully from the work that makes me so fulfilled. I could never see myself  in bingo-playing retired life. I want to stay curious, engaged, and adding value past the (very specific) date in 2034 that I am aiming for.

My Christmas Story - Whether traveling to see family, or going to Disney or Hawaii, or simply staying home - the season is packed with memories of family and friends.

My Music Story - My favorite music can be best defined as sad / emotional / multi-level slow music. Oddly, it is opposite of my worldview - which is normally overly-positive and optimistic.

My Movie Story - Oddly enough, I think Pretty Woman made me very interested in business. I named my cat Austin Powers - oh, and yes, "Danger" is his middle name. Our current dog is named August Rush (Auggie Doggy). Movies such as Planes, Trains & Automobiles, Forrest Gump, & National Lampoon's Vacation have become soundtracks to my life.