Pax8 Beyond: Nick Heddy Adapting to CEO's New Vision

Heddy has been with Pax8 since the company's initial launch 2013. "I was actually employee 8," Heddy said. "So this journey from $0 in revenue and just a handful of employees to 35,000 partners with customers in 63 countries and $2 billion revenue is just amazing."

Heddy joined the company in 2012 as a director of sales. He scaled the company ranks over the next few years, eventually earning a role as SVP of sales and marketing. He was appointed chief revenue officer in 2018, and shifted over to chief commerce officer in 2022. He was appointed president and CCO as of early June.

Heddy's rise to Pax8 president occurred a month after the company's CTO, Scott Chasin, was selected to replace founder John Street in May.

"I've had the same CEO who's been my mentor and like a father figure," Heddy said. "So Getting Jason means that we have a very different relationship."

That relation has required Heddy to learn how to balance Chasin's "business sense and technology side."

"The job just got a lot harder, challenging and fun because now I have to get it to where Scott is pointing out where the robots are taking over in the future."

Heddy's remarks reference Chasin's opening remarks at Pax8, where he predicted how AI would affect the state of MSPs in the marketplace.

Changes in a company's organization chart can be fairly disruptive if not handled properly. But Heddy appears confident that Pax8's forward-facing approach to innovation will succeed.

"The vendors in our space aren't innovating at the rate we do," Heddy said. "If you get the opportunity to talk to many of the partners here, it's almost like they've been walking through the desert and they've been given a glass of water, it's refreshing to them that somebody is leaning in, calling the shots, innovating in this space and disrupting when there hasn't been any of that for a long time."

The cloud commerce platform is intent on trying to present itself as a source for resources. Partners have been requesting additional academic resources, Heddy said. That's why the company has invested heavily into its Pax8 Academy experience as well as expanding options through things like its new Security program, which was announced on Monday.

"Everything we do is thought leadership," Heddy said. "Everything we do is talking about how well our partners are doing and also making education available so you can have a right conversation with a vendor."

AI is a common tool that a number of vendors in the channel are attempting to understand and incorporate appropriately. Pax8 is no exception.

AI is at the center of everything we do," Heddy said. "It's like breathing clean air and drinking water. If you're not using AI, your competitive advantage is going to go away."

AI is used by Pax to power vendor management, partner management, internal operations as well as all the enterprise software that it uses, according to Heddy.

AI is a common tool that a number of vendors in the channel are attempting to understand and incorporate appropriately. Pax8 is no exception.

AI is at the center of everything we do," Heddy said. "It's like breathing clean air and drinking water. If you're not using AI, your competitive advantage is going to go away."

AI is used by Pax to power vendor management, partner management, internal operations as well as all the enterprise software that it uses, according to Heddy.