In this rapid‑fire interview, Professor Pete Alexander talks with JP Pataky, West Coast sales leader at eSentire, a pure‑play Managed Detection & Response (MDR) provider. Pataky explains his 30‑year career in IT sales, emphasizing that people are the foundation of any successful security operation. He uses a farmer‑versus‑tractor analogy to illustrate how clients often lack awareness of modern security needs. Pataky stresses hyper‑focus—citing Jim Collins’s Good to Great and the Walgreens pivot—as essential for growth, and pairs it with the concept of grit from Angela Duckworth’s work. He shares his extensive interview‑question repertoire for hiring top SOC talent, recommends colleague Mark Sangster’s book No Safe Harbors, and recounts his early hustles as a paperboy and golf caddie that forged his sales instincts. The episode closes with Pataky’s LinkedIn contact details for listeners.
Chapters
This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
Uh, magician, rainmaker, you know, I've been called a lot of things. Uh, I've actually been in, uh, this business for 30 years managing sales and managing people for a lot of different IT companies. I'm currently at a company managing West Coast sales named eSentire. They're the leader in managed detection and response. They're in the security sector, a very hot investment sector right now for the VCs. But we basically manage— we're a services company. We manage your security platform, your EDR, and what you do and help you sleep better at night. That's what we do.
Wonderful. And JP, it's great to have you on the show. Question number 2: What is something that makes you smile and/or laugh about working in your industry?
Well, smiling is always working with people. I love working with a lot of fun people. But what's interesting about our industry is We exist in an environment where people think they know security and they just really, really don't. I always use the analogy, if you went up to a farmer 150 years ago and you asked them what they needed, they wouldn't tell you they needed a tractor because they wouldn't know what a tractor is. They tell you bigger horses, more horses. Part of it is just explaining to people that they need a tractor and what that tractor will do for them and make them more efficient. Yeah, so that's it.
Oh, I love it. Question number 3: I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
It's always going to be about people. People make a company, right? Happy people always make a company. I always say your happy employees make for a winning environment. I'm a big, you know, so part of our security offering is we have a SOC, a security operations center. And you have to have good people working within that SOC, good smart people who are looking at your data, looking at your stuff. So I always say it's about people, hiring the right people. I have amassed over the years hundreds of great interview questions to seek out really good people, and that's what I'm all about. I think when you have good people, you got to hire up and let them do their job well.
That is so insightful, and I totally agree with you. I, you know, I always think that if you hire the right people, they're going to take care of your customers. Am I right?
You're absolutely right. Matter of fact, just before this call, I was on with a client who was saying, I want to do business with you just because you're good people. All the other companies that presented to me, they gave me the hard sell, the fear, the threats, and you guys are just good solid people and you're making me happy. So hey, kudos to us for that, right?
There you go. People buy from people. Question number 4. Other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
Oh, wow. Um, so focus. Um, one of my favorite books that I, I, uh, read early on in my career was Good to Great by Jim Collins, and it's all about getting focused and really honing in. You know, a lot of people don't know, uh, the Walgreens example, right? Walgreens years ago was a soda fountain kind of place, right? And the CEO decided one day we're going to go into the pharmacy business, we're going to have a our buildings on every corner. And you either on that bus or not on that bus, but it's about that singular focus. And if you look at, uh, the founder of our company, Eldon, it was all about getting singularly focused, coming up with an idea and not being afraid to be the first. And that's why we've existed for really 20 years in this business. We're not afraid of being first. Even if you look at the tagline of our, um, of my email signature It's all about the industry's only pure-play MDR because we don't get, we don't spread ourselves too thin. We're very hyper-focused on the partners we choose, the things that we do, and kind of our go-to-business strategy. So I think that's really, really important to just be hyper-focused on what you do. Ironically, this week we're going through our sales kickoff. So a little part of that is that tenacity and grit. The theme of our conference is being gritty. And again, another great book by Angela Duckworth is about being gritty and what makes you gritty. And I think those two things of that hyperfocus and being very gritty and tenacious really gets the job done. And if you look at successful companies, that's what they do. They don't spread themselves too thin.
They know what they do well and then they continue to do it. Yeah, it's very insightful. Thank you. Question number 5. What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
Well, you know, I'm going to go big. I'm going to say you got to get like Elon Musk on here, right?
Yup. Yup.
In my town, he's drilling holes underground for tunnels. So I'm going to say that. But, but no, there's a couple. Ironically, one of my colleagues named Mark Sangster just wrote a book called No Safe Harbors. Shameless plug. It's a really great book on cybersecurity and cybersecurity threats. I think he'd be great for this. I really do. Anyone who's interested in learning about the inside truth about cyber crimes and how to protect your business, but it's a big, big topic right now. I highly recommend getting Mark on here. You're gonna love him.
Perfect. I'll reach out to Mark. Thank you for that referral. And our final question, question number 6, please tell me about your first job.
First job. Wow. So I had two. 2 growing up. So, a little bit, a little bit of a background. I grew up in a, youngest of 4 kids. Didn't have a whole lot of money, so I learned early on that everything's a hand-me-down. And if you want something, you have to go buy it yourself. So, I had 2 jobs. I caddied on a golf course, which every time I caddied, I got $7 for a bag. And I had the local paper route in my neighborhood, which was $6 a week. So, that was collectively $13, which was a lot back then. But, you know, for me as a kid, right, it was, it was about dealing with people, right? You have to go and sell. Um, you're dealing with different personalities of people. You're absolutely dealing with inclement weather, whether it's hot or it's snowing or it's cold. You just gotta kind of buck up and, and do the job. Um, but I, I think what it, uh, there's deadlines involved. People want their papers early in the morning. You know, you're golfing and stuff. It's about hustling. And I think that was really my first foray into being a salesperson, right? Again, being the youngest of 4 people, I'm selling my whole life trying to outsell my siblings and caddying in a paper route were good precursors to where I am and what's made me today.
That's a great story, JP. And, you know, I love it because I was a paperboy as well. And now I tell a lot of the younger generation, you know, the the newspaper, that was the printed web pages.
Printed web pages, they were, you're right, you're right. Had to lug around a big bag, and then I went to a golf course, I lugged around another big bag, and it's crazy, yeah, yeah.
It was, great story, great story. JP, thank you so much for being on the show. How could people find you?
Well, they could find me on LinkedIn. I've been on LinkedIn for quite a while. I have my whole contact information there, phone number, cell phone number, everything's there. So that's probably the best way to reach out to me.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Thanks for listening.
