GuidePoint Security Surging With Industry Giants, Startups: ‘We’re Always Early Adopters’
May 29, 2025 – Published on CRN
GuidePoint Security is finding massive momentum thanks to its focus on building relationships with emerging cybersecurity vendors as well as the largest players in the industry — a highly differentiated approach in the channel, executives told CRN.
Without a doubt, solution and service provider GuidePoint is “on a crazy growth trajectory right now,” said Mark Thornberry (pictured), senior vice president for vendor management at Herndon, Va.-based GuidePoint, in an interview.
As just one indicator, GuidePoint Security advanced to No. 37 on CRN’s just-disclosed annual ranking of the largest IT channel players, the 2025 Solution Provider 500, up from No. 39 on the prior year’s list. That puts 14-year-old GuidePoint ahead of numerous solution and service providers that were founded decades earlier — and notably, “it’s all organic,” Thornberry said.
It’s also a testament to the solution and service provider’s longtime focus on emerging vendors in cybersecurity, he said.
“When we started out as a company, that’s how we built our business,” Thornberry said. “We have great relationships with the bigger vendors. But the smaller vendors were leaning in with us [early on]. And that was a huge differentiator. That’s how we were getting meetings.”
GuidePoint has continued to specialize around engaging early with cybersecurity startups, he said, even if it may be some time before the partnership produces sales.
“I’m always super direct. I might tell them that, ‘Hey, you might be a year out before we can really do anything,’” Thornberry said. “I think they appreciate that candid feedback.”
Prioritizing engagement with startups is no small feat in an industry comprised of thousands of companies, with scores of new vendors entering the market every year.
“It is rare” to take this approach, Thornberry said. “But it’s something we take very seriously.”
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