{"podcast":{"title":"Cold Call","slug":"cold-call-634317","podcast_index_feed_id":634317,"rss_url":"http://feeds.harvardbusiness.org/harvardbusiness/cold-call","website_url":"https://hbr.org/podcasts/cold-call","image_url":"https://hbr.org/resources/images/podcasts/1400-cold-call-lg.jpg","author":"HBR Presents / Brian Kenny (podcasts@hbr.org)","episode_count":287,"summary":"Cold Call distills Harvard Business School's legendary case studies into podcast form. Hosted by Brian Kenny, the podcast airs every two weeks and features Harvard Business School faculty discussing cases they've written and the lessons they impart.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/cold-call-634317"},"episode":{"title":"Should Wasabi Technologies Make the Move from Direct Sales to a Channel Strategy?","slug":"should-wasabi-technologies-make-the-move-from-direct-sales-to-a-channel-strategy","published_at":"2026-03-31T11:10:27+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/cold-call-634317/should-wasabi-technologies-make-the-move-from-direct-sales-to-a-channel-strategy","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/cold-call-634317","url":"https://hbr.org/podcast/2026/03/should-wasabi-technologies-make-the-move-from-direct-sales-to-a-channel-strategy","audio_url":"https://audio.hbr.org/cold-call/20260327112116-ShouldWasabiTechnologiesMaketheMovefromDirectSalestoaChannelStrategy_.mp3","summary":"After launching Wasabi Technologies, a successful cloud storage company, founder and CEO David Friend was ready to scale the venture rapidly. The company had focused primarily on direct sales, but an opportunity to pivot toward channel sales was on the horizon. However, making this pivot would mean changing its sales, marketing, and staffing strategies dramatically, and effectively veering the company away from its already successful course. Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Lou Shipley joins Brian Kenny to discuss the case, “Wasabi Technologies” and the questions Friend wrestled with: Was channel sales the right play for the burgeoning cloud storage provider? If so, how should it best be implemented? They also explore ideas connected to Shipley’s new book, Unlikely Entrepreneurs.","meta_description":"After launching Wasabi Technologies, a successful cloud storage company, founder and CEO David Friend was ready to scale the venture rapidly. The company…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1668,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/cold-call-634317/episodes/should-wasabi-technologies-make-the-move-from-direct-sales-to-a-channel-strategy/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/cold-call-634317/should-wasabi-technologies-make-the-move-from-direct-sales-to-a-channel-strategy.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}