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Andrew Mora Shares How Cork Wins at MSP Events

• Ian Richardson

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Trade shows are back in a big way, and Pax 8 Beyond 2025 is one of the most important events on the MSP calendar. In this episode of the WIN Podcast, host Carrie Richardson talks with Andrew Mora from Cork about what it really takes to turn a sponsorship into a sales strategy.

Mora pulls back the curtain on Cork’s full event playbook—from how they pivoted messaging to lead with their platform (not their warranty product), to how they staff and train their team, design their booth for real engagement, and schedule qualified meetings in under a minute. He also shares tips for overcoming poor booth placement, making swag work smarter, and using CRM automation for fast follow-up.

Whether you’re a vendor investing in your MSP event strategy or an MSP partner trying to find vendors worth your time, this conversation is packed with practical insights you can use right now.

Key Topics Covered:

  • Pax 8 Beyond 2025: what to expect and why it’s different
  • Cork’s shift from cyber warranty to platform-led growth
  • How to plan, staff, and execute a high-performing event booth
  • Lead capture and follow-up strategies that actually work
  • Common mistakes vendors make (and how to avoid them)

Guest: Andrew Mora, CRO, Cork
Host: Carrie Richardson, WIN Podcast


Carrie Richardson and Ian Richardson host the WIN Podcast - What's Important Now?

Serial entrepreneurs, life partners and business partners, they have successfully exited from multiple businesses (IT, call center, real estate, marketing) and they help other business owners create their own versions of success.

Ian is certified in Eagle Center For Leadership Making A Difference, Paterson StratOp, and LifePlan.

Carrie has helped create and execute successful outbound sales strategies for over 1200 technology-focused businesses including MSPs, manufacturers, distributors and SaaS firms.

Learn more at www.foxcrowgroup.com
Book time with Carrie here!


Be a guest on WIN! We host successful entrepreneurs who share advice with other entrepreneurs on how to build, grow or sell a business using examples from their own experience.

Carrie Richardson:

Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to the WIN podcast. With me today is Andrew Mora from Cork. Cork is a sponsor of PAX 8 beyond this year. Nice to see you Andrew. Tell us a little bit about what we can expect at Pax 8 Beyond.

Andrew Mora:

Hey Carrie thanks for having me on the show. What I would expect is an electrifying show. It's one of the newer shows on the circuit. last year they had 2,500 attendees. this year it's gonna be about 3,500. They always put on a killer end of show party. Last year was ludicrous. I happened to be front row, rocking my socks off. I think you'll get a lot of education. they've done a really good job of understanding what partners are trying to get out of shows, which is really important. They try to encourage vendors not to bring a sales pitch, but more of a value pitch. The breakout sessions, last year really catered to specific categories, and topics that partners are seeking, it was really cool how they've taken feedback from the first show and really implemented it into the second show. They did a really good job of having a general floor and a ton of vendors, not only on their marketplace, but people outside of the PAX 8 ecosystem. So they really try to encourage that friendly, like we're all together type of community, which I thought was really cool.

Carrie Richardson:

Having spent some of your career with PAX 8, what kind of planning goes into an event like beyond?

Andrew Mora:

That's a really good question. So on the internal side, for PAX 8, they literally start the day after the show ends. it's been going on for a year. Try to figure out your itinerary and some of the topics you want to cover because there's so much to do in that three day span. If you don't have a plan, you can get lost. I was throwing up almost 15,000 steps each day. This year I'm guessing it's gonna be even bigger. From the perspective of having to get from the normal halls to the vendor halls, back to the breakout sessions. if you've ever done a show in Vegas, it's similar to that where there's definitely some walking. So wear some comfortable shoes people don't realize that standing on cement floor for 8 hours is like a backend knee killer.

Carrie Richardson:

I'm definitely feeling it more now that I'm in my fifties than I was when I was doing my first shows. You're relatively new with Cork. Tell me a little bit about the changes that Cork has gone through in the last four to six months.

Andrew Mora:

Cork was known as a warranty company. In 2024, we saw a lot of our partners leveraging the platform as their go-to market strategy. And then the warranty was a secondary play for them. So we essentially just flipped with the actual community and started leading with the platform and then having the ability to add warranty on as a secondary play and a secondary revenue stream for our partners. we've added a lot of investment into the platform I think that's where it's changed tremendously. If you saw it six to 8 months ago, there wasn't really a platform tied to it, now everything is based through the platform and it's tied to that. We've added a couple new features that are a standout. So I think it's just the platform, first type of program that we're going with.

Carrie Richardson:

how do you demonstrate that on the floor at an event like PAX 8? What can people expect when they come up to the booth?

Andrew Mora:

Great question. We ask the question If any partners are dealing with cyber insurance policies or questionnaires, and usually the answer is yes. we have some interesting features and tools that we can demonstrate in less than 30 seconds, To show some value time savings for partners. From those aspects. And then there's some other things dependent on What they're actually trying to do, And deliver. that's what I think is really cool about Cork it's not a one size fits all. I'm historically from a backup background, That's very straightforward. It's a very black and white tool where Cork is a, it's not a one size fits all. It's tailored to the specific partner and their go-to-market strategy and how they're delivering things to their customers.

Carrie Richardson:

How do you pivot the messaging from leading with cyber warranty to leading with platform?

Andrew Mora:

Really good question. I did a lot of research before and realized their engineering team was pumping out integrations faster than I've ever seen in the 11 years I've been in the channel, which was really impressive. Usually coming from the vendor side when someone would say, can I get this type of integration? Can I get this feature request? Usually the generic answer from the sales perspective is, yeah, that's on the roadmap. It's coming in however many months down the road where Cork delivers'em in seven days or less. And so just from that aspect, They're doing something on the platform front that is Really interesting and really cool. Then once I got into the hood, I was like, okay, this is gonna be a really easy switch for the company.

Carrie Richardson:

talk to me a little bit about your growth team and how they approached rebranding or re-messaging.

Andrew Mora:

We have a total of six sellers, I saw their pitch before and it was. Very close. They were including the platform, but it wasn't leveraging the platform. it was more like Hey, we have this thing and we Built it to deliver a warranty. then I started to ask partners what they're using Cork for. they were like, yeah, we use it for quite a few different things. But the majority Of our partner base was leveraging the platform from a monitoring perspective.'cause essentially we just take all their tools and put it into one place. And we're simply checking, is it on or off? That's where it falls into the cyber insurance play from the questionnaire perspective. Do you have backup? Do you have MFA? Do you have EDR? Essentially we take care of that front end piece of it. You think you have an idea of what your product is as opposed to what it's actually doing out in the wild. And what people are actually using it for Is totally different. And that's where I think we realized, hey, this is being leveraged in a different way than we thought it would be. But it's Really been beneficial for the company

Carrie Richardson:

you've got a team of six sellers. When you go to an event with 3,500 MSPs at it, who do you staff it with?

Andrew Mora:

So we're gonna go with our CEO, myself, just'cause I've had a lot of history with PAX 8, so I know a ton of their partner base. And then we're going with two of our sellers. Usually what ends up happening Is partners wanna ask questions about the product. How does it work, how do I get involved? I wanna be able to answer those questions, get'em on demos. I wanna be able to simplify everything from a journey, and take all the fluff out of it There are so many vendors and I only have so much time. to be remembered That's what I want to capture With the sales squad. So I'm coming with a full squad of salespeople.

Carrie Richardson:

do you have a process that everyone follows at the booth for triaging leads or collecting cards? how do you prepare and what's your follow up activity look like after?

Andrew Mora:

We wanna get you on a demo or get you scheduled for a demo. We have four questions it's really simple. It's our web signup form. But we fill it out for you. Usually PAX 8 will have a couple scanners, depending On your level. we'll have notes on specifically, Hey, we got this in a demo. So we understand where they are in that process, they were interested in these features, those features. The partners are gonna be bombarded with all the vendors right after. that's why we try to go for that demo piece, to have that schedule to say this is what you wanted to do. For those people that didn't stop by the booth, we typically do some kind of drip campaign, To entice them to look at why people were actually visiting our booth. Our. follow up will be a week after the event. if they stop by the booth, Ask them, how do you want us to follow up? phone, email, what's the best? And then if not, typically we'll do a couple phone calls and a couple email reach outs Through a sequence, With specific messaging. We'll Come together as a team and we'll figure out what were the highlights For example, we were just at NerdioCon and people weren't really stopping by the booth, so we were asking them, do you have any issues with filling out cyber questionnaires? that was like the instant hook because The distaste in their answers were very pleasing to us. We had the solve for that, I think it's really understanding what's catching on. What is really. Enticing for people to understand? What is really going to take that community to the next level? That's what partners are always looking for, right? Is what's gonna help my business from a money perspective a revenue perspective a security perspective. What's gonna Protect my perimeter? what's gonna make me more efficient What's gonna make my life easier? So I'm not doing the mundane things that I hate to do.

Carrie Richardson:

How do you prep a brand new. Sales team member who's going to a conference for the first time,

Andrew Mora:

so I tell them to pace themselves. It's definitely a marathon. This is like a bigger show and you're constantly talking, Drink a lot of water, right?

Carrie Richardson:

especially in Denver.

Andrew Mora:

In Denver, people don't realize, it is definitely dry here. so bloody noses are a thing. definitely drink a lot of water. I really try to tell them to Understand That it is a long timeframe. some of the shows with the attendees, you have a little bit of downtime. Where this Is literally go the entire time. What I also tell people that it's one of their first bigger shows is to learn other things, learn other products. this is the opportunity where if you don't have a breakout session, you do have a little downtime. There's a lot in the community that is impactful. what's interesting is all of our products. help each other. there is synergy within some products they may be on the left of boom, you may be on the right of boom and you can help each other. But I do tell them Be prepared. it is a different type of thing just because of the sheer volume. it's wild. I also tell them the bar is so high on that one, like all shows aren't like this. So keep that in mind, Capitalize on this one. cause you do get 3000 plus partners with so many vendors and different looks. Which is really cool.

Carrie Richardson:

Do you go take a loop around to see what everyone's booths look like, see what kind of swag people are handing out?

Andrew Mora:

Absolutely. The socks. I don't know why MSPs love that stuff, but socks. I also like to see the design of their booth Is it a little bit different? What's catchy? I like to put myself in the partner shoes'cause we all go to the same types of shows What would they really look at? What are they gonna See? Is this a good spot? Do I have a good spot, From the booth side of it, I do 100% take a lap. the other side of it is, where's the, like the water, where's the beverages? They put ice cream in secret places. finding all those little things, You have to walk around look for'em.'cause it is so massive.

Carrie Richardson:

I did not find the secret ice cream.

Andrew Mora:

Exactly.

Carrie Richardson:

Did they have it year one?

Andrew Mora:

They didn't. in year two is when they had these little, they were basically like the ice creams where you slide the glass on the top. So they just had little of those in pockets everywhere. Last year they had the arcade, but then they also had a, like a actual F1 racing sim, they have some cool things that are just outside of the everyday The Gaylord, where they hosted is in the middle of nowhere. if you've never been there you're like, where am I thought I was gonna see the Rockies. And you don't really leave.

Carrie Richardson:

I think that's the point. I think that every Gaylord was purpose built to trap people inside of it. Like the one in Nashville especially.

Andrew Mora:

I've heard That's the coolest one.

Carrie Richardson:

My kids love it there. We have an event, Channel Con Is gonna be at the Nashville Gaylord this year. The way I understand it, you bring your team to PAX 8, you create some buzz around the booth. You collect contact information using an iPad or something similar directly into a web form. The web form captures the information and pulls it directly into what.

Andrew Mora:

Our CRM, goes directly into our HubSpot and creates that appointment. So everything's already on the calendar. We try to supersede Hey, can I follow up with you to set up an appointment? You wanna do it in a month? You wanna do it in a couple weeks? You let us know what works best for you. So it's a very low pressure type of thing, how can I do this? And get you on the calendar in less than 30 seconds.

Carrie Richardson:

do you round robin the opportunities through your team or does the person who talks to the person at the booth take the demo? how do you make it fair?

Andrew Mora:

Great question. that's why I bring most all of'em, We split up The country in territory. So it actually just sticks to where you are. what makes it tough, Is typically on your badge, it doesn't give you the location. For the most part it's all hands on deck, get the information and then we'll split'em up after accordingly to territory. with this type of show. It's smack dab in the middle of the country. So you have people from all over, not just in the States and Canada, but also they had 15 countries, represented last year, for us it's just get the partner taken care of, make sure It's a good experience. then we'll split it off in the back end.

Carrie Richardson:

What do you do when you go to an event and you've got what you would consider a poor location? how do you combat that?

Andrew Mora:

That's a really good question. I don't know if I should give away the secret.

Carrie Richardson:

Okay. You can just tell me after, then we won't tell everyone else.

Andrew Mora:

my CEO's really good at this. What he does is he'll grab a cocktail table and set it up. In the front of the booth. he'll put all of our, Paper material with some of the swag on it, and then he'll just post up on there and bring people to the table. It seems to The pressure off of coming into the booth and people are like more apt to coming up to a cocktail table. If you have people that know a bunch of people at PAX 8 or know a bunch of people at name the show, Have them walk around and have them bring people in. partners get so involved with things that they don't see you. They mean to come find you, but you're in the back corner by the bathroom and they didn't know that, They found the secret ice cream that cuts it off right before your booth. I definitely recommend to get out walk around and pull people in, let'em know where you're at.

Carrie Richardson:

Go stand by the secret ice cream and eventually you'll get everyone.

Andrew Mora:

I did actually run into two people that said they didn't like ice cream at NerdioCon, which I was pretty heartbroken on. I do also think vendors really rely on their booth And just stick there. So I think getting a little uncomfortable And producing for yourself also goes a long way. the partners do have intentions to talk to you. It's just, they're so busy too. And so you have to proactively go out there. I would also recommend to really utilize the app. if someone were to say, Hey Carrie, can you meet me at noon here? You're there. And then you can't find them. You can hit'em up on the app and find out where they got caught up

Carrie Richardson:

that's good advice.

Andrew Mora:

That one really helped. It's so big and I want to go to the Rewst breakout, or I want to go to this breakout, or that breakout. I wanna see Matt Lee, break into a computer like he always does then you're like, it's in the blue room, in the diamond hallway, and you're like where is that? The app definitely helps

Carrie Richardson:

Oh, gimmicks Pro or con, are people gonna wear costumes? Do you like that sort of thing? You know what I love? I love the money booth.

Andrew Mora:

I saw how much money you made the last time. That was amazing. I like some things, like the costumes are A little much for me. Even though I do like the people that do some of the costumes, The things that I really like are the claw machines. I think those are fun. I do like when you add a little bit of difference, Sometimes they're good and sometimes they're not. Sometimes the putting ones are a little tough. A differentiator is a plus. cause we all do the same thing, right? We all have A light up background and whatever.

Carrie Richardson:

Rockefeller!, I got a pull up banner this year.

Andrew Mora:

This thing has a million parts. It has screws and lights and All these battery packs One of the things that MSPs absolutely love is massive Lego sets, right? They love'em. it's wild.

Carrie Richardson:

they like ribs too, but I'm not bringing those to the booth. One of those barbecues would be a good giveaway though.

Andrew Mora:

what I try to figure out, we did a Concord which was a really big Lego, The partner even bought a box to bring it on the airplane to take it back to Canada. The barbecue would be cool, but last year, black Point gave away a motorcycle, Like a Ducati and the partner happened to be in London that won. So it was better for them just to buy him one there then to ship it. And I think if you're gonna do something massive, Have it as a display and then ship it to the winner, That would be my recommendation.

Carrie Richardson:

If I look at the PAX 8 vendor list this year, there's 142 at last count. I haven't heard of at least a hundred of them. There's gotta be a lot of people coming into the channel, brand new to the trade show circuit, and I can stop them from buying 2000 pounds of coffee. That is not necessary. You're not gonna talk to every person that comes to the event.

Andrew Mora:

One thing that is a hitter for us is we have these, Screen cleaners. People love these things. for your computer, you just clean your screen with'em. They love'em.

Carrie Richardson:

I could use one of those right now.

Andrew Mora:

Yeah. So I would say if you're gonna do a giveaway, think of something practical that's a little bit different.

Carrie Richardson:

We will see you at PAX 8 beyond.

Andrew Mora:

Yeah, we have A little treat for everybody when they walk in, My CEO's really into race cars. So we were able to negotiate with Rob, To get a couple race cars, Sprinkled throughout The Gaylord. I think you'll see some branded race cars,

Carrie Richardson:

doesn't Huntress have a race car too?

Andrew Mora:

they all do DNS filter, Huntress Blackpoint

Carrie Richardson:

feel like we're missing an opportunity here. we could be doing a channel race of some kind. That would be a good fundraiser.

Andrew Mora:

That would be really good.

Carrie Richardson:

Come on you guys.

Andrew Mora:

That's what I'm saying.

Carrie Richardson:

Who should be coming by the booth to say hello to you

Andrew Mora:

Essentially, we throw all your security tools into one environment, validate that they're on, and that they're deployed correctly. We also back that with A warranty and actual financial protections. the ICP from a partner perspective is anybody that's deploying EDR, RMM, backup and MFA, right? So that's literally all of you guys. Our real goal is we wanna rise the community from a security perspective and make sure they are protected with validation.

Carrie Richardson:

Great. Thank you very much for being on the WIN podcast today, and I look forward to seeing you in Denver in June.

Andrew Mora:

Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

People on this episode

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Carrie Richardson

Host
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Ian Richardson

Co-host
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Andrew Mora

Guest