Why Private Equity Loves The Channel: A Q&A With KKR's Herald Chen

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KKR also invests in security vendors -- is this a different investment than that? Is it a better type of investment?

This is a space we know extremely well. … What was different for us with Optiv was the fact that the solutions and the threats are changing so quickly that we think our customers and an intervening partner is super helpful. … Optiv deals with thousands of vendors every day. Being in that spot gives them the advantage and opportunity to help develop these companies from a partner standpoint, help them develop their technology, help them develop their road map, help them choose who the right customers are for them to go after. That's a huge opportunity for the vendors. On the other side for the customers, they're all dealing with firefighting: How do I solve this problem?... Customers need the help to solve that. We want to be in the position to help solve that.