Matt Murphy, Menlo Ventures (Menlo Park, Calif.)

Following a 15-year tenure at one of the legendary firms of the VC world, Kleiner Perkins, Murphy last year joined up with Menlo Ventures, another titan of the sector. In his time investing in the IT industry, Murphy says companies such as hyperconvergence vendor SimpliVity, where he's on the board, have found huge success at working with the channel. Others, however, have not. "They all try to build a channel, but most don't do a great job of it," Murphy said.

When advising companies he's working with -- such as next-gen content-delivery network Instart Logic, which launched a partner program in December -- Murphy has a few things he emphasizes about how to find channel success in the current IT environment. For starters, companies must learn "what is the channel that has had success selling a product like theirs … The starting place is who knows your space, and what's their motivation for having a new product," Murphy said. He noted that one pitfall for companies is trying to sign up too many channel partners in the beginning. "Companies that do well have a narrower set of channel partners--and spend time with them, and train them, so the channel wants to keep selling" their product.