Charif has to be one of my favourite guests.

• Consistent, clear and candid in his messaging.
• Significant shareholding, owning ~5% of all shares
• Despite being cashed up and with a stated intent of making some strategic bolt-on acquisitions, they have not yet progressed. Not because they didn't find things they liked, but because the prices were irrational
• Clear focus on their core strengths and resolve to stay within the circle of competence
• Culture and reputation are very much a focus, and is what helps underpin lead generation and retention.
• Approach to AI is sensible and without hype. Very much leveraging APIs and products from 3rd parties as opposed to building internally (an area they dont have expertise on).
• Expansion of the team is very much about enhancing the product offering, with huge potential to cross/up-sell to existing users
• Not dismissive of competition (including Syntex)
• No interest in emerging markets (not yet sophisticated enough, and a lower preparedness/ability to afford DSE solutions. And, besides, a lot of opportunity still within the OECD
• Expects the MSP space to continue growing strongly thanks to all manner of tailwinds. He expects 10%pa
• Is focusing on ease of use for MSPs (quick provisioning of services, simplified billing, and strong customer support). They aim to integrate backup with security solutions, as the lines between the two are becoming increasingly blurred.
• Drop Suite positions itself as a premium product in the market, allowing MSPs to make higher margins when using their services.

Expanding on the Syntax threat, while Charif acknowledged that Syntex has a "superpower" due to faster data restoration capability, he believes that Syntex lacks critical features, is costly, and doesn't adhere to best practices for disaster recovery, like keeping data in separate environments. Despite the initial market reaction, Syntex hasn't posed a significant threat to Drop Suite's business (which so far at least is supported by the numbers).

I do have some concerns over the valuation at >6x annualised sales (or the current ARR) there's a lot of growth priced in. (Given the heavy reinvestment and minimal NPAT, the PE is >400x)

But this could be somewhat deceptive.. a few more years of continued strong revenue growth at a decent margin could really bring those multiples down very quickly.

So, overall, very happy to keep holding.