Having ranked 12th in Fast-Growth 50 2026, SEP2 is targeting 35% growth this year, CEO Paul Starr tells us….
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What’s the story behind SEP2’s inception?
It was started by three friends. We’d worked together for many years.
At the time, we felt there was very little value being shown to customers, and it was about changing that. The services industry, especially in cyber security, needed someone to really challenge it, show value, and give customers the best security, rather than just reselling solutions and ultimately margin stealing.
That’s a culture and ethos we’ve kept with us all the way up until our tenth birthday.
What does SEP2 look like today in terms of size and focus?
As of last week, we hit 104 staff.
We’re targeting ourselves with 35% revenue growth this year. We’ve averaged out at about 30% over the last two to three years, so we’re going for a bit of a step up this year to really push ourselves.
We see ourselves as an out-and-out MSSP. We only want to be doing cyber security, so we partner with other organisations for digital transformation, workspace, or 365 migrations, as opposed to diversifying.
The business is focused on MDR and EDR services. It’s very much about providing the best 24/7 service to our customers. And we do it all from the UK – we don’t offshore or outsource.
The analysts say the cyber market is growing at around 10%. How have you been able to outpace that?
There are a lot of partners out there that aren’t as evolved as we are.
To what extent do you see things like Claude Code Security as a potential threat to partners like you?
We don’t necessarily see it as a threat. It will be a disrupter.
People who use it might get into sticky situations if they rely on it too much. It’s about trying to get that balance.
We were a very earlier adopter in AI. We’re using AI both in our processes, and in code writing and optimisation. But we know it’s not that utopia yet, where we can just go and tell it to do something and we’re fully protected.
It’s about optimising it the best we can, as opposed to seeing it as something that’s going to make us obsolete.
Who are your key vendors?
Google, Google Wiz and Check Point are huge partners for us.
What is your customer sweet spot?
Our sweet spot is probably that medium size of customer, but everybody needs cyber security. We’ve tried to build our services so they can be scalable. Whether you’ve got 50 users or hundreds, we want to be able to service everybody.
What are your long-term ambitions for SEP2 now you’re ten years in?
It’s always worth being aware of what’s out there.
The three directors are as passionate about this business ten years on as we were when we started it. We have a lot to give. We’re not the oldest, but we’re not spring chickens either anymore – but we’ve got a huge amount of passion for our industry and our company.
Whatever happens in the next few years, we’re really focused on driving that forward.
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
