MSPs are holding the line. Blackpoint CEO Gagan Singh wants to make it easier.
I had the chance to catch up with Gagan Singh, who recently took over as CEO at Blackpoint. He’s no stranger to big security ops – his resume includes Norton and McAfee. But the move to Blackpoint feels different. Gagan’s leaning into something smaller, more focused, and a lot more mission-driven: helping MSPs protect the kinds of businesses that usually get left behind. And he’s not just talking about it; he’s deep in the weeds with product, partners, and what it actually takes to reduce the noise and stop real threats.
We talked about everything from alert fatigue to the AI hype cycle to why most MDR platforms still leave MSPs drowning in dashboards. He walked me through how Blackpoint’s thinking about unified security posture with CompassOne, what “mission-driven” actually looks like in practice, and why MSPs deserve a lot more credit than they get. It was a solid conversation – sharp, grounded, and very focused on what’s next.
MSSP Alert: Congrats on the new role. You’ve had an impressive run, from Norton to McAfee to now Blackpoint. What made you say yes to this opportunity?
Gagan Singh: I’ve spent most of my career in large cybersecurity companies where the day-to-day is all about scale – big brands, big platforms, big complexity. After a while, I found myself wanting something more mission-driven.
The most underserved, and arguably most targeted, part of the economy is small businesses. They don’t have the same access to tools or talent as big enterprises. Blackpoint is leveling that playing field, and I found that incredibly motivating. This role puts me closer to the mission, closer to the product, and closer to the people we’re actually trying to protect. You lose some of that in big orgs.
MSSP Alert: When you say “mission-driven,” what exactly does that mean for you at Blackpoint?
Gagan: We protect small and medium-sized businesses – the part of the economy that’s both the most vulnerable and the most overlooked. And the more I got into it, the more I realized just how central MSPs are to that mission. If you’re a dentist or a small law firm, you’re not hiring a CISO or standing up your own SOC. MSPs are the front line. They make security possible for businesses that would otherwise have none. That’s who we serve. That’s who we build for.
MSSP Alert: Let’s talk MDR. There’s so much noise in the market – everyone’s claiming full coverage, but most of it just boils down to “we’ll alert you when something’s wrong.” What do you think needs to change?
Gagan: Yeah, exactly. The space has been around for decades, and over time it’s only gotten more fragmented. Especially for SMBs, alert fatigue is the number one issue. You’ve got firewalls, logs, endpoint tools, everything is firing off alerts. The person sitting in front of those dashboards has to sort through it all in real time. That’s not easy.
Blackpoint’s approach is different. With Compass One, we’ve pulled those signals together into one place, prioritized them, and automated what we can. We’re not just saying “here’s another alert.” We’re saying “here’s what actually matters right now, and here’s what you can ignore.”
MSSP Alert: Blackpoint has this reputation for being really tight with its MSP partners. As CEO, how do you plan to grow that ecosystem, especially without adding to the chaos they’re already managing?
Gagan: That’s the heart of what we’re doing with Compass One. We started with the question: what’s actually broken here? The answer was clear – MSPs are overwhelmed. Too many tools. Too many alerts. Not enough clarity. Our team, especially the early folks, have a unique understanding of what those risks actually look like. So we’ve designed a platform that absorbs that complexity and shifts the MSP experience from reactive firefighting to smart, exception-based management.
This isn’t about throwing more tech at the problem. It’s about giving them signal, not noise.
MSSP Alert: Let’s go deeper on that. How are MSPs reacting to the AI part of this? Any hesitation or confusion?
Gagan: Honestly, we’re doing a lot of that work behind the curtain. The AI is helping us reduce the noise before anything even hits their screen. As attack surfaces grow and the volume of data explodes, we need smart ways to filter what matters. AI helps us do that. MSPs shouldn’t have to worry about what’s under the hood. What they should hear is: you’re covered. We’re on watch so you don’t have to be.
MSSP Alert: Makes sense. Do you have a system in place to actually feed MSP feedback into how your platform evolves?
Gagan: We do. We’ve got partner advisory councils. Our account managers talk to partners every day. And the MSP community is incredibly active online, we follow those conversations closely. The more we understand their world – what they’re dealing with, what’s frustrating them – the better we can build. It’s not about shiny features. It’s about building something that actually makes their lives easier.
MSSP Alert: What are SMBs still underestimating when it comes to cybersecurity? And how should MSPs be framing that conversation?
Gagan: Most SMBs think, “I’ve got my firewall. I’ve got endpoint protection. I’m good.” But the real risk lives in the gaps between those tools. That’s what threat actors exploit. Our view is: stitch all of that together. Build a unified security posture. That’s what makes the whole system more resilient, not just throwing in another standalone tool.
MSSP Alert: Let’s talk product fit. What makes you confident that what you’re building actually maps to MSP needs?
Gagan: I’ll say this – MSPs don’t get enough credit. Most small businesses wouldn’t even have security without them.
So we design everything around that: what’s going to help the MSP do their job better? Not just today, but as the threat landscape keeps changing. They’re our focus. Always.
MSSP Alert: How do you measure success in your partner program?
Gagan: Honestly, it’s pretty black and white. Have we kept our partners and their clients safe? So far, no Blackpoint partner, or any of their customers, has experienced a ransomware incident under our watch. That’s what matters. That’s the bar.
MSSP Alert: That’s rare. Especially with the kind of attacks we’re seeing now, Ingram was a wake-up call.
Gagan: Right. It’s not just lone-wolf hackers anymore. These are nation-state actors. Organized crime rings. And they’re getting faster and smarter. We’re facing real adversaries. So our job is to be just as relentless in defense, and make sure our partners aren’t doing it alone.
MSSP Alert: Final question, what’s next for Blackpoint?
Gagan: Our focus right now is evolving Compass One. We’re all in on reducing alert fatigue, removing blind spots, and helping MSPs move from reacting to anticipating threats.
This isn’t a launch and forget it. It’s a journey. And we’re just getting started.