The Paranoid Company’s Place in the Cybersecurity Market

The Paranoid Company isn’t exactly “paranoid.” Our name pays homage to one of the earliest cybersecurity teams in the United States, the legendary “Paranoids” of Yahoo… once AOL, Verizon now? The Paranoids still exist today and were quietly kept as a celebrity secret amongst the cyber community. Like them, we think differently. We may not be Cold War era codebreakers tackling a new threat landscape called the internet, but we are on a mission to change how the security industry evaluates services and products.

The Paranoid Co. is a Value Added Reseller and Cyber Advisory firm. VARs, advisory firms, and channel organizations exist by the thousands in the U.S. What makes us different?

The Paranoid Co. is the only U.S. based cybersecurity brokerage operating as a true cooperative.

Co-op!?

The inspiration comes from outside the security industry. Companies as large as REI and as small as local food coalitions. Before we make any assumptions about co-ops’ earning capabilities: in 2024, REI reported $3.8B in earnings while returning $282M to its cooperative community… The total U.S. VAR market is estimated to range between $30–40B. Guy math equals "1 Co-Op can represent ~10% of the marketplace" with REI's earnings applied. How fun!

I'm not a big box store person but I love walking into any REI store around the country:

• They are meticulously clean and organized especially given their foot traffic. Employees genuinely care about their store.

• Staff maintain an unusually high level of product knowledge compared to other retailers.

• Customers are deeply loyal. I’m an REI member because I can rely on a consistent, high-quality experiences, and their co-op program rewards me with credits toward future purchases.

Cooperatives operate differently than traditional corporations:

Employees Have voting rights on major decisions, are partial owners, and receive dividend payments based on company performance.

Customers Are encouraged to return through dividend style rewards tied to the value of their participation and spend.

But still, why a co-op!?

One of our biggest pet peeves in the security industry is that most cyber vendors claim to be customer-centric and yet struggle to deliver real customer success, especially at scale. In my history in this industry, I’ve also witnessed a lack of customer loyalty to VARs, vendors, and managed services providers. Buyers are constantly on the lookout for the next best “thing” to better protect their threat landscapes and elevate their procurement journeys.

Organizations try to solve this by adding more headcount, creating escalation policies, and more recently deploying AI agents to combat customer inquiries. We believe the real solution lies in something much simpler and more powerful: our people.

Empowered. Aligned. Unsegmented workforce.

The Paranoid Co. exists to bridge the gap between buyer and seller by creating a purchase experience rooted in providing “value.” “VALUE” Added Resellers. We accomplish this through both tangible and intangible means:

The Tangible: Paranoid customers receive up to 7% of our margin back in the form of credits. Credits can be used to offset future purchases for any and all TPC-supported products or services.

The Intangible: We hire employees directly into ownership and revenue distribution positions. This makes TPC a destination company for the best talent in the industry. Because all employees are partial owners, this empowers employees in every role to obsess over the customer experience. Customer success is everyone’s job at TPC.

Our Place in the Market

The Paranoid Co. operates as a Value -Added Reseller (VAR) for both technology vendors and services providers.

We sell whatever a customer needs to improve their security posture, including:

• SaaS Security Products

• Hardware

• Professional Services

We partner with best-in-breed, innovative national and regional firms to ensure customers get the right outcomes, not just the highest-margin products.

We are not paper pushers. We provide holistic value to customers willing to enroll in our program and participate in our ecosystem.

We believe the security industry can learn from the most successful, customer-obsessed retail brands and permanently improve the way organizations buy, deploy, and scale security.

This isn’t just a different business model. It’s a different philosophy.

Interested in learning more?

Contact us