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Steven Canale: An Ardent and Visionary Entrepreneur

Being a successful entrepreneur means more than just conceiving new ventures. It is about having the requisite confidence and conviction behind one’s ideas. It is about taking calculated risks to develop and implement those ideas. It means having the right attitude towards a business and the determination and grit to achieve success.
A successful entrepreneur has a strong inner drive that helps him or her to succeed. One such self-motivated entrepreneur is Steven Canale, the Chief Revenue Officer at StackPath.
Steven understands the contemporary and leading-edge technology and knows how to leverage that in a sale. He has the ability to quickly learn new information in a rapidly changing environment. He is a natural leader who commits to high standards and motivates teams towards achieving a common goal.
Taking Calculated Risks
Being an entrepreneur comes with a ton of challenges and roadblocks, and Steve’s journey was no different. Steven left his role of the director of sales at The Planet to help start SoftLayer – a major leader in ushering in the era of the cloud that both companies and consumers rely on to run digital systems today.
As the vice president of sales at SoftLayer, Steven helped build it into a $400 million business with more than 700 employees and 20,000 customers around the world. When SoftLayer was sold to IBM in 2013, Steven became IBM’s vice president of sales, until he left to start StackPath in 2015.
While financing StackPath was easier than it had been for SoftLayer, abandoning his career both times was always a tough choice. As director of sales at The Planet, he led a sales team to 18 consecutive months of record sales, growing sales from $10 million to more than $45 million. He had done good work and was valued.
Likewise, IBM was a solid company and he had a solid future with them as VP of sales for cloud. Both times he risked making the safe choice and took a gamble, and both times it paid off.
Secure Edge Services Through StackPath
StackPath provides services to everyone – from a lone developer coding from home, to Fortune 100 companies. Any person or company aiming to accelerate and/or create cloud properties, ranging from websites to media delivery and IoT services, can use StackPath. But, as Steven knows first-hand, launching a successful startup requires more than hard work and a big idea.
Entrepreneurs need support, which is why StackPath created Propel – a program that provides free services as well as insight and expertise. Everything from making strategic introductions to talent, investors, and peers, to brainstorming business practices, to reviewing pitch decks, StackPath’s Propel was created to help new companies with what they need to grow and thrive.
StackPath provides global, high performance content delivery + top notch security, an integrated web application firewall and DDoS mitigation, while keeping things simple, transparent and affordable. StackPath is developer-friendly with 24/7/365 support and a fully-documented API.
Making the Internet Safe 
While there are several companies doing parts of what StackPath does, there is not one apples-to-                   apples comparison – no other company provides a platform of secure edge services that enables developers to protect, accelerate, and innovate cloud properties ranging from websites to media delivery and IoT services.
StackPath targets publishers, game developers, ad networks, software distributors and other companies that require solid security and a global network for delivering small and large files. When creating StackPath, Steven knew that it was important to be “frenemies” with so-called competitors to provide services and work together to help make the internet safe.
As one of the founders of StackPath, Steven is focused on rolling out multiple launches, updates, and upgrades in the near future, with a longer-term goal of transforming internet security and the cloud’s edge. Steven and StackPath won’t stop creating, innovating and growing until the Internet is safe.
Defining Entrepreneurial Aspects
Steven asserts that every entrepreneur should have the passion and complete belief that their business will be successful and should be willing to put in the hours and sweat required to get there. He says, “An idea without a business plan is just a hobby.” He emphasizes that every entrepreneur should have a plan, a process, and surround themselves with smart people who will tell you the truth, even if that isn’t what you wants to hear.
With 20+ years working with customers, two startups, and experience working for one of the world’s biggest companies, Steven has learned that it is hard to predict what is going to come next or what course life will take, but he suggests staying open. He has also learned to trust one’s gut, and one’s friends, when it comes to new opportunities.
Steven advises young entrepreneurs to love what you do and suggests having a customer-first approach. He says if one does what one loves and puts customer first then success will take care of itself.
Source: The 30 Most Influential Entrepreneurs to Watch 2018