Mike Walters, President and Co-founder of Action1 – Interview Series

Mike Walters is President and Co-Founder of Action1, where he drives product strategy and go-to-market execution. A serial entrepreneur with a strong background in technical leadership, Mike also co-founded Netwrix, a multi-billion-dollar cybersecurity success. Like Alex, he is deeply committed to keeping Action1 founder-led, building it with a long-term vision rather than aiming for a quick exit. Mike lives in Laguna Beach, CA, has five children, and is an avid surfer and environmental advocate.

Action1 is an autonomous endpoint management (AEM) platform that unifies patch management, software updates, vulnerability remediation, asset inventory, and secure remote access in a browser-based interface. It offers a free tier for up to 200 endpoints, scales with transparent pricing, and emphasizes automation, reporting, and role-based access. Designed for enterprises and MSPs, it delivers secure, policy-driven endpoint management backed by SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications.

You previously co-founded and scaled Netwrix—what specific frustration or gap in endpoint security motivated you to launch Action1, and how did your past experience shape the founding vision?

We were motivated to launch Action1 after co-founding and scaling Netwrix because we recognized a significant gap in the endpoint security and patch management space. Despite the high demand for patch management, my co-founder and I found that the quality of available solutions was shockingly low, especially for modern, remote-first enterprises. Many organizations were still relying on legacy, on-premises technologies that were not designed to meet the needs of today’s distributed workforces.

Thanks to my experience at Netwrix, I learned the importance of execution and focus while building a global cybersecurity company, which gave me a unique perspective on the challenges organizations face. I saw that existing patch management tools were outdated and not keeping pace with the evolving threat landscape or the shift to cloud-native environments. This realization became the driving force behind Action1’s founding vision: to deliver a modern, cloud-native patch management solution that addresses the speed, scalability, and usability requirements of today’s organizations. Or simply said, patching that just works.

Action1 has been growing rapidly, even claiming market share from legacy players like Tenable and Tanium. What are you doing differently that’s allowing you to compete—and win—against such established competitors?

Action1 can compete with and win market share from established legacy players like Tanium by fundamentally rethinking how patch management should work for today’s organizations. Unlike many legacy solutions that were designed for on-premises, pre-remote work environments, Action1 is built as a cloud-native platform, making it better suited for modern, distributed enterprises.

Our key differentiators include:

• Speed and Scalability: Action1 enables organizations to respond rapidly to zero-day vulnerabilities and ransomware threats, deploying critical patches in minutes rather than days or weeks. Technologies like peer-to-peer patch distribution allow for fast, large-scale updates across hundreds of thousands of endpoints.
• Cloud-Native Approach: Action1’s platform is designed for the realities of remote and hybrid work, overcoming the limitations of legacy, on-premises tools.
• Usability and Collaboration: The platform addresses not just technical challenges but also organizational friction, streamlining communication and collaboration between security and IT operations teams to ensure vulnerabilities are patched quickly and nothing falls through the cracks.
• Focus on Modern Threats: Action1 is built to handle the urgency and complexity of today’s threat landscape, including AI-powered attacks and the need for near-instant response.

By addressing both the technical and organizational challenges that legacy solutions often overlook, Action1 can deliver greater value and agility, allowing it to successfully compete with – and win customers from – longstanding industry players.

In 2024 and the first half of 2025, Action1 posted massive year-over-year gains across revenue, deal size, and customer base. Can you walk us through what’s fueling that kind of momentum?

Action1 has seen explosive growth – all thanks to our impressive team! Here are just a few things on the backend that have contributed to our growth:

• Addressing a Critical Market Gap: Action1 recognized that many organizations were struggling with outdated, on-premises patch management tools that couldn’t keep up with the demands of modern, remote-first enterprises. By offering a cloud-native solution, Action1 meets the needs of today’s distributed workforces.
• Responding to Urgent Security Needs: The increasing frequency and severity of zero-day vulnerabilities, ransomware, and AI-powered attacks have made rapid patching more critical than ever. Action1’s platform enables organizations to deploy critical updates at scale in minutes, not days or weeks.
• Innovative Technology: Features like peer-to-peer patch distribution allow for fast, efficient updates across thousands of endpoints, giving Action1 a technical edge over legacy competitors.
• Streamlining Collaboration: By improving communication and reducing friction between security and IT operations teams, Action1 ensures that vulnerabilities are addressed quickly, and nothing falls through the cracks.
• Market Validation: As organizations see the tangible benefits of faster, more reliable patch management, word-of-mouth and industry recognition have further accelerated Action1’s growth.

These combined strengths have positioned Action1 as the go-to solution for organizations seeking to modernize their patch management processes, fueling its impressive momentum in the market.

Offering a free, full-featured solution for the first 200 endpoints is a bold move. What inspired that model, and how has it impacted both adoption and market perception?

Action1 is designed for large enterprises. Many other enterprise-oriented companies don’t do any business with small companies. At Action1, the offering of a free, full-featured solution for the first 200 endpoints was initially driven by removing the initial adoption obstacles by large enterprises. A large enterprise customer can start using Action1 without talking to a sales rep and going through typical “sales qualification” process. We then realized that helping smaller organizations improve their cybersecurity posture brings a greater good, such as contributing to the broader fight against unpatched vulnerability exploitation. Many small organizations lack the budget for robust patch management, and by providing a genuinely free, unrestricted product, Action1 can make a positive impact on the community. A lot of IT professionals who first learn about Action1 do not believe it is true. But once they see that it is true, many call it a “steal” or “exceptionally generous.”

The impact on adoption and market perception has been significant. The free tier has encouraged widespread use among organizations of all sizes, who then then expand the use or become advocates for the product in online communities and forums. This word-of-mouth marketing has helped build a strong reputation for us, and as users move to larger companies, they often bring Action1 with them. The model is seen as a win-win: it’s a no brainer starting point for larger enterprises and it boosts cybersecurity for small businesses, while serving as a powerful marketing tool that drives broader adoption and positive perception in the market.

What are some of the most significant platform enhancements you’ve introduced recently, and how have enterprise customers responded to those updates?

We’ve expanded our enterprise footprint in H1 2025, with leading companies across industries, including thyssenkrupp, StepStone, and Coats, selecting the platform to modernize their endpoint security.

In H1 2025, Action1 introduced powerful new capabilities, including:

• Update Rings to enhance autonomous patching by enabling a structured, phased rollout of updates, minimizing downtime and security risk.
• Customizable role-based access control (RBAC) enabling organizations to precisely define security boundaries and operational responsibilities across their IT infrastructures.
• Built-in vulnerability and remediation reports for audit readiness.
• Expanded integrations with leading platforms such as VulnCheck NVD++, Rapid7, and Axonius to strengthen security and support broader IT ecosystem alignment.
• Dozens of newly supported applications to its privately maintained Software Repository.
• Doubled its free tier to support 200 endpoints free forever, reinforcing its mission to make enterprise-grade endpoint security accessible for everyone.

Modern organizations understand that proactive patch management is essential to staying ahead of today’s rapidly evolving cybersecurity threats.

How does your approach to vulnerability management—especially with integrations to third-party platforms—set Action1 apart in terms of remediation speed and visibility?

Action1 sets itself apart in vulnerability management by addressing the key bottlenecks that slow down remediation and reduce visibility in traditional approaches. Legacy processes often rely on manual handoffs, such as emailing vulnerability scan results from platforms like Tenable or Rapid7 to IT operations, which can lead to delays and critical issues falling through the cracks. Action1’s approach is to streamline and automate the entire patching and remediation workflow. By closing the gap between vulnerability detection and remediation, Action1 enables organizations to respond much faster—sometimes in minutes rather than days or weeks – especially when dealing with urgent threats like zero-day vulnerabilities and ransomware.

In 2025, you launched a dedicated platform for MSPs (Managed Service Providers). What made now the right time to go after that market, and how does the platform uniquely serve MSP needs?

Action1 for MSPs is a robust complement to existing remote monitoring and management tools to close critical gaps in patching strategies by covering zero-day vulnerabilities, distributed workforces and countless third-party applications. We designed Action 1 for MSPs to meet their unique needs with a platform that works perfectly with RMM tools to provide the security-focused layer that ensures every endpoint is protected without adding complexity.

Autonomous Endpoint Management has been called one of the most important advances in over a decade—how do you define it, and what makes it more than just automated patching?

Autonomous Endpoint Management goes beyond simple automated patching. It refers to a cloud-native platform that can be deployed in minutes, scales easily, and manages not just operating system patches but also hundreds of third-party applications across distributed locations. What sets it apart is its ability to minimize the time and manual effort required for patching and endpoint management, making the process as simple and hands-off as possible. Unlike many competitors that offer only basic, “checkbox” patching, Action1 delivers a fully functional, comprehensive endpoint management solution that is easy to use and requires little to no ongoing maintenance or “babysitting.”

How does Action1 currently apply AI or machine learning to improve the accuracy and efficiency of patching, vulnerability assessments, and software deployment?

We use AI extensively in our internal processes (marketing, development, etc). However, we are still in the learning stage of how AI can benefit our customers. Unlike so many vendors being shoveled into the “AI bandwagon” by their investors, we are not forced into adding senseless AI functions (like integrated chatbots or AI summaries). I know it may sound controversial to some industry analysts or private equity firms, but cybersecurity vendors must address the core basics first before trying to “slap” AI features to look more innovative on paper. Like one of our customers recently told me, don’t even think about AI until you allow me to customize UI view columns. Action1 is independent and founder-led, and we have the luxury of doing what is right for our customers, instead wasting cycles to look more presentable to investors.

Your recent survey shows that while many sysadmins are using AI tools, there are still concerns around trust, job security, and lack of training. What responsibility do vendors like Action1 have in addressing those concerns?

I think vendors must apply common-sense approaches in adding AI functions. The goal is to make a human more productive, not to replace a human with a lower cost subpar alternative. Think about all the tedious tasks your users must do when using your product – can these be AI-powered so that users can focus on items that are more strategic and require real human thinking?

Looking ahead, what milestones are most important for you to hit in the next 12–18 months?

A few milestones that come to mind include, continuing to invest in developing the best product, signing up very large enterprise customers and maintaining a strong focus on our core category of autonomous patch management and expanding the team with top-notch talent to support our rapid growth. We must stay focused on what we do best and not get distracted by so many other opportunities that could divert resources away from our core competency.

Thank you for the great interview, readers who wish to learn more should visit Action1.