I’m cautious about interviewing companies that provide services to MSPs. After all, you get bombarded by sales content day in and day out, and I don’t want to add to the noise. But when I interviewed Megan Killion of MKC Agency in Orlando, a revenue consultancy specializing in scaling MSPs and other channel companies, I was super impressed by the combined sales/marketing paradigm that she uses. Megan champions ethical marketing practices, elevating marginalized talent, and empowering businesses to thrive in competitive markets. She also has an offer for our podcast listeners: 20% off the first 4 months of her newest program IF you complete this worksheet before your first call with her (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gmqzRXv54EdZBFGtUxZAnqc-wLpMaIjDHIpv7H9tZFY/edit?usp=sharing, NOTE that you will need to request access). Here's what I learned in this episode:

Financial Modeling Service provides M&A and Intermediary services to IT companies. As a former IT company owner, Jeff Greenspan understands your business and will work with you to achieve an optimal result based on your specific needs. You can reach Jeff at [email protected] or through his contact form at https://financialmodelingservice.com/contact-us/. 

S2E2 features a conversation with the US team of Ionos, a hosting and cloud provider looking to compete with Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud. I'd heard that Ionos was a billion dollar company, but when I checked their market cap in late December, it was just over $3B! What's up with that? So I sat down with Seth Helgesen, Zachary Watson, and Brian Wick to get a better understanding of Ionos's potential value to you. Takeaways from the episode include :

Financial Modeling Service provides M&A and Intermediary services to IT companies. As a former IT company owner, Jeff Greenspan understands your business and will work with you to achieve an optimal result based on your specific needs. You can reach Jeff at [email protected] or through his contact form at https://financialmodelingservice.com/contact-us/. 

With his company Olive and Goose, Ankur Kothari provides proof that you really can run an MSP from anywhere. From his not-quite-humble beginnings at Microsoft, he's built an impressive three-division IT company headquartered in Seattle but with an international clientele. And when he's not strategizing, he's enjoying the intellectual flavors of Barcelona, learning both Spanish and Catalan while connecting with the vibrant but quite different European startup community. Takeaways from the episode include:

Financial Modeling Service provides M&A and Intermediary services to IT companies. As a former IT company owner, Jeff Greenspan understands your business and will work with you to achieve an optimal result based on your specific needs. You can reach Jeff at [email protected] or through his contact form at https://financialmodelingservice.com/contact-us/. 

One way that MSPs increase their scope is by joining an affiliation group. There are many forms, and the levels and types of integration with other firms varies. In this episode, we interview Tim Conkle, whose company The 20 consists of both an MSP alliance with (currently) 170 members, and an MSP rollup that just completed their 37th acquisition. Tim is an interesting and passionate MSP, and this episode provides the opportunity to learn:

Financial Modeling Service provides M&A and Intermediary services to IT companies. As a former IT company owner, Jeff Greenspan understands your business and will work with you to achieve an optimal result based on your specific needs. You can reach Jeff at [email protected] or through his contact form at https://financialmodelingservice.com/contact-us/. 

There is incredible variety in the MSP space! Today's guest, Brian Strong, isn't buying and he isn't selling, he's just trying to run a top-notch MSP. Brian is the CEO of Ten Hats in Knoxville, TN, a company wholly owned by a large local healthcare provider. A significant pivot was required when he came on board, which presents an interesting opportunity to learn:  

Financial Modeling Service provides M&A and Intermediary services to IT companies. As a former IT company owner, Jeff Greenspan understands your business and will work with you to achieve an optimal result based on your specific needs. You can reach Jeff at [email protected] or through his contact form at https://financialmodelingservice.com/contact-us/. 

In this episode I've recorded and discuss the five key actions that you should take to be prepared for a sale regardless of the timing. These steps ensure that you will be able to optimize your exit, whatever that means for you. I've also broken down each step into its own short video and I'm publishing these on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@FMS-Jeff (look under Playlists). In this episode we cover:  

Financial Modeling Service provides M&A and Intermediary services to IT companies. As a former IT company owner, Jeff Greenspan understands your business and will work with you to achieve an optimal result based on your specific needs. You can reach Jeff at [email protected] or through his contact form at https://financialmodelingservice.com/contact-us/. 

Today we take our second look at an AI-based technolgy available now for MSPs to work more efficiently. Our eleventh episode features Jeffrey Newton, CRO and recovering MSP, and James Farrow, CEO of Cyft. Cyft is focused on applying AI to make MSPs more profitable by solving unacknowledged problems within the four walls of the MSP. I was particularly impressed with their ease of implementation, but even more impressed with their long-term vision, which you will have to listen to! In this episode we cover:  

Financial Modeling Service provides M&A and Intermediary services to IT companies. As a former IT company owner, Jeff Greenspan understands your business and will work with you to achieve an optimal result based on your specific needs. You can reach Jeff at [email protected] or through his contact form at https://financialmodelingservice.com/contact-us/. 

Everyone's heard about artificial intelligence, and today we start looking at two AI-based technolgies that are available now for MSPs to work more efficiently. Our tenth episode features James Allen from Pia.ai. Pia was born when a large Australian IT firm started running tickets through a small language model, and it has evolved into a combination AI / automation tool that reads tickets and moves them forward as far as possible using automation. Pia currently supports over 60 different types of tickets. For our listeners, Pia is extending their Q3 50%-off onboarding / 25%-off platform fee offer through the end of November. You will learn about: 

Financial Modeling Service provides M&A and Intermediary services to IT companies. As a former IT company owner, Jeff Greenspan understands your business and will work with you to achieve an optimal result based on your specific needs. You can reach Jeff at [email protected] or through his contact form at https://financialmodelingservice.com/contact-us/. 

Our ninth episode features Paul Daigle from BizAdvisoryBoard. Paul is an 'old school' IT guy who started off in software development and morphed over time into an MSP. Early on he built many of the types of tools that MSPs use today, so he understands the needs of MSPs at a deep level! He's also acquired and divested numerous companies. BizAdvisoryBoard offers a free (and paid) tool for MSPs interested in their valuation and growth. Use coupon code 'FMSVal24' to get the free version and code 'FMSAcc24' to get 10% off the paid version.

You can reach Paul directly at [email protected], 407-461-0061.

In today's show, you will learn about: 

Financial Modeling Service provides M&A and Intermediary services to IT companies. As a former IT company owner, Jeff Greenspan understands your business and will work with you to achieve an optimal result based on your specific needs. You can reach Jeff at [email protected] or through his contact form at https://financialmodelingservice.com/contact-us/. 

Our eighth episode features Rob Scott from Monjur, plus two of his clients! Rob is an attorney with exceptional experience in computer law, and he's turned the table on the IT space by becoming an MSP for MSPs! As a business broker, the first thing I check with new clients is their service contract. With Monjur, I know that your contracts are always as good as they can possibly be. Beyond contracts, Monjur offers M&A representation and a full suite of corporate services.

You will learn about: 

Financial Modeling Service provides M&A and Intermediary services to IT companies. As a former IT company owner, Jeff Greenspan understands your business and will work with you to achieve an optimal result based on your specific needs. You can reach Jeff at [email protected] or through his contact form at https://financialmodelingservice.com/contact-us/.