It's a Numbers Game

In this podcast episode, Daniel Welling and Adam Morris speak with Larry Garcia about the rise of EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) among MSPs, attributing its popularity to MSPs' productivity mindset and EOS's prescriptive framework for running a business. They explain EOS's origins in Gino Wickman's book Traction, its core components (vision, traction, and a healthy organisation), and its scale (tens of thousands using implementers and 300,000+ companies following it). Adam and Larry share how EOS improved profitability and valuation, including an acquisition that credited EOS maturity with a higher multiple and reduced operational hiring needs. They discuss common implementation failures (not reading the book, partial adoption, lack of weekly rhythm), tool support via software like Strety integrated with MSP ecosystems, and tips: read the book, start with one tool, maintain consistency, and define core values for hiring and reviews.

00:00 Welcome and EOS hype

00:22 Why MSPs love EOS

02:02 What EOS is in a minute

03:14 MSP pricing mindset break

04:19 Adoption stats and profit impact

05:18 EOS basics vision traction health

07:17 Why implementations fail

08:23 Tools and software options

11:19 Getting unstuck with EOS tools

13:18 Read the book and iterate

15:21 Tailoring EOS and alternatives

19:29 Success stories and consistency

23:57 Top tips and core values

24:40 Contact and Stret origin story

25:59 Coffee farm wrap up

Start your Strety free trial at https://2.strety.com/daniel-welling-dbf459/join

Connect with Larry Garcia on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/lgarcia314/

Connect with Daniel Welling on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwelling/

Connect with Adam Morris on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcmorris/

Visit The MSP Finance Team website, simply click here –https://www.mspfinanceteam.com/

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Podcast hosts Daniel and Adam interview Christian (CloudFest/MSP Global) about parallels between cloud hosting and today's MSP M&A market, describing how private equity funding drove consolidation into a few large platforms while new niche specialists emerged and were later acquired. Christian argues MSPs should stay optimistic because customers still need trusted advisors amid security complexity and AI-driven change; MSP optimism in their "State of the MSP" report is around 4.3/5. For MSP owners, he suggests moving toward recurring subscription revenue and specialising by industry or capability to increase value to buyers. The conversation also explains why MSP Global exists: a vendor-diverse expo, strong education, and facilitated networking designed for introverts, with an international European focus (dozens of nations, including UK and US attendees). He advises attendees to use the event app, pre-plan sessions and meetings, be open about goals, and network proactively.

00:00 Pre Show Setup

00:33 Welcome And Agenda

01:09 Hosting Vs MSP Consolidation

04:53 Niche Startups After M&A

07:06 Why MSPs Stay Essential

10:59 Advice For MSP Owners

15:04 Why Another MSP Event

16:15 Event Pillars Expo Learn Network

19:45 Global Community And Partnerships

25:13 How To Maximise Attendance

28:40 Wrap Up And Final Tips

Learn more and register for MSP Global at https://registration.mspglobal.com/registration?code=WELLING

Connect with Christian Jaeger on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianjaeger/

Connect with Daniel Welling on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwelling/

Connect with Adam Morris on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcmorris/

Visit The MSP Finance Team website, simply click here –https://www.mspfinanceteam.com/

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In this podcast episode, Daniel interviews James Steel of MSP Testimonials about using video testimonials to create reusable marketing assets for MSPs, building on a prior episode about written case studies. They discuss common objections (not wanting to bother clients and not knowing what to do with the content) and emphasise that clients often respond positively when asked, especially with clear expectations and an easy process. James outlines a streamlined workflow: a warm intro, a simple email, a booking form (e.g., Calendly), and a recording guide focused on natural light and basic framing, with minimal gear. He explains a repeatable interview "story arc" (business context, prior pain, decision point, onboarding, results with numbers, and recommendation) and highlights the value of transcripts for repurposing into case studies, website pages, YouTube/LinkedIn posts, quotes, shorts, and SEO/chat-search visibility, encouraging MSPs to build a library of at least six stories and a company-wide culture of capturing positive feedback.

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:29 Why Video Testimonials Matter

02:00 Overcoming the Ask Anxiety

04:08 Outreach Email and Booking Flow

06:48 Client Prep and Recording Guide

08:25 Putting Clients at Ease

11:35 Testimonial vs Case Study

13:02 On-Camera Setup and Coaching

16:13 Interview Questions Story Arc

18:24 Building a Testimonial Library

21:03 Distribution and SEO Repurposing

23:42 Tools for Shorts and Editing

26:23 Wrap Up and Resources

MSP Testimonials free toolkit download – https://msptestimonials.com/itsanumbersgame

Connect with James Steel on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-steel-8964947/

Connect with Daniel Welling on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwelling/

Connect with Adam Morris on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcmorris/

Visit The MSP Finance Team website, simply click here –https://www.mspfinanceteam.com/

MSP Glossary: MSP Finance Glossary Explained | MSP Finance Team

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Dan speaks with Sean Farrow of Arctic Wolf about the fast-changing MSP cybersecurity landscape and Sean's move from a 15-year MSP career, most recently as security practice lead, to the vendor side. Sean explains how gaps in an MSP's Microsoft-based SOC portfolio led him to Arctic Wolf for vendor-agnostic coverage, and discusses the pressure of keeping pace with shifting best-of-breed tools and integrations. They explore MSP commercial realities such as packaging, pricing, margin predictability, and the need to reduce operational friction by delivering outcome-driven, true-positive tickets. Sean outlines Arctic Wolf's vendor-neutral approach and security concierge service, and previews a streamlined MSP-only offering expected around September that aims to simplify scoping, improve price competitiveness, reduce requirements like a mandated network sensor, and introduce more on-demand digital concierge capabilities, while still pulling data across the attack surface.

00:00 Welcome and Setup

02:03 Sean MSP Background

03:41 Keeping Up With Security

05:07 Why Move Vendor Side

06:19 Pricing Sponsor Break

08:33 Life at Arctic Wolf MSP

11:22 Arctic Wolf MSP Model

12:55 Streamlined Offering Changes

16:10 Posture Improvement Examples

19:52 Launch Plans and Wrap

Connect with Shaun Farrow on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaunfarrow/

Connect with Daniel Welling on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwelling/

Connect with Adam Morris on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcmorris/

Visit The MSP Finance Team website, simply click here –https://www.mspfinanceteam.com/

MSP Glossary: MSP Finance Glossary Explained | MSP Finance Team

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Cristian discusses how his MSP experience provisioning thousands of pandemic-era laptops exposed frequent mis-provisioned user accounts, often caused by clients submitting incomplete joiner requests (missing departments, licenses, and permissions). He highlights the larger risk on off-boarding, citing studies in the UK and USA where 50% of businesses reported former employees not being fully off-boarded, leaving residual access and ongoing licensing costs. Cristian describes a self-serve joiner/leaver platform designed to replace fragile ticket-based workflows with guided forms, integrations with HR platforms via APIs, a governance engine that validates requests against policies, an approval queue for final review, and tracking of what was provisioned to ensure consistent deprovisioning, including manual notes for non-SSO legacy apps. He explains MSP commercialisation options (embedded, add-on, hybrid), benefits for compliance evidence (e.g., ISO 2701), applicability to internal IT/co-managed environments, and notes the product was largely built using OpenAI Codex.

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:24 MSP Origin Story

01:26 Joiner Provisioning Pain

02:36 Leavers and Residual Access

04:45 Automation and HR Integrations

08:03 Self-Serve Governance Workflow

09:41 Compliance Value and ROI

10:54 Pricing and Target Users

16:34 Governance Engine vs Scripts

18:18 AI Future and Readiness

20:19 Building with Codex

22:08 Wrap Up and Contact

Connect with Cristian Bogdan on LinkedIn by clicking here –https://www.linkedin.com/in/c-bogdan/

Connect with Daniel Welling on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwelling/

Connect with Adam Morris on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcmorris/

Visit The MSP Finance Team website, simply click here –https://www.mspfinanceteam.com/

MSP Glossary: MSP Finance Glossary Explained | MSP Finance Team

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Matt discusses MSPX, a marketplace for MSPs to buy and sell individual managed services contracts as an alternative to acquiring entire businesses. The platform helps MSPs divest non-profitable or non-strategic clients and enables buyers to shorten sales cycles by targeting specific verticals or geographies, with typical pricing around 6–8x MRR (sometimes higher with negotiation and longer remaining terms). MSPX uses escrow, a structured 30-day transition dashboard, a legally drafted customer notification email with a novation agreement requiring the buyer to honour the existing MSA, and protections if a customer declines the transfer. Sellers complete a detailed intake form; buyers can ask questions via in-platform chat. Pricing includes $149/year membership, 7% seller commission, 1–2% escrow fee for buyers, and an optional $599/year "first look" tier. The main challenge is limited awareness due to bootstrapped marketing.

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:36 MSPX Marketplace Explained

02:06 Why Sell Contracts

03:39 Pricing Multiples and Examples

06:22 Valuation and Risk Controls

09:19 End Client Consent and Escrow

13:48 Communication and Transition Playbook

18:34 Contract Intake and Buyer Due Diligence

20:32 Growth Challenges and Pricing Plans

25:00 Global Expansion Use Cases

28:26 Wrap Up and How to Join

Connect with Matt Yesbeck on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattyesbeck/

Connect with Daniel Welling on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwelling/

Connect with Adam Morris on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcmorris/

Visit The MSP Finance Team website, simply click here –https://www.mspfinanceteam.com/

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Marino joins the podcast to discuss decision-making psychology for MSPs, emphasising that B2B buying differs from B2C because decisions require justification to others and are shaped by different goals. He describes common friction caused by misalignment between what MSPs pitch as "gains" and what business owners perceive as "losses," highlighting loss aversion, status quo bias, and sunk cost effects (including attachment to existing tools and the implied threat of admitting past mistakes). Using a probability-and-reward example, he explains biases in cognitive decision-making and how statistics can be misread without context. The conversation covers how asking too many questions increases cognitive load, why multi-quote requests often signal weak differentiation of the MSP (not just price), and why prescriptive sales scripts can feel inauthentic; trust, fit, and practice through more conversations are stressed. Marino recommends Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow" and Phil Agnew's "Nudge"

00:00 Welcome and Topic Setup

01:13 B2B vs B2C Decisions

02:26 Client Utility and Friction

06:11 Cognitive Biases Explained

10:39 Loss Aversion and Framing

14:26 Status Quo and Sunk Costs

17:47 Winning Quotes and Differentiation

20:31 Qualification and Buyer Psychology

23:38 Cognitive Load in Sales

25:44 Authenticity and Bounded Rationality

29:21 Resources and Closing

Connect with Marino Vigliotti on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/marinovigliotti/

Connect with Daniel Welling on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwelling/

Connect with Adam Morris on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcmorris/

Visit The MSP Finance Team website, simply click here –https://www.mspfinanceteam.com/

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Justin returns to the podcast and discusses the challenges and lessons from acquiring three Apple-focused businesses since 2020 amid consolidation in the Apple consultant community and difficulty targeting Mac-using clients. He describes buying a small Iowa Apple consultancy with the seller kept on for business development, only to learn ownership doesn't equal sales skill and that ex-owners often clash as employees; the owner left after disputes, but clients were retained and served remotely. He then explains acquiring a Colorado Apple training company to build a B2C training channel, but it failed due to lack of focus, content upkeep, staff turnover, and the effort required to produce non-evergreen training. A larger Missouri consultancy/Apple authorised service provider acquisition brought clients and a strong team but also personality conflict and a payment-structure mistake that strained cash flow. Despite stress and missed pay-checks, Justin says the acquisitions ultimately improved finances, team quality, and growth, stressing the need for stronger financial position and deal-specific negotiation.

00:00 Welcome Back

01:15 M&A Episode Setup

02:06 Why Apple MSPs Consolidate

07:43 Three Acquisitions Overview

10:03 Deal One Iowa Lessons

12:02 Owner Clashes After Buyout

16:21 Deal Three Missouri Personality

18:25 Deal Two Training Misfire

27:37 Deal Structures Cash Flow Traps

32:50 Big Takeaways And Closing

Connect with Justin Esgar on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinesgar/

Connect with Daniel Welling on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwelling/

Connect with Adam Morris on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcmorris/

Visit The MSP Finance Team website, simply click here –https://www.mspfinanceteam.com/

MSP Glossary: MSP Finance Glossary Explained | MSP Finance Team

Tom discusses Adfin as a "new, better GoCardless," arguing it offers stronger support, more competitive pricing, and a broader product: direct debits, cards (including Apple Pay/Google Pay), open banking, and bank transfers in one platform with integrated chasing and reconciliation via Xero. He says the market has lacked innovation for 15–20 years and positions Adfin's goal as getting businesses paid faster at lower cost through automation and AI-driven personalization (e.g., mandates and chasing from a user's own email domain). Adfin is UK-focused, accepts international card payments, and plans euro and USD bank transfers within six months. A key differentiator is an automated direct debit migration process that moves mandates from other providers in about five weeks without customer action beyond notification. The episode also covers VRP skepticism, configurable payment limits/rules, virtual accounts for automated bank transfer reconciliation, and optional surcharging for expensive business cards.

00:00 Are We The New GoCardless

00:42 Why Adfin Wins

02:03 Why Challenge The Incumbent

03:56 Startup Speed Vs Scale

05:16 Payments Platform Explained

05:58 International Payments Roadmap

07:07 Switching Without Risk

09:26 VRP And Open Banking Reality

13:14 MSP Workflow Examples In Xero

15:43 Chasing Emails And Payment Limits

17:47 High Value Bank Transfers

18:52 Apple Pay Fees And Surcharging

22:33 Wrap Up And How To Reach Adfin

Connect with Tom Pope on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-pope-979a4940/

Connect with Daniel Welling on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwelling/

Connect with Adam Morris on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcmorris/

Visit The MSP Finance Team website, simply click here –https://www.mspfinanceteam.com/

MSP Glossary: MSP Finance Glossary Explained | MSP Finance Team

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Paul joins the podcast to discuss MSP M&A trends and what 2026 may look like after years of consolidation driven by PE-backed platforms, self-funded acquirers, listed buyers, and newer permanent capital vehicles. He explains why the market has been attractive (fragmentation, cloud migration, cyber demand, COVID-driven working changes, inflation-led price increases) but notes the bar is rising for sellers amid economic headwinds, lower price rises, and AI-driven efficiency that may pressure support rates while also creating advisory opportunities and margin protection. Paul breaks down five buyer types, including Evergreen-style permanent capital that buys without heavy integration and offers supplier and group benefits. He advises sellers to plan early, clarify personal and business goals, avoid approaching everyone, optimise operations, and choose experienced M&A advisors and lawyers, with up-to-date financial and tax records.

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:33 2026 MSP M&A Outlook

02:18 Market Drivers and Headwinds

06:01 Who the Buyers Are

09:26 Choosing the Right Exit Partner

12:42 Why Exit Planning Matters

14:49 Optimising for a Future Sale

18:14 Money Goals and Life Purpose

23:14 Building the Right Team

23:53 Picking Advisors and Process Timeline

28:57 Wrap Up and Contact Details

Connect with Paul Vanstone on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/cls946167290/

Connect with Daniel Welling on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielwelling/

Connect with Adam Morris on LinkedIn by clicking here – https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcmorris/

Visit The MSP Finance Team website, simply click here –https://www.mspfinanceteam.com/

MSP Glossary: MSP Finance Glossary Explained | MSP Finance Team

We look forward to catching up with you on the next one. Stay tuned!