Uncle Marv's IT Business Podcast (Products, stories, and tips for the MSP and IT Professional)

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to keep a show going for a thousand episodes while still running tickets, projects, and staff, this one pulls back the curtain. I talk with Matt Rainey, Lalo Nuñez, Martin Obando, and Dawn Sizer about how Podnutz Pro started as a way to teach desktop techs the server side of the house, and how that spirit of “learn out loud” carried into the IT Business Podcast. We revisit the early days of computer repair, WRT54G routers, Windows Server 2003, and A+‑era hardware, then fast‑forward to today’s world of Azure, SharePoint, co‑managed IT, and remote teams spread across the country.

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Guests

Shout-outs

Companies / Vendors / Products Mentioned

=== SPONSORS: 

=== SHOW MUSIC: 

=== Connect with Uncle Marv

🌐 Website: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/
🎙 Host: Marvin Bee
🛒 Uncle Marv’s Amazon Store (gear & tools I recommend): https://amzn.to/3EiyKoZ
☕ Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/itbusinesspodcast

If you found value in this episode, share it with another MSP, IT provider, or tech entrepreneur. Your support helps keep practical, no-nonsense IT business conversations coming every week.

This conversation with Brian Weiss starts with Copilot, but it quickly becomes an honest look at how unprepared most of us are for AI inside client environments. I talk about being just like my customers—dabbling in random AI tools—while Brian lays out what it actually takes to make Copilot useful: modern workplace, SharePoint/OneDrive, sane file structures, and real governance instead of “S: drive chaos.” We also get into the reality that Copilot isn’t just “another ChatGPT,” it’s an ecosystem of role-based copilots that only work as well as the data and structure we give them.

We dig into Purview (including the fact that many of us already have basic capabilities in Business Premium and never turned them on), sensitivity labels, DLP, and why chain of custody should be every MSP’s go-to phrase with law firms and other regulated clients. Brian also shares how his team is going Microsoft‑first with Dynamics, Business Central, and custom agents so AI can sit on top of their PSA, finance, and security data instead of being yet another disconnected tool. It’s a real-world, practical roadmap for MSPs trying to move from “AI curiosity” to actual AI strategy.

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Guest: Brian Weiss, ITECH Solutions: 

Shout-outs: 

Companies / Vendors / Products Mentioned:

=== SPONSORS: 

=== SHOW MUSIC: 

=== Connect with Uncle Marv

🌐 Website: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/
🎙 Host: Marvin Bee
🛒 Uncle Marv’s Amazon Store (gear & tools I recommend): https://amzn.to/3EiyKoZ
☕ Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/itbusinesspodcast

If you found value in this episode, share it with another MSP, IT provider, or tech entrepreneur. Your support helps keep practical, no-nonsense IT business conversations coming every week.

I sat down with Larry Cobrin, founder and CEO of MSPCFO, to unpack how MSPs can turn messy PSA data into a clear picture of which clients are actually profitable and which ones are quietly draining the business. Larry broke down the idea of treating clients like a portfolio, normalizing profitability with contribution per hour, and using that lens to decide whether to improve, protect, or let go of certain accounts.

We also talked about how this ties directly into EBITDA and exit planning, especially as more private equity money flows into the MSP space and buyers expect real, reliable reporting instead of gut feel. I shared my own story about firing my largest client when the time and revenue just didn’t line up, and we connected that experience back to the numbers Larry sees every day inside MSPCFO. From there we shifted into AI, the risks of “DIY analytics,” and why confident answers from dirty PSA data can be more dangerous than having no data at all.

Florida Man Working as a Ransomware Deploys Ransomware and Extorts U.S. Victims https://linkly.link/2hlAQ

Chapters

Guest: Larry Cobrin, MSPCFO

Shout-out

Companies / Vendors / Products Mentioned

=== SPONSORS: 

=== SHOW MUSIC: 

=== Connect with Uncle Marv

🌐 Website: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/
🎙 Host: Marvin Bee
🛒 Uncle Marv’s Amazon Store (gear & tools I recommend): https://amzn.to/3EiyKoZ
☕ Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/itbusinesspodcast

If you found value in this episode, share it with another MSP, IT provider, or tech entrepreneur. Your support helps keep practical, no-nonsense IT business conversations coming every week.

Too many of us spend decades building our MSP, missing vacations and pulling all-nighters, only to “decide” to sell when a random LOI hits the inbox. Amy Babinchak has spent years helping owners sell their MSPs through Sell My MSP, and she joins me to walk through the real-world questions, red flags, and blind spots that determine whether you shut it down or cash it out. We talk about planning three to five years ahead, getting your financials and contracts clean, modernizing your stack, and why recurring revenue and profit percentage matter more than that one big whale client you’re so proud of.

We also get into the emotional side nobody warns you about: what it feels like to hand over the business you built for 20-plus years, how to think about life after the sale, and why treating your MSP like a resume can change the way buyers see your value. Amy shares how private equity looks at EBITDA and tools, why most deals are still MSP-to-MSP, and how to turn your company into the best-run, least-scary option on a buyer’s list.

Chapters

Guest: Amy Babinchak, Sell My MSP / Third Tier:

Book: 20 Questions Every Owner Asks Before Selling Their MSP

Shout-outs

Companies / Vendors / Products Mentioned

=== SPONSORS: 

=== SHOW MUSIC: 

=== Connect with Uncle Marv

🌐 Website: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/
🎙 Host: Marvin Bee
🛒 Uncle Marv’s Amazon Store (gear & tools I recommend): https://amzn.to/3EiyKoZ
☕ Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/itbusinesspodcast

If you found value in this episode, share it with another MSP, IT provider, or tech entrepreneur. Your support helps keep practical, no-nonsense IT business conversations coming every week.

I’ve been talking for years about having a stack that works and not jumping every time a shiny new tool comes along, but I’ve never really unpacked how I got there. In this conversation, Tom Wyant from Wyant Technologies joins me to walk through the real‑world impact of switching RMMs, PSAs, documentation tools, security platforms, and even client portals and payment systems. We dig into migrations that looked good on paper but turned into months of cleanup, retraining clients on new portals and payment workflows, and what it actually costs when a tech spends two to three hours a day fixing issues instead of working tickets or projects.

Why Listen

Chapters

Guest: Tom Wyant, Wyant Technologies: 

Shout-outs

Companies / Vendors / Products Mentioned

=== SPONSORS: 

=== SHOW MUSIC: 

=== Connect with Uncle Marv

🌐 Website: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/
🎙 Host: Marvin Bee
🛒 Uncle Marv’s Amazon Store (gear & tools I recommend): https://amzn.to/3EiyKoZ
☕ Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/itbusinesspodcast

If you found value in this episode, share it with another MSP, IT provider, or tech entrepreneur. Your support helps keep practical, no-nonsense IT business conversations coming every week.

This conversation with Ben Lee and Marc‑Andre from the N-Able Head Nerds team gets right into the questions MSPs are really asking at Empower 2026: how to approach AI strategically, what the new AI management tab actually does, and how to wrap governance and compliance around all of it. We also get into the evolution of automation inside the MSP space, why it’s shifted from “hours of scripting” to more of a teaching and idea-generation role, and how the Head Nerds are helping partners turn those ideas into scalable services.

We talk about AI as more than just embedded features: in‑product AI, building your own agents and automations off the platform, and deciding when to use N-Able’s tools versus rolling your own. Ben and Marc‑Andre share what they’re hearing from more mature MSPs—concerns about governance, edge‑case risks, and how to create AI offerings that sit alongside resiliency and security packages—while still keeping things practical and grounded.

Chapters:

Guests

Companies / Vendors / Products Mentioned

=== SPONSORS: 

=== SHOW MUSIC: 

=== Connect with Uncle Marv

🌐 Website: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/
🎙 Host: Marvin Bee
🛒 Uncle Marv’s Amazon Store (gear & tools I recommend): https://amzn.to/3EiyKoZ
☕ Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/itbusinesspodcast

If you found value in this episode, share it with another MSP, IT provider, or tech entrepreneur. Your support helps keep practical, no-nonsense IT business conversations coming every week.

DePalma's been at it a year since jumping from Datto and Kaseya to OpenText's massive operation—25,000 employees, billions in revenue, but they give his team real autonomy to hit numbers without micromanaging. They've streamlined everything into one Secure Cloud portal, fixed Microsoft 365 pains with better UX and 98.7% in-house support, and launched partnerships that enable MSPs, not compete—like Hats AI for managing client LLMs securely. No more competing product silos from the Zix/AppRiver days; now it's one account manager, transparent pricing, month-to-month terms, and focus on filling your stack gaps, especially for N-Able partners.

Chapters:

Guest: Michael DePalma, OpenText 

Shout-outs

Companies / Vendors / Products Mentioned

=== SPONSORS: 

=== SHOW MUSIC: 

=== Connect with Uncle Marv

🌐 Website: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/
🎙 Host: Marvin Bee
🛒 Uncle Marv’s Amazon Store (gear & tools I recommend): https://amzn.to/3EiyKoZ
☕ Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/itbusinesspodcast

If you found value in this episode, share it with another MSP, IT provider, or tech entrepreneur. Your support helps keep practical, no-nonsense IT business conversations coming every week.

Robert Johnston’s journey goes from Marine Corps cyber operations to running incident response at CrowdStrike, to founding Adlumin and ultimately landing inside N-able as Chief Innovation Officer. We unpack why SIEM and MDR used to be “Fortune 500 only” tech, and how Adlumin intentionally built a cost-efficient, easy-to-use, channel-first platform that MSPs could actually deploy for community banks, credit unions, healthcare, and other compliance-heavy clients.

We also talk through the reality for most MSPs: you’re not going to hire 15–20 people to staff a 24×7 SOC, but your clients still expect enterprise-grade protection. Robert explains how MDR lets vendors aggregate security talent and software so MSPs can operate more like MSSPs, and how N-able now ties everything together with three pillars of business resilience: pre-breach hardening, real-time detection and response, and post-breach recovery with Cove.

Chapters

Guest: Robert Johnston, N-able (Adlumin) 

Companies / Vendors / Products Mentioned

=== SPONSORS: 

=== SHOW MUSIC: 

=== Connect with Uncle Marv

🌐 Website: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/
🎙 Host: Marvin Bee
🛒 Uncle Marv’s Amazon Store (gear & tools I recommend): https://amzn.to/3EiyKoZ
☕ Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/itbusinesspodcast

If you found value in this episode, share it with another MSP, IT provider, or tech entrepreneur. Your support helps keep practical, no-nonsense IT business conversations coming every week.

I sat down with Lewis and Steph from the N‑able Head Nerds crew to unpack what’s really changing in the MSP game: your clients don’t want another tool, they want outcomes and business resilience. We get into the shift from “cybersecurity” as a tired buzzword to a more powerful story around keeping doors open, maintaining revenue, and helping business owners survive their worst day without getting lost in the weeds of MDR, UEM, or whatever the latest acronym is.

We also talk through CMMC, governance, and compliance as real revenue opportunities instead of scary alphabet soup. Lewis shares how he’s building executive‑level tabletop exercises and resiliency pulse checks, while Steph walks through practical ways MSPs can package services, improve their websites, and run profitable executive business reviews without immediately throwing money at another tool. We close by talking about why events like Empower matter so much for MSPs who actually want to grow and not stay stuck in a vacuum.

Chapters

Guests

Shout-outs

Companies / Vendors / Products Mentioned

=== Connect with Uncle Marv

🌐 Website: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/
🎙 Host: Marvin Bee
🛒 Uncle Marv’s Amazon Store (gear & tools I recommend): https://amzn.to/3EiyKoZ
☕ Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/itbusinesspodcast

If you found value in this episode, share it with another MSP, IT provider, or tech entrepreneur. Your support helps keep practical, no-nonsense IT business conversations coming every week.

Frank and I sit down at Empower 2026 to unpack where N‑Able is investing, how AI and UEM are reshaping endpoint management, and what that actually means for MSP service catalogs, pricing, and security offerings. We get into the control-plane vision for UEM, the action layer for security, and how N‑Able is using Enzo and its head nerds to turn field lessons into repeatable playbooks and automation MSSPs can actually execute.

We also talk about the human side of the channel: why Frank is still fired up after 23 years, how N‑Able works with 25,000 partners worldwide, and why peer-to-peer sessions at Empower often drive the next set of features and acquisitions. Frank shares how Empower is going on the road, what he’s hearing in one‑on‑one conversations about AI monetization, and why MSPs should be talking AI strategy in every QBR, even if clients haven’t figured out their plan yet.

Chapters

Guest: Frank Colletti, N‑Able

Shout-outs

Companies / Vendors / Products Mentioned

=== SPONSORS: 

=== SHOW MUSIC: 

=== Connect with Uncle Marv

🌐 Website: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/
🎙 Host: Marvin Bee
🛒 Uncle Marv’s Amazon Store (gear & tools I recommend): https://amzn.to/3EiyKoZ
☕ Support the show: https://ko-fi.com/itbusinesspodcast

If you found value in this episode, share it with another MSP, IT provider, or tech entrepreneur. Your support helps keep practical, no-nonsense IT business conversations coming every week.