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

Tom Bull of Two River Computer joins me for a practical conversation about building an MSP around trust, community, and the work clients actually need. Tom shares how his business grew from computer repair and consulting into managed IT, residential technology, Wi-Fi, smart-home projects, and cybersecurity, all while serving smaller businesses that larger MSPs often overlook. We talk about referral relationships, local visibility, Google reviews, and why listening to the customer can matter more than following every piece of conventional channel advice.

We also get into the realities of controlled growth and modern security. Tom explains why he paused new-client onboarding when his team hit capacity, how he thinks about profit over revenue, and why he is careful about taking on work he cannot support well. We cover AI use policies, Microsoft 365 protection, SentinelOne Vigilance, Petra, ThreatLocker, Ubiquiti, SonicWall, backups, identity security, and the layered approach MSPs need to keep clients protected without overcomplicating the stack.

=== Chapters

• 01:52 Meet Tom Bull of Two River Computer
• 04:22 Tom Bull’s Tech Career and MSP Origin Story
• 10:01 Building a Community-Driven Local IT Business
• 13:17 Growing an MSP by Giving Clients What They Want
• 17:42 Small-Business MSP Niches, Pricing, and Referral Partnerships
• 22:15 AI Policies, Shadow AI, and MSP Liability Concerns
• 30:04 Building a Layered Security Stack With SentinelOne and Petra
• 32:46 ThreatLocker, AutoElevate, and Application Control
• 38:38 TechCon Unplugged, 1Stream, and TruGrid Sponsor Message
• 41:09 Working on the Business and Finding MSP Profitability
• 49:11 Local SEO, Google Reviews, and Profitable Hardware Sales
• 53:10 Ubiquiti, Managed Switches, and Network Visibility
• 56:49 SonicWall vs. Ubiquiti Gateway Security
• 01:08:53 Developing Future Leaders at Two River Computer

=== Guest: Tom Bull, Two River Computer

• Website: https://www.tworivercomputer.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tworivercomputer

=== Events

• TechCon Unplugged: https://techconunplugged.com/
  • Discount Code: TCUMarvin

=== Companies / Vendors / Products / Books

• Synchro: https://syncrosecure.com/
• SentinelOne Vigilance: https://www.sentinelone.com/services/vigilance/
• Petra Security: https://www.petrasecurity.com/
• Huntress: https://www.huntress.com/
• ThreatLocker: https://www.threatlocker.com/
• AutoElevate: https://www.cyberfox.com/platforms/autoelevate-by-cyberfox/
• SonicWall: https://www.sonicwall.com/
• Ubiquiti: https://ui.com/
• Proofpoint: https://www.proofpoint.com/
• Domotz: https://www.domotz.com/
• Auvik: https://www.auvik.com/
• Cork: https://www.corkinc.com/
• Tech Marketing Engine: https://techmarketingengine.com/
• The Pumpkin Plan: https://amzn.to/4yp2Xxz
• Discount Code: TCUMarvin

=== SPONSORS:

• Technology Partner, NetAlly: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/netally/
• Technology Partner: Bvoip: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/bvoip
• Travel Partner: TruGrid: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/trugrid
• Digital Partner, Designer Ready: http://itbusinesspodcast.com/designerready

=== SHOW MUSIC:

• Item Title: Upbeat & Fun Sports Rock Logo
• Item URL: https://elements.envato.com/upbeat-fun-sports-rock-logo-CSR3UET
• Author Username: AlexanderRufire
• Item License Code: 7X9F52DNML

=== 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.

Sean Lardo, better known around the channel as Mr. IT Nation, joined me for a special conversation following the announcement of the IT Nation PitchIT 2026 finalists: Lemhi, Synthreo, and Blacksmith InfoSec. After a 16-week competitive cohort built around coaching, refinement, and practice, these three companies are now preparing to take the stage at IT Nation Connect Global in Orlando.

=== Chapters

• 00:23 PitchIT 2026 Finalists Announcement
• 01:47 Meet Sean Lardo of IT Nation
• 03:07 Behind the PitchIT Finalist Reveal
• 06:01 How PitchIT Vendors Refine Their Message
• 08:40 Uncle Marv’s PitchIT Rankings and Prize Debate
• 11:12 MSP Feedback on PitchIT Vendor Interviews
• 13:22 Preparing Vendors for Real Sales Conversations
• 14:14 The Best Questions MSPs Should Ask Vendors
• 17:04 Evaluating Vendor Fit Beyond Price
• 19:12 What to Expect at PitchIT Orlando
• 21:09 Finalist Congratulations and IT Nation Connect Closing

=== Guest: Sean Lardo, ConnectWise / The IT Nation

• Website: https://www.connectwise.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanlardo

=== Companies / Vendors / Products / Books

• ConnectWise: https://www.connectwise.com/
• The IT Nation: https://itnation.connectwise.com/
• PitchIT: https://itnation.connectwise.com/pitchit
• IT Nation Connect Global: https://itnation.connectwise.com/connect-global
• Lemhi: https://lemhi.com/
• Synthreo: https://synthreo.ai/
• Blacksmith InfoSec: https://blacksmithinfosec.com/

=== SPONSORS:

• Technology Partner, NetAlly: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/netally/
• Technology Partner: Bvoip: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/bvoip
• Travel Partner: TruGrid: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/trugrid
• Digital Partner, Designer Ready: http://itbusinesspodcast.com/designerready

=== SHOW MUSIC:

• Item Title: Upbeat & Fun Sports Rock Logo
• Item URL: https://elements.envato.com/upbeat-fun-sports-rock-logo-CSR3UET
• Author Username: AlexanderRufire
• Item License Code: 7X9F52DNML

=== 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 am catching up on the latest NSITSP activity from August, and there was a lot worth paying attention to. From election and governance updates to advocacy around AI, cybersecurity, right-to-repair, and data centers, I wanted to bring these conversations to the podcast because they affect the business environment MSPs are working in every day.

What stood out most to me is that the IT industry needs more than good technicians and great tools. We need people who are willing to get involved, educate clients and lawmakers, document what works, and make sure our voices are heard. I also share why better client employee onboarding may be one of the simplest ways to lower ticket volume, improve client experience, and give your help desk some breathing room.

=== Chapters

=== People Mentioned

=== Companies / Vendors / Products / Books

=== 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 was riding solo for this Wednesday Live Show, and I had something on my mind that every MSP, IT professional, and business owner needs to consider: Can a client access everything their former IT company managed? I recently met with a prospect who believed they had administrative access, but when we sat down and checked, they did not have the level of access needed to manage their Microsoft 365 environment. They were dealing with other access problems too, including their website, account recovery, and network equipment.

My take is straightforward. Our job as MSPs is to manage what needs managing, but that does not mean we should own or control everything that keeps a client in business. Clients should know what they own, who has access, and how to get into their important systems in an emergency. That means checking Microsoft 365, domains, DNS, websites, firewalls, networking equipment, servers, backups, VoIP, documentation, password vaults, and recovery methods. We also need to be honest about what belongs to the MSP stack, what belongs to the client, and what happens when either side decides the relationship is over.

=== Chapters

=== Shout-outs

=== Resources / Companies / Books / Podcasts

=== 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 had Chris Miller back on the show, and we started with a topic every MSP owner understands: client service. ATB Technologies has built a reputation around keeping customers happy, but Chris was honest about what that really means. Technology still breaks, Microsoft and Azure still have outages, and users can still be frustrated. The difference is how your team responds, communicates, and works to make things right. One of the things that stood out to me was Chris talking about hiring for soft skills on the help desk, including a certified child psychologist on the team. Patience is a real skill in this business, especially when you are helping people who may not be technical and simply want the outcome they were promised.

We also had an honest conversation about losing your largest client. I shared my own experience of firing a large law-firm client, and Chris explained how ATB lost a customer representing more than half of its revenue. They looked at the numbers, found cost savings, protected their people, rebuilt the revenue in about nine months, and eventually won that client back. The bigger lesson was not just about recovery. It was about leadership staying involved in relationships, making QBRs valuable to the customer, reducing customer-concentration risk, documenting your sales process before hiring a salesperson, and defining the kind of clients you actually want to serve.

=== Chapters

=== Guest: Christopher Miller, ATB Technologies

=== Resources / Companies / Products / Books / Podcasts

=== 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.

Chris Miller did not come into the MSP industry as a lifelong technologist. He came from telecom sales, thought he knew computers because he knew how to use them, and then got a quick education when he had to explain firewalls, switches, and backups to business owners. What I appreciated about Chris is that he did not pretend to know what he did not know. He sat down with an engineer, asked questions, learned the environment piece by piece, and then figured out how to translate technology into business value.

We also get practical about MSP growth. Chris helped grow one MSP from about $800,000 to $4 million, then joined ATB Technologies in 2018 when it was around $2 million and helped it reach $10 million, all organically. The conversation comes back to having a repeatable sales process, defining an ideal client profile, and recognizing that the strategy needed at $1 million is not necessarily the one needed at $10 million. Chris also shares why culture, customer relationships, and the willingness to learn outside your natural skill set matter just as much as the numbers on a revenue chart.

=== Chapters

=== Guest: Christopher Miller, ATB Technologies

=== Resources / Companies / Products / Books / Podcasts

=== Events

=== 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.

Brian Weiss from iTech joined me for a real MSP owner conversation, the kind we need more of. We started with what happens when a vendor changes its roadmap and you are suddenly left having to rethink part of your own business. Brian shared how Pax8 winding down its business applications services affected his support plan for Microsoft Dynamics Business Central. The important lesson is bigger than one vendor: every MSP has dependencies, and standardizing your stack does not remove risk if too much operational knowledge or support capability lives outside your control.

We also got into AI, shadow IT, and why clients often bring us in after they have already started using a tool. Brian made a strong point that employees using AI are not necessarily the problem. They may be the champions your client needs, but they need to be brought under proper company licensing, governance, and data protection. We talked about resisting FOMO around the growing pile of AI vendors, reviewing overlapping tools, and remembering that automation often needs to come before AI. If you run an MSP, this conversation is a reminder to stay flexible, know where your single points of failure are, and make decisions based on the business you want to build, not the noise around you.

=== Chapters

=== Guests Brian J. Weiss, ITECH Solutions 

=== Shout-outs Kristen Pittman, CyLutions 

=== Conferences TechCon Unplugged

=== Resources / Companies / Products / Books / Podcasts 

=== 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 Cameron Brister from SquarePlanIT to talk about the real-world decisions MSP owners are making right now. AI is changing fast, clients want to use new tools yesterday, and we still have to think about security, permissions, data, and supportability. Cameron makes a great point that we cannot become the department of no, but we also cannot pretend every shiny new tool is ready to roll out to clients.

We also get into the less glamorous but very real work of running an IT business: migrating from Autotask to Halo, planning a move from Datto RMM to Ninja, dealing with relentless vendor outreach, and figuring out whether marketing is actually working. Cameron shares why he sees AI as a back-office helper for things like ticket triage and research, why community involvement builds long-term trust, and why saying no to the wrong client can be a sign of operational maturity instead of a missed opportunity.

=== Chapters

=== Guest: Cameron Brister

=== Resources / Companies / Products / Books / Podcasts

=== 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 had a great conversation with Mike Glasman, president of Vitalpoints IT Services in Los Angeles, because he came into the MSP world from a path many of us did not take. Mike spent years in channel and enterprise technology sales, working around major vendors and large solution providers before he became an MSP owner. That background taught him how to get in front of customers, ask better questions, evaluate vendors, and build credibility around difficult technical problems, even though he does not position himself as the person who has to fix every ticket.

What really stood out to me was Mike’s insistence that the owner cannot be the single point of failure. He outsourced help desk work from the beginning, built a bench of people he could call on for specialized projects, and trained clients to use the support process instead of calling him directly. We also get into the realities of growing on the side, the high cost of client acquisition, one-year agreements, avoiding unnecessary tool commitments, and why your standard stack still needs room for exceptions when a client has an unusual backup, Wi-Fi, Mac, or large-data problem

=== Chapters

=== Guests: Mike Glasman

=== Resources / Companies / Products / Books / Podcasts

=== 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.

Matt Forman from The Local Circuit and I sit down for a good old-fashioned MSP catch-up, covering his steady growth, a changing vendor stack, and why automation is helping his team do more without hiring faster than they need to. We also get into practical AI guardrails, ticket triage, and the tools that save real time in the field.

We talk through some decisions MSP owners deal with every day: changing cloud-distribution partners because of payment-processing costs, moving from Synchro to Halo and NinjaOne, and putting Huntress to work for endpoint and Microsoft 365 identity protection. Matt also explains how his internal AI tools are helping triage tickets, improve ticket subjects, produce technical suggestions, automate onboarding and offboarding, and reduce the little repetitive tasks that steal time from the day.

=== Chapters

=== Events

=== SPONSORS: 

=== SHOW MUSIC: 

=== Commercial 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.