Analytics/Analysis

In 2025 the MSP economy could go either way. So keep one eye open! Here is what I mean. I want to share my observations about how MSPs and the tech industry historically have been impacted by macro-economic activity and recessions.

Earlies

Like a weekend curbside yard sales overwhelmed with lookie loos before the 9AM start, some parts of the tech industry go into a recession early (by analogy). My experience has been that storage tends to go into recessions early. I saw this first hand with SanDisk in 2006+ before the 2008 financial market meltdown (“The Great Recession”) but it came out of the economic setback early. Chips can go either way

It's just good business. It's in our DNA to help as we're able.

It all started at the SMB Nation 2005 Fall Conference where we launched a WW Small Business Server (SBS) tour and raised relief funds for those impacted by the late 2004 Southeast Asia Tsunami. We gifted the fund at the end of the tour in a small moment in Bangkok

If you are a living and breathing MSP, you couldn’t miss the recent news on ConnectWise. Let’s start with the acquisition.

SkyKick and Axcient

I knew the founders of SkyKick (Evan and Todd) when they worked on the SMB team at Microsoft and the broke out to start SkyKick in the early part of the 2000-teens.

Well-known Managed Services Provider (MSP) sales and marketing guru Chris Wiser is a complex dude.

He has the swagger and bravado of a Texan. Chris lives in the Austin, TX area  after relocating from the mid-west (Wisconsin) several years ago.  Wiser is one focused intense guy with the altruistic goal of helping MSPs make money with tough love. And he doesn’t lack self-confidence. He is a trail blazer for sure.

He is also a duck. When you are a public figure, people are going to throw slings and arrows at ya. But like a duck in the rain,

Actually, Karl Palachuk and I have more in common than not. We both recently published blogs on MSP events.

My blog that was part of a recent newsletter to you focused on highly successful MSPs attending no events per year to focus on growing their MSP business. You can revisit my blog HERE. 

Karl respectively took a different approach to this conversation. His contribution spoke to the “rest of us” and what’s practical for the true SMB MSP in our space. Here is an excerpt followed by the link to read the complete blog!

How Many Events Should You Attend?

This is a commentary on an article my friend Harry Brelsford posted in his recent newsletter.  Harry notes that there appears to be an inverse relationship between attending too many conferences and being financially successful in this industry.

We’ve quickly turned the corner on 2024 and are sprinting towards 2025. What better time to reflect on what remains for the next several months. I’ll take a stab at it!

1. Industry Consolidations – Both on the vendor and MSP sides, I’m seeing continued consolidations.

That’s not a surprise with the number of cybersecurity vendors entering the SMB MSP space has accelerated. Need proof? Just survey the aisles at large MSP events you like to attend. Admittedly, many of those cybersecurity vendors are “one and done” logos but you’d be surprised with the M&A activity occurring in the background. Heck some times I wonder if folks created ISVs just to be acquired.

On the MSP front, as many in our space are aging out and private equity is circling the wagons to prey upon MSPs, you are seeing folks thinking getting acquired is looking pretty darn tootin good. Just had a cup of coffee with an MSP