---
title: "MSP Field Guide"
summary: "Answers to the questions MSP owners ask, from Nathan Phinney's experience building and selling an MSP."
url: "https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide/"
author: "Nathan Phinney"
author_role: "COO, AllSafe IT"
author_url: "https://nathanphinney.com/about/"
same_as: ["https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanphinney", "https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0DKF16LDD", "https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/52091659.Nathan_Phinney"]
expertise: ["IT", "InfoSec", "Managed Services", "Cybersecurity", "Business Operations", "Technology for Escrow Companies", "Technology for Nonprofits"]
updated: 2026-10-11
---

These are answers from Nathan's experience building and selling an MSP. 5 guides, each answering one question.

## How does an MSP move from break-fix and block hours to managed services?

How Bright Bear Technology Solutions went from hourly break-fix and expiring blocks of hours to managed services, drawn from Chapter 6 of Nathan Phinney's CTRL ALT SURVIVE and from what he has told the trade press.

- Guide: https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide/break-fix-to-managed-services.md

## Should an MSP specialize in one industry?

How Bright Bear Technology Solutions stopped working for anyone with a checkbook and became known for nonprofits and escrow companies, and the client-focus mistake Nathan Phinney says he made, from Chapter 7 of CTRL ALT SURVIVE.

- Guide: https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide/msp-vertical-focus.md

## How do you prepare an MSP to sell?

What buyers looked for when Bright Bear Technology Solutions was sold to Datapath in 2020, what Nathan Phinney changed in the run-up, and what he tells MSP owners to start on years before a sale, with a pointer to Chapter 11 of CTRL ALT SURVIVE.

- Guide: https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide/preparing-an-msp-to-sell.md

## Should a managed service provider get SOC 2?

When SOC 2 earns its cost for an MSP, drawn from Nathan Phinney's SOC 2 work at Bright Bear and other companies, and from what he told CRN about buyers.

- Guide: https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide/soc-2-for-msps.md

## Should an MSP manage the same stack for every client?

Why Bright Bear Technology Solutions managed the same five services for every client and trained every technician to deploy them the same way, and, in this guide's view, why standardizing helps before automation, from Chapters 4 and 8 of Nathan Phinney's CTRL ALT SURVIVE.

- Guide: https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide/standardizing-an-msp-stack.md

## Read CTRL ALT SURVIVE

The story behind these answers is in the book.

- [CTRL ALT SURVIVE](https://nathanphinney.com/books/ctrl-alt-survive/)
- [Buy it on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Ctrl-Alt-Survive-Secrets-Business/dp/B0DJN78S48) (Amazon: CTRL ALT SURVIVE listing)
- [Read the free preview (PDF)](https://nathanphinney.com/media/ctrl-alt-survive-preview.pdf)

## About the author

**Nathan Phinney**, COO, AllSafe IT.

- Co-founded Bright Bear Technology Solutions (2010 to 2020), which reached the CRN MSP 500 and Ingram Micro SMB 500 lists before its 2020 acquisition by Datapath.
- 17 SOC 2 initiatives across six companies, never an exception on an effort he led
- Member of InfraGard
- Member of the XChange Advisory Board, The Channel Company (2018 to 2022 and 2026)
- Author of _CTRL ALT SURVIVE: The Secrets of My Small Business Success_

Expertise: IT, InfoSec, Managed Services, Cybersecurity, Business Operations, Technology for Escrow Companies, Technology for Nonprofits.

Featured in: CRN (7 articles, 2019 to 2026), Backblaze, Bigleaf Networks, GTIA, Orange County Business Journal. See https://nathanphinney.com/press.md

Recommended on LinkedIn by Brook Porter (Partner and Co-Founder at G2 Venture Partners; previously at Kleiner Perkins, where he worked with Al Gore) and Tim Acker (Former channel chief at Lumen).

More: [About Nathan Phinney](https://nathanphinney.com/about.md) | [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanphinney) | [Amazon author page](https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0DKF16LDD) | [Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/52091659.Nathan_Phinney)