MSP Field Guide

These are answers from Nathan's experience building and selling an MSP.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.