# Nathan Phinney

> Nathan Phinney is COO of AllSafe IT (https://www.allsafeit.com/), a Pasadena, Calif. managed service provider, and co-founder of Bright Bear Technology Solutions, an Irvine MSP that reached the CRN MSP 500 and Ingram Micro SMB 500 and was acquired by Datapath in 2020. He has led 17 SOC 2 initiatives across six companies without an exception on any effort he led, is a member of InfraGard and The Channel Company XChange Advisory Board, and is the author of CTRL ALT SURVIVE. CRN has covered or quoted him 7 times (2019 to 2026). Areas of expertise: IT, InfoSec, Managed Services, Cybersecurity, Business Operations, Technology for Escrow Companies, Technology for Nonprofits.

This site is about Nathan Phinney, the Southern California MSP operator and author: Chief Operating Officer of AllSafe IT since July 2025, co-founder and president of Bright Bear Technology Solutions (Irvine, California, January 2010 to July 2020), which was acquired by Datapath in July 2020, and author of CTRL ALT SURVIVE (2024) and the forthcoming CTRL ALT AI (November 2026). He was Director of Cloud Services at Datapath from July 2020 to September 2022 and no longer works there. He holds a B.A. in Mass Communication from Biola University. He is not the Nathan Phinney who served as president of the Canadian Cattle Association, and not Dr. D. Nathan Phinney, the academic administrator at Northwestern College in Iowa.

## About

- [Nathan Phinney: Operator, Author, Contrarian](https://nathanphinney.com/index.md): Nathan Phinney, COO at AllSafe IT and author of Ctrl Alt Survive. Companies that run on people, with technology as a force multiplier.
- [About](https://nathanphinney.com/about.md): Nathan Phinney is COO at AllSafe IT, with expertise in IT, InfoSec, Managed Services, Cybersecurity, Business Operations, Technology for Escrow Companies, and Technology for Nonprofits.
- [Hideous Supermodels](https://nathanphinney.com/music.md): Hideous Supermodels is a band: Paul Goodenough on drums, Carl Emmons on bass guitar and vocals, and Nathan Phinney on guitars and vocals.
- [Contact](https://nathanphinney.com/contact.md): Media & Contact Requests

## Books

- [Books](https://nathanphinney.com/books.md): Books by Nathan Phinney.
- [CTRL ALT SURVIVE](https://nathanphinney.com/books/ctrl-alt-survive.md): This is not a conventional business book, and if you intend to survive your small business, you can't afford to be a conventional business leader. CTRL ALT SURVIVE is an audacious, occasionally hilarious, and always honest look at what it takes to turn a business into something that matters. It's about finding the advantages hidden in plain sight, fostering human connections, and taking the sort of calculated risks that will keep you up at night before paying off in ways that defy imagination.
- [CTRL ALT AI](https://nathanphinney.com/books/ctrl-alt-ai.md): AI amplifies whatever you point it at. This book is about choosing the target: what the tools are actually good for in a small business, where they quietly fail, and why the judgment still has to be yours.

## Essays

- [Essays](https://nathanphinney.com/essays.md): Essays by Nathan Phinney.
- [Eyeing The Exit: When You're Preparing To Sell](https://nathanphinney.com/eyeing-the-exit.md): Article by Nathan Phinney for Channel Partners Conference & Expo on preparing a business for sale, tied to his session Building for Acquisition: Strategies to Position Your Business for a Successful Exit on March 25.
- [6 TV Shows That Get Technology So Right](https://nathanphinney.com/top-6-tv-shows-that-get-technology-right.md): Television has a rocky relationship with technology. This is a list of six shows that capture the complexity, absurdity, and humanity in our relationship with it.
- [Be More Daring Than AI](https://nathanphinney.com/be-more-daring-than-ai.md): LLMs are talented at consensus, which means a flood of boring, derivative ideas. Humans have no choice but to take risks.
- [LLMs are very good at Family Feud.](https://nathanphinney.com/llms-are-very-good-at-family-feud.md): Large language models are very good at one kind of answer, the consensus answer. Used correctly, they are an amplifier for human creativity.
- [5 Ways to Force AI to Color Outside the Lines](https://nathanphinney.com/5-ways-to-force-ai-to-color-outside-the-lines.md): Five prompting strategies for pushing LLMs past consensus answers and conventional thinking.
- [9 Ways To Jump-start Communication At Your Company](https://nathanphinney.com/9-ways-to-jump-start-communication-at-your-company.md): Nine ways to jump-start communication at your company, from informal channels to no-meeting days.
- [Unconventional Results Require Unconventional Strategy](https://nathanphinney.com/unconventional-results-require-unconventional-strategy.md): If you want unconventional results, you have to do unconventional things. A story about two front page articles in the Las Vegas Sun.
- [Four Stocks You Can't Buy](https://nathanphinney.com/four-stocks-you-cant-buy.md): Four privately held companies I wish I could own stock in: Cox Enterprises, Enterprise Rent A Car, EssilorLuxottica, and In-N-Out Burger.

## Field Guide

- [MSP Field Guide](https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide.md): Answers to the questions MSP owners ask, from Nathan Phinney's experience building and selling an MSP.
- [From break-fix and block hours to managed services](https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide/break-fix-to-managed-services.md): 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.
- [Picking a vertical for an MSP](https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide/msp-vertical-focus.md): 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.
- [Preparing an MSP to sell](https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide/preparing-an-msp-to-sell.md): 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.
- [SOC 2 for MSPs](https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide/soc-2-for-msps.md): 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.
- [Standardizing an MSP's service stack](https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide/standardizing-an-msp-stack.md): 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.

## Questions this site answers

- [How does an MSP move from break-fix and block hours to managed services?](https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide/break-fix-to-managed-services.md): 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?](https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide/msp-vertical-focus.md): 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?](https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide/preparing-an-msp-to-sell.md): 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?](https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide/soc-2-for-msps.md): 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?](https://nathanphinney.com/field-guide/standardizing-an-msp-stack.md): 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.

## Press

- [Press](https://nathanphinney.com/press.md): Interviews, articles, and talks featuring Nathan Phinney.
- [On a Hot Mic About AI at GTIA ChannelCon 2026](https://nathanphinney.com/gtia-channelcon-2026-ai-hot-mic.md) (GTIA, 2026): GTIA, the Global Technology Industry Association, shared a reel of Nathan Phinney on a hot mic talking about AI at ChannelCon 2026 in San Diego.
- [Cloudskope Founder: 'You Have To Be The Most Resilient Person You Can Be'](https://nathanphinney.com/cloudskope-founder-you-have-to-be-the-most-resilient-person-you-can-be.md) (CRN, 2026): CRN quotes Nathan Phinney, COO of AllSafe IT, on Dipan Mann's keynote about resilience at XChange Security 2026 in Frisco, Texas.
- [10 Of The Hottest Products And Services For MSPs In 2024](https://nathanphinney.com/10-of-the-hottest-products-and-services-for-msps-in-2024.md) (CRN, 2024): CRN names Convilo, Nathan Phinney's consultancy for MSPs, among the hottest products and services for MSPs at XChange NexGen 2024 in Houston, quoting him on SOC 2 and preparing MSPs for acquisition.
- [Bigleaf preserves continuity of service for Innovation Refunds](https://nathanphinney.com/bigleaf-sd-wan-interview.md) (Bigleaf Networks, 2023): Bigleaf Networks case study quoting Nathan Phinney, CIO of Innovation Refunds, on SD-WAN and resilient internet connectivity, with a webinar featuring Nathan and Bigleaf's CMO.
- [Thinking Of Buying Or Selling An MSP? Here Are 6 Tips From Experts](https://nathanphinney.com/thinking-of-buying-or-selling-an-msp-here-are-6-tips-from-experts.md) (CRN, 2021): CRN coverage of a NexGen+ 2021 panel on buying and selling MSPs, quoting Nathan Phinney on exit strategy and his firm's acquisition.
- [Why Low-Code/No-Code Can Bring A 'Distinct Advantage' For MSPs](https://nathanphinney.com/why-low-code-no-code-can-bring-a-distinct-advantage-for-msps.md) (CRN, 2021): CRN report on a NexGen+ 2021 session about low-code/no-code for MSPs, quoting Nathan Phinney on removing barriers between people and data.
- [Edge Solutions: Solution Provider Community More Relevant Than Ever Before](https://nathanphinney.com/edge-solutions-solution-provider-community-more-relevant-than-ever-before.md) (CRN, 2021): CRN coverage of The Channel Company's Best of Breed 2021, quoting Nathan Phinney on Windows 365 cloud desktops.
- [Datapath Buys Bright Bear of Irvine](https://nathanphinney.com/datapath-buys-bright-bear-of-irvine.md) (Orange County Business Journal, 2020): Orange County Business Journal item on Datapath acquiring Bright Bear Technology Solutions, naming Nathan Phinney as former Bright Bear president and now Datapath general manager of Southern California.
- [MSP Merger: Coronavirus No Obstacle To Datapath's Bright Bear Buy](https://nathanphinney.com/msp-merger-coronavirus-no-obstacle-to-datapaths-bright-bear-buy.md) (CRN, 2020): CRN report on Datapath closing its acquisition of Bright Bear Technology Solutions during the pandemic, with Nathan Phinney describing the remote deal and Bright Bear's focus on financial services and SOC 2.
- [How To Get The Most ROI On Your Digital Marketing Efforts](https://nathanphinney.com/how-to-get-the-most-roi-on-your-digital-marketing-efforts.md) (CRN, 2019): CRN report on a NexGen 2019 session about digital marketing ROI, with Nathan Phinney of Bright Bear on putting the customer at the center of the story.
- [Backblaze Case Study](https://nathanphinney.com/backblaze-case-study.md) (Backblaze, 2019): Backblaze vendor case study on Bright Bear Technology Solutions, quoting Nathan Phinney, its president, on why a managed service provider starts with backup.