Mastering the MSP Industry: Insights and Strategies with Pete Hughes

Join us as we sit down with Pete Hughes and dive into the ins and outs of establishing a successful MSP business. Pete shares his exciting journey from the spark of inspiration that led to the creation of his own company, the trials faced during the early days, and the triumph of overcoming them. We also get into the nitty-gritty of M&A, why it's crucial for their business, and how they've set themselves apart with their unique service delivery.

Brace yourselves as we dive deeper in the second part of our chat! We'll tackle the essentials of managing expectations and the hazards of premature scaling. Pete shares the importance of diversifying services, and how beneficial vendor partnerships can be. We also touch on the ever-evolving landscape of the industry and why it's vital to stay updated. Get ready to take notes as Pete gives us a peek into the art of building trust with new clients, and how his company, Aura Technology, engages new customers in a manner that sets them apart. So, gear up for a strategic deep-dive that can help your MSP business navigate and thrive in today's bustling market.

Get an in-person rundown on what N-able has to offer including products, insights, networking and more.

The N-able Roadshow is visiting more cities than ever before in 2024. Take a look at our first group of locations; we may be in a city near you! -> http://spr.ly/6000RsTOq

'Now that's it: Stories of MSP Success,' dives into the journeys of some of the trailblazers in our industry to find out how they used their passion for technology to help turn Managed Services into the thriving sector it is today.

Every episode is packed with the valuable insights, practical strategies, and inspiring anecdotes that lead our guests to the transformative moment when they knew….. Now, that's it.

This podcast provides educational information about issues that may be relevant to information technology service providers.

Nothing in the podcast should be construed as any recommendation or endorsement by N-able, or as legal or any other advice.

The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the podcast does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.

Views and opinions expressed by N-able employees are those of the employees and do not necessarily reflect the view of N-able or its officers and directors.

The podcast may also contain forward-looking statements regarding future product plans, functionality, or development efforts that should not be interpreted as a commitment from N-able related to any deliverables or timeframe.

All content is based on information available at the time of recording, and N-able has no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:20

Coming up on. Now. That's It. I wanted to do something a little bit different. We both had the backgrounds at working at.

Speaker 2: 0:24

MSPs running MSPs, Pete Hughes shares insights into the special approach Aura technology takes to raise their relationships with their customers to the next level.

Speaker 1: 0:33

We realized that the way we were delivering the service to the customers is just very different than anyone else has, and it was working.

Speaker 2: 0:38

Plus why a continuing focus on M&A is important for their business moving forwards.

Speaker 1: 0:43

The last two to three years has really been about consolidation and standardization of the new customer base by giving us the opportunity to then grow for the future.

Speaker 2: 0:52

Welcome to Now That's It. Stories of MSP success. We'll be diving into the journeys of some of the trailblazers in our industry to find out how they use their passion for technology to help turn managed services into the thriving sector it is today.

Speaker 3: 1:08

Alright, Pete, and thank you so much for being here with us today. I wanted to start out. why don't you tell us a little bit about your background and really how you got started in the managed service provider industry?

Speaker 1: 1:18

So in my background I've been in IT for a long time now. I think when I was at Uni I was helping my friends with their computers and building them out, and I think it probably all started from there. I actually started my first job after Uni actually not in IT, but I fell into looking after the IT systems at that business And then I realized that that's really where I wanted to focus and get into the industry. I had a couple of other jobs as a consultant in internal IT management and I realized that as a consultant looking after other businesses, we really where I wanted to go and really focus on the techie side of it And that's really where I've always come from. So MSP for over 15 years Wow that's great.

Speaker 3: 2:01

So what inspired you? I know you have another partner. What inspired you guys to start this company?

Speaker 1: 2:06

I think we just wanted to do something a little bit different. We both had good long backgrounds in working at MSPs running MSPs, and we wanted to do something a little bit different bringing a service to the marketplace incredibly strategic, very standardized, so kind of completely cookie cutter but quite cookie cutter to our customers, so that the customer knew what they were getting and we knew how to deliver it.

Speaker 3: 2:30

So let's go back. You've been in business for quite some time now, but let's go back to when you were starting out. Were some of the challenges that you guys faced, in sort of your early days of the business, and what were some of the things that you did to overcome those challenges?

Speaker 1: 2:47

I think size and scale and as a new startup MSP with a background of working with larger MSP and having lots of customers working in a startup and having that scale and authority to be able to go out to a customer and gain their trust and gain their business was a challenge And we always knew that we wanted to grow the business to be larger. So we had to take a bit of a bet there to invest and get some really good guys in which we did, and girls And we built the business up to get some scale so that we could bring our customers around, see our office, show that we actually existed Initially. That was a challenge working in a we call it sort of a broom cupboard, really a regious office, and it was small. But we rapidly moved out of there because we realized that we needed to have a base. We needed to get customers to trust us.

Speaker 3: 3:40

That's great, as I shared with you. I came from a growing MSP as well, and I remember those days when you really had to bet on your future. you had to look three, four years down the line and say I'm going to need this resource. We don't have a lot of those types of customers today, but we want this to be a focus for our business, so I remember those risks you had to take back in the day, and when they did pay off, though, it definitely was a value.

Speaker 1: 4:06

It is a challenge.

Speaker 3: 4:08

So the name of this podcast is now. That's it, and the idea behind that is you know what's that point in your sort of career over the last 15 years or so of building this business where you realized you know you guys had done something special and that you were. You know you were targeting the right customers and and you were providing some real value. When did you just determine that this was it that you made it?

Speaker 1: 4:34

I think it was probably eight and nine months in, we had moved into our main, our new office with the logos on the walls and the values on the wall. We'd employed more staff I wasn't sat there answering the phone on service desk and also making sales calls and whilst also going out and delivering projects all at the same time, we had a team around us that was helping and we could take photos of our new employees outside with the aura backdrop. And, yeah, i think at that point it kind of hit home that you know, we've actually created something here that could grow and could be very exciting, and we realized that the way we were delivering the service to the customers is just very different than anyone else has. And it was working. And I think that the product we created was being liked and our customers engaged with us. They only came to us and they only called us when they needed things. So I think at that point we kind of realized, hey, you know what? we've got something here. We really need to build on it.

Speaker 3: 5:30

That's special. I think, seeing that you mentioned a couple things there, being able to step out of the business where you were the guy, the technical guy, and focus a bit more on the high level side is a big step and we see that a lot with partners that are hitting these hurdles as they grow, and so I would agree that that was probably really a big one and to be able to staff those types of employees that you know, again, they look at this as like a family. You know this is a different type of a company. You know that's really fantastic, excellent. So let's talk a little bit about. You know, maybe when you acquire some new clients, what's, what's that experience like? I mean, how does the Aura team sort of engage new customers and how do you sort of build that trust early on in your relationship?

Speaker 1: 6:16

So we all our customer relationships start, pretty much start, with our strategy. We deliver a roadmap to our customers. It's a paid piece of consultancy that, and you know it's not a lost leader. We, you know we, we try to make money from it, but it's an expensive process for us and, you know, relatively expensive for the customer. They're paying for some consultancy time for us to sit down and actually look at their entire network and their entire systems from. You know if not just from a technical point of view but from a business focus.

Speaker 1: 6:45

Well, we want to understand them and understand their business. If we understand their business, then we we can recommend the right IT solutions for their business to help them be better at their business. And I think that approach and the and the presentation we give back to the customers afterwards, they really like their understanding that, hey, one of the first questions we ask is what, where do you want to be, mr Customer, in in the next three years? you know what are your plans and like, oh, i wasn't expecting you to ask that, i was expecting you to say, well, firewall have I got? or what computer have I got? right, and it's really gaining their trust and understanding. That you know we we want to deliver IT for their business and it's not just about delivering an IT solution and it's doing that up front for our customers. We find that getting their engagement, getting thereby into it, really work that's really smart, i think.

Speaker 3: 7:38

Building that trust early with a, with a, with an engagement, like a consulting engagement, where you're truly understanding why they in business right, i think is really, really smart. In my past life we worked in the healthcare space. That was a vertical for us and wow, we understood the, the generalities of healthcare, truly understanding what, what would happen if technology disappeared was really really important for us. To make sure that we were putting the focus on the in the right areas.

Speaker 1: 8:04

It also finds the right customers as well, because the customers, though, you know if they're, if they're willing to put end to paper and and pay for that service up front, you know. You know you've got someone that's serious about wanting to to use IT to help benefit their business, and that's critical for us, because we want the right customers and they need the right suppliers.

Speaker 3: 8:25

That's really smart. Okay, so that's great start. Now that makes a lot of sense to sort of build that trust. Let's talk about going forward how. What's your sort of approach to customer service and what are the types of things that the Aura team does again to just obviously give that sense that, as issues arise, that they are being addressed and taken care of?

Speaker 1: 8:47

I suppose I'll probably answer that question with the fact that we try and have our presence with our customers As part of our service. We deliver what every MSP probably says that they do, that we're proactive. We take that to the next level where we have a dedicated proactive team, so a team of people that will actually go out and visit our customers almost on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. They're not there to solve their problems right there, and then they're not the service desk, they're not field engineers. They're there to go and understand the customer, to see what they're doing, what's working for them, what isn't working. They're really there to try and find what might not work in the future so that we can prevent that problem happening in the first place. They align our customers against the standards that we write and I think that creates a lot of trust and it creates a great relationship, because those guys are super techy but they're also really customer focused as well and can have a good relationship.

Speaker 4: 9:53

My name is Brian Serdean, with MSP Advisor, and we're here in Austin at the Enable Business Transformation Events. I've been in and around this industry for about 14 years now and honestly I can say that Enable is the best partner that I've ever worked with as far as truly caring about their customers the MSPs. Enable puts a ton of time and effort into educating their MSPs, not just selling them a product. We were talking about how to make your business better, how to make your business stronger. So taking that time to get away from your MSP and get out and start to network and get in some of these peer groups and stuff is an absolute game changer for MSPs and I'm highly valuable.

Speaker 3: 10:35

So, as the business has sort of evolved over the years, what are some of the key sort of milestones that you all hit along the way?

Speaker 1: 10:44

I think so. Initially, that initial growth getting us to a point where we had a 10 to 12 star. We had a good set of customers. They're engaging with us. We were able to deliver the service and proven service work. And then very key soon after that, we did a deal where we acquired another MSP, a larger MSP that had been around for a number of years, so caught up in, i suppose, a lot of old MSP legacy systems et cetera. That gave us some scale And that allowed us to enter markets that we were previously unable to. It gave us a lot more process, policies, procedures, gave us 24, seven network operations And that really for us although it happened literally two months before COVID hit, it isn't the most ideal time that gave us that kind of springboard to make it able to grow further.

Speaker 3: 11:46

So let's talk about the future. What are the goals that Aura has or that you have for Aura for the future, and how do you hope to achieve this?

Speaker 1: 11:55

That's a question. The last two to three years has really been about consolidational standardization of the new customer base that we acquired and bringing our methods of working into that business And giving us the opportunity to then grow for the future. And that's really what we want to do. We want to acquire more, both public sector and private sector customers. 50 to 500 users is on a sweet spot. We do go larger. Sometimes we go smaller, knowing that that customer base is gonna grow. That's our focus and that's where we want to grow over the next few years.

Speaker 3: 12:30

That's fantastic. Well, thank you very much, pete, for being with us today. I think that was really great to talk to you and hear more about Aura. Thanks, no problem.

Speaker 2: 12:38

To receive updates about future episodes, be sure to subscribe to our podcast on YouTube or your preferred podcast platform and follow and enable on LinkedIn. We appreciate your support and encourage you to leave a rating or review, as it helps us reach more listeners who can benefit from the wealth of knowledge shared on this show. Remember, success is not a destination, it's a journey, and by immersing yourself in the stories of those who have walked the path before you, you'll gain the tools, inspiration and confidence to achieve your own triumphs. Stay tuned for more exciting episodes. And now that's it stories of MSP success.

Speaker 2: 13:14

This podcast provides educational information about issues that may be relevant to information technology service providers. Nothing in the podcast should be construed as any recommendation or endorsement by enable or as legal or any other advice. The views expressed by guests of their own and their appearance on the podcast does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. Views and opinions expressed by enable employees are those of the employees and do not necessarily reflect the view of enable or its officers and directors. This podcast may also contain forward-looking statements regarding future product plans, functionality or developmental efforts. That should not be interpreted as a commitment from enable related to any deliverables or time frame. All content is based on information available at the time of recording and enable has no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.