I think we all know how a very large percentage of the 10's of thousands of the IT Channel/IT Solutions Providers (VAR, MSP etc) came about starting decades ago. In case you dont,
Many, many, many of these were started by a guy/gal that became tired of "working for the man" at a vendor (Cisco, Avaya, HP, you name it) or at an existing large IT Solutions Provider and said "heck I can do this myself" and/or they were part of the latest RIF. So he or she hung up a shingle, brought on some clients they knew and that trusted him/her and next thing you know, over time the client base grew, they now had a handful of staff and "voila - a nice little business emerged". And do you know that virtually everyone of these guys/gals say today "it's the best decision I've ever made"
I see a very similar model happening today.
It's not news to anyone that there are slews of great, talented sales, marketing, channels etc reps, account managers etc on the sidelines today due to the "RIF du jour" at the Ciscos, HPs, IBMs etc of the world. What to do? Sorry, but think there are many more of these RIFs coming.
Enter the opportunity,
The marketing and sales world is being turned up side down - being driven by the "buyers journey". Buyers of virtually everything today, including cloud, are searching for solutions on the web and many times making purchase decisions before engaging with a provider. The cloud provider aka Cloud MSP must execute on digital marketing and "get found" by these buyers. But how does a $1-10m IT Cloud MSP execute on a great digital marketing strategy - it's not easy. How about a Digital Marketing MSP started by a smart, talented ex-tech exec that knows this business and can deliver Digital Marketing-as-a-Service better and less expensive than the Cloud MSP can do on their own. Sound like the IT MSP model?
Need some proof on how hot the digital marketing business is? Just look are the ridiculous growth of www.Hubspot.com. Less than 10 years - apprx $300m ARR, 20,000 clients and a $3b+ marketing cap. Who is Hubspot? Analogy - Kaseya, Solarwinds etc are the RMM platforms for IT MSPs to deliver IT Managed Services to their clients - Hubspot is the platform for the Digital Marketing MSP to deliver Digital Marketing services to their clients.
If you're interested to discuss this please send me a note - Todd@CSBexcellence.com.
