Uncle Marv's IT Business Podcast (Real Talk for IT Pros & MSPs)

Uncle Marv sits down with Dori Spade, who has over 17 years of experience in the MSP industry, having worked with MSPs ranging from $8 million to over $100 million in value. Dori discusses her transition from managing MSPs to founding Call to Action , a consulting firm that helps MSPs navigate common challenges such as role clarity and scaling. She emphasizes that regardless of the size of the MSP...

Uncle Marv welcomes Corey Tapper, a new ASCII member and owner of Techevolution, to the IT Business Podcast. Corey shares his experience attending ASCII events over the years before finally becoming a member, citing the emotional impact of seeing Frank Abagnale speak and the valuable networking opportunities.  Techevolution, Corey's company, has been in business for 25 years. It started as a break...

Uncle Marv begins by interviewing Eric Pinto from SocSoter , who discusses their new reporting platform designed to help MSPs prepare for audits and compliance checks. Pinto emphasizes the importance of providing evidence for services offered to customers, especially in the context of 24/7 coverage.  Next, the host speaks with Dave Cava, partner at Encore Strategic and co-author of " The Pumpkin P...

Uncle Marv hosts the IT Business Podcast live from ASCII Edge in Boston, featuring guest Brianna Rubino, Director of Events for the ASCII Group. Brianna shares insights on ASCII's 40th anniversary celebration and the ongoing event series.  The ASCII EDGE event series includes nine events across North America, with eight in the U.S. and one in Canada. Brianna hints at exciting plans for 2025, inclu...

In this episode of the IT Business Podcast, Uncle Marv interviews Ann Westerheim from Ekaru at the ASCII EDGE event in Boston. Ann discusses her book "Cybersecurity for Main Street, Cyber Fit in 21 Days," which aims to simplify cybersecurity concepts for small businesses. She emphasizes the importance of basic security measures like multi-factor authentication and explains how her book has led to...

Uncle Marv interviews Dawn Sizer at the ASCII event in Boston, marking their first in-person meeting. Dawn shares her experience speaking at the event about automation and the positive response from attendees. They discuss the challenges of remote work verification, particularly in light of deepfake technology, and explore potential solutions such as enhanced background checks and identity verific...

Uncle Marv welcomes Kris Shoemaker from Cavelo to discuss their data risk management platform. Cavelo positions itself under the attack surface management umbrella, offering a comprehensive solution for MSPs that includes data discovery and classification, vulnerability management, identity access management, and asset discovery. Kris explains that Cavelo's approach is data-centric, focusing on pr...

Damon West, the keynote speaker at ASCII Edge in Boston, joins Uncle Marv to discuss his extraordinary life story. West begins by praising ASCII Edge for their exceptional client relationships and event organization. West recounts his past as a Division 1 starting quarterback at the University of North Texas, whose career was cut short by injury. This led to substance abuse issues, which escalated...

Uncle Marv kicks off the episode by acknowledging the sponsor, SuperOps, and dives into the major news of the CrowdStrike incident. A faulty sensor configuration update from CrowdStrike led to widespread computer outages affecting about 8.5 million Windows machines globally. Marv explains how he managed client concerns and highlights the critical need for robust disaster recovery strategies and bu...

Boost MSP Efficiency with Strategy Overview Website: https://www.strategyoverview.com/ In this episode, Uncle Marv sits down with Alex Markov to delve into Strategy Overview, a software platform tailored for MSPs to optimize their strategic planning and client management. Alex explains how the platform's powerful and flexible template engine allows MSPs to standardize their processes and save sign...

Revolutionizing SaaS Security with Overe Website: https://www.overe.io/ In this episode, Uncle Marv welcomes Paul Barnes, co-founder and CEO of Overe, to discuss their SaaS security platform and its role in the IT Nation Pitch It Accelerator program. Overe focuses on providing automated security analysis and continuous monitoring for SaaS applications, addressing the increasing number of cloud sec...

Uncle Marv welcomes Tim Coach to discuss strategic spending in IT businesses. Tim emphasizes the importance of aligning spending with business goals and market demands. He advises against arbitrary budget cuts, instead recommending a focus on ROI and strategic investments.  Tim highlights the significance of investing in both technology and talent. He suggests prioritizing spending on areas that d...

In this episode of the IT Business Podcast, host Uncle Marv interviews William Hibbard, owner of TorqueNet LLC. The two discuss Bill's journey from Air Force cyber operations officer to running his own Managed Service Provider (MSP) business. Hibbard shares insights on transitioning from a hobby to a full-fledged business, his approach to cybersecurity, and the challenges of being a solo tech.  Bi...

Stuart Holtby introduces Get In Sync as a comprehensive platform that helps businesses uncover their IT strategy. He uses the analogy of a treasure map to explain how the tool works, assisting organizations in putting together all their applications, information, projects, and processes to visualize their overarching strategy.  The platform goes beyond traditional IT spend analysis, incorporating...

Uncle Marv interviews Kevin Lancaster and Matt Solomon from Channel Program about their new product, MyITspend. The guests introduce the tool as a client management solution designed to help MSPs optimize their client relationships and boost revenue.  Kevin explains that MyITspend grew out of the need to solve big problems in the MSP industry and make operations more efficient. The tool started wi...

Dawn Sizer, CEO of Third Element Consulting, joins Uncle Marv to discuss the success of her MSP business. She attributes their success to working closely with her husband and having a strong leadership team. Dawn shares insights on adopting AI tools like Copilot, emphasizing the importance of skilled workers to effectively use these tools.  The conversation covers Third Element Consulting's high c...

Joe Lohmeier, NinjaOne's new channel chief, joins the IT Business Podcast to discuss the company's recent developments and growth. NinjaOne, formerly known as NinjaRMM, has expanded its offerings to become a unified endpoint management platform serving both MSPs and internal IT departments.  The conversation covers NinjaOne's rebranding, its recognition as a top RMM solution for 20 consecutive qua...

Sudhir Nambiar, co-founder and CEO of XAmplify, introduces their marketing automation platform tailored for MSPs and IT service providers. The platform offers solutions for channel marketing, partner relationship management, and through-channel marketing automation.  XAmplify allows MSPs to conduct co-branded campaigns with multiple vendors, addressing the challenge of managing relationships with...

Wayne Creamer, founder and CEO of Symoda, returns to the IT Business Podcast to discuss the evolution of their customer-centric communication platform for managed service providers (MSPs). With 20 years of experience in the MSP space, Wayne identified communication as a recurring problem among customers, which led to the creation of Symoda.  Initially a mobile-based solution, Symoda is expanding t...

Uncle Marv and Matt Koenig catch up after a missed meeting at IT Nation Secure. They discuss NodeWare's continuous vulnerability management solution and its recent spin-off as a separate company. Matt highlights Nodeware's compliance with various cybersecurity standards, including the recently updated CIS control version 8.1.  The conversation covers Nodeware's new patch management feature, which...

Larry Garcia introduces Strety as a Business Operating System Software (BOSS) designed to help companies improve operational efficiency. The tool focuses on key performance indicators (KPIs), goal setting, and project management.  Strety integrates with Microsoft Teams and offers features such as smart agendas, automatic reminders, and goal tracking. It can be used internally by MSPs and can also...

Patrick Clawson introduces CheckRed Security as a comprehensive cloud security SaaS solution that covers both cybersecurity and compliance aspects. The platform uniquely addresses IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS security in a single multi-tenant environment, making it ideal for service providers.  CheckRed goes beyond monitoring and risk assessment by providing guided remediation workflows and detailed repor...

Uncle Marv interviews Zach Kromkowski from Senteon, a cybersecurity company participating in the IT Nation Pitch It Accelerator program. Senteon provides automated system hardening and compliance solutions for workstations, servers, and browsers based on CIS standards.  Zach explains that Senteon's platform automates the implementation of over 1,200 security settings recommended by CIS. The compan...

Robert J. Scott, co-founder of Monjur, returns to the IT Business Podcast to discuss their contracts-as-a-service platform for IT managed service providers. Scott highlights the benefits of participating in the IT Nation Pitch It Accelerator program, including valuable connections and exposure that have accelerated Monjur's growth.  Monjur offers a cloud-based legal service with industry-leading t...

Uncle Marv sits down with Michelle Accardi, CEO of LionGard, to explore the latest advancements in MSP technology and the exciting developments at LionGard. The conversation kicks off with a discussion about Liongard’s role in enhancing MSP operations through comprehensive attack surface management. Michelle explains how Liongard’s platform automates IT asset inventory, monitors configuration chan...