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

I share some summer MSP war stories—court reporters with broken Wi-Fi, a small airport’s noisy digital logger, and my go-to Windows commands for quick network checks—and then I get honest about vendor behavior that crosses the line. From hidden billing and broken portals to reps calling my wife’s cell phone, I lay out what respectful partnership should actually look like in our channel. === Chapte...

Kim Simmonds is back with me live from day three of Pax8 Beyond 2026, and we’re talking about what actually works when you mix AI, contracts, and MSPs. Cloud Contracts 365 uses AI where it makes sense—review and redlining—on top of contracts that are built the old‑fashioned way by lawyers who live in this world every day. We walk through how the platform leans on MSP-specific playbooks, machine le...

I’m catching up with Ryan Walsh at PAX8 Beyond to talk venue vibes, partner trust, and what their latest SMB Pulse Report reveals about real-world AI adoption, spend, and results for small businesses. We unpack why so many AI projects get stuck in pilot mode, what MSPs are missing, and how to move fast with secure agents that clients can actually trust. This conversation starts with the shift from...

I’m talking with Evergreen co-founder Ramsey Sahyoun about their Berkshire-inspired, buy-and-hold approach to MSP acquisitions and what makes their decentralized model stand out in a crowded M&A market. We dig into how Evergreen evaluates deals, supports owners who stay or exit, and why AI-driven automation and ERP consulting are becoming real revenue engines. Evergreen has quietly become one of t...

We’re on the floor at Pax8 Beyond in Salt Lake City with GTIA leaders Dan Wensley and MJ Shoer, talking about ChannelCon 2026 in San Diego and what’s changed since the CompTIA transition. They share how GTIA rebuilt from zero infrastructure, doubled IT service provider attendance year over year, and is leaning into education, research, and community to deliver “more value to more members. We also...

Cynthia Schreiner joins me live at Pax8 Beyond to talk about her first year at Pax8, what makes their partner community feel different, and how she’s using AI and automation to transform event operations. Catching up with Cynthia at Pax8 Beyond 2026 in Salt Lake City, we dig into her move into the Senior Manager of Channel Engagement role, what it’s been like working alongside channel heavy hitter...

Gene Reich from Traceless joins me live at Pax8 Beyond to walk through a fresh way MSPs can protect identity, data, and high‑risk business communications from modern phishing and social engineering attacks. We talk tools, workflows, and the realities of building a security product that respects the MSP business model instead of competing with it. This conversation starts with a simple question eve...

David and I sit down on Radio Row at Pax8 Beyond 2026 to talk about the real-world impact of AI automation on MSP operations and service delivery. David shares how Pia moved from educating the market pre‑ChatGPT to now serving a much more AI‑aware MSP community, and why waiting on the sidelines is a risky growth strategy if you want to keep up with demand. We walk through Pia’s Engage stack—PiaCha...

Statehouses have been busy, and the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity at UC Berkeley found that in 2025 alone, state governments passed 99 cybersecurity-related bills, creating 393 new statutory requirements. Most of these new laws hit public schools, state agencies, cyber insurance policyholders, and critical infrastructure, which means your client base is becoming more regulated even if MSPs ar...

Brook Lee and I catch up in Salt Lake City and dig into why she joined Rev.io, how the company evolved from telco billing into an AI-first PSA platform, and what “good leadership” actually looks like from the vendor side. We talk about why most PSAs are still glorified ticketing systems, how that hurts sales, marketing, and finance, and why a modern platform has to be something the entire MSP can...

Synology has been a go‑to for a lot of us because of price, reliability, and that rich app ecosystem, but the recent changes around Active Insight, drive “compatibility,” and DSM 7.4’s storage efficiency are raising serious questions for MSPs. In this episode, I share what I’m seeing in production, how client quotes balloon when you go “all Synology,” and why these policy decisions feel less like...

I’m live at Pax8 Beyond 2026 in Salt Lake City with Acronis Channel Chief Officer Alex Ruslyakov, breaking down how Acronis is protecting GenAI, simplifying MSP operations, and helping partners scale smarter. We talk AI security, automation, CyberFrame, and a new partner program that bakes business growth tools right into the Acronis platform. From there, we zoom out to the bigger Acronis platform...

I caught up with David Meister from Check Point live at Pax8 Beyond to dig into what they’ve really been building for MSPs the last few years. You probably know them from Avanan on the email side, but David walks me through how Check Point has pulled together Avanan, Perimeter 81, Cyberint, and the Lakera AI security acquisition into a single, multi‑tenant MSP platform with consumption‑based billi...

ConnectWise has been talking platform for years, but David Raissipour explains what’s actually changed in the last 18 months and why MSPs should care now. We dig into how the former ASIO stack has been refocused and rebranded as the ConnectWise platform, with a single data layer, unified services, and an AI and automation layer that sits across PSA, RMM, ScreenConnect, documentation, and security....

Megan shares her journey from running a 30-person agency to shifting into Pisces Growth Consulting after a cancer diagnosis forced her to rethink what kind of business and life she actually wanted. She talks candidly about the difference between building a business versus just monetizing a skill, the trap of being an “accidental business owner,” and why many MSPs are trying to replace themselves i...

Nick Ross joins me live from Pax8 Beyond in Salt Lake City to walk through how Cloud Capsule is changing the way MSPs handle Microsoft 365 security and compliance. We get into the pain of running traditional assessments, chasing Secure Score, and trying to map CIS and other frameworks across hundreds or even thousands of tenants without burning out your team or living in PowerShell all day. Nick e...

The pace of change in the AI market continues to accelerate, and few people have a better view of the MSP ecosystem than Rob Rae. During our conversation at Pax8 Beyond 2026, we discussed how AI has evolved from strategy discussions into implementation, execution, and measurable business outcomes. Rob shared his thoughts on MSPs creating their own AI solutions, the importance of governance and com...

Pax8 is planting a flag around the “managed intelligence provider” idea, and this episode unpacks how that changes the story you tell clients about AI, data, and business outcomes. I walk through what I heard in Salt Lake City, from the new AI agent store and marketplace updates to how Pax8 wants to help you go from playing with AI internally to delivering real, billable outcomes for customers. I...

Tim and I talk about a problem every MSP owner knows too well: ideas and insights piling up in notebooks, chats, and AI prompts that never actually turn into content, leads, or sales conversations. Tim walks through how he built a centralized “source of truth” for his learning, plugged in multiple AI models, and layered on workflows for agencies, MSPs, and solopreneurs to turn all that raw thinkin...

Hanging out with Robin Robins in this episode felt less like a marketing chat and more like a reality check for MSP owners who are tired, stressed, and still not getting the growth they want. Robin has been in MSP marketing since 2002, and she’s seen everything from break-fix shops turning into 8 million dollar firms with strong EBITDA, to owners still stuck in the same place decades later because...

Andrew Hartman knows what it's like to wake up at 4:25 a.m. in a cold sweat, already behind before the day starts. As a former fractional COO of an MSP in Orange County, he watched stress destroy his health, relationships, and peace until he built Time Boss, a framework that's helped 95% of participants experience more peace and reclaim five hours per week. What stuck with me was his "time is cash...

This one is a fun mix of money, mindset, and real‑world scars from inside MSP financials. I sit down with Rayanne Buchianico, who’s spent decades inside your QuickBooks, PSA, pricing, and procurement, and who just graduated from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. We use one of her client stories about an AI rollout to show why features and benefits don’t sell on their own, and why...

Let’s be honest, most of us as MSPs are still faking it when it comes to credential management, with passwords scattered across browser managers, Excel, Google Docs, old ticket notes, and that one tech who “just knows” where everything lives. In this conversation with Passpack CEO Chris Skipworth, we unpack the real mess behind password sprawl, painful offboarding, and ghost access for ex employee...

I brought Tim Fitzpatrick from Rialto Marketing back because too many MSPs keep telling me the same thing: “We tried marketing, it doesn’t work.” Tim breaks that thinking apart and explains why most of us don’t have a lead problem, we have a strategy problem. We dig into why “strategy before tactics” is the real fuel for your marketing engine, how to get specific about your ideal clients, and why...

Tonight I kicked back and pulled together everything I’ve learned so far from this Money, Marketing, and Growth series, and I didn’t hold back on how it applies to my own MSP world. I walk through five big pillars that kept coming up from folks like Laura Johns, Colin Knox, Nate Freedman, Dave Scott, Dori Spade, Tim Fitzpatrick, and Lisa Shorr: fix your foundation before you spend, close more from...