B² MSP Advisors

09/02/2026

My first hire ended up shaping my MSP. He was a former CAD guy and our local market is full of shops that hire CAD guys. They could all relate to him. For my part, I love knowing how stuff works and I come from a tradesman family, where I was taught how things work. I love everything about the manufacturing process.

Did we end up with a specialization? Yes and no. Surrounding manufacturing are engineering, designers, prototyping, procurement and other firms like ours that mostly support them via professional service. These were our clients. We spoke the language. We knew the apps. We got the strategy.

But here is where owners can get into trouble. Serving many clients in one industry can be smart. Depending on one large client is something else entirely.

A large client can feel like validation. They chose you. They trust you. The monthly agreement is huge! The projects are large. The logo looks good on the client list. For a while, it may feel like you have crossed into a new stage of business ownership. Instead of chasing dozens of small opportunities, one big client can move the revenue needle all by itself.

But big clients carry gravity. They pull attention. They pull staff. They pull process. They pull pricing exceptions. They pull the owner back into the business. Before long, the MSP may be making decisions around the needs of one client rather than the needs of the company.

That is not specialization. That is concentration risk. And whales sometimes jump on your boat and sink it – accidentally.

Why buyers care about client concentration
When a buyer looks at an MSP, they are not only buying today’s revenue. They are buying the likelihood that the revenue will still be there after closing. That is why client concentration matters so much in a sale.

If one client represents a significant portion of revenue, the buyer has to ask uncomfortable questions. What happens if that client leaves? Is the relationship with the MSP or with the owner personally? Are the terms market rate, or did the MSP bend the rules to keep the client happy? Does the service team have capacity for the rest of the business, or has this one client consumed the best people? Would the client remain after an ownership change?

Those questions do not make the business unsellable, but they do change the risk calculation. Risk changes value. A buyer may lower the offer, require a larger earnout, hold back more of the purchase price, or insist that the seller stay involved longer. In some cases, a buyer who liked everything else about the MSP may walk away because the company is too dependent on one relationship.

You can’t have one whale. If you like whales, you’ve got to get yourself a pod of them. See our podcast episode on this.

This is the frustrating part for owners. The large client may have made the company look bigger. It may have increased revenue and profit. It may have solved short-term cash flow problems. But at the sale table, that same client can become a discount instead of a premium.

How the buyers see it
Buyers hate risk. That means owners need to watch the client list as carefully as they watch monthly recurring revenue.

Ask yourself:

How much revenue comes from the largest client?
How much comes from the top three clients?
Would the business still be healthy if the largest client left?
Are we pricing that client correctly, or have we trained ourselves to accept exceptions?
Does the team serve this client through documented process, or through heroic effort?
Is the owner still the reason that client stays?
These are not just operational questions. They are value questions. If you can answer them cleanly, you have a better business. If you cannot, you have work to do before a buyer asks the same questions with a due diligence checklist in hand.

Grow on purpose
The story of MSP growth is often the story of moving from opportunity to intention. In the beginning, you take the work that helps you survive. Over time, you learn which clients help you build. Eventually, if you are paying attention, you shape the company around the clients that make the business stronger, more repeatable, and more valuable.

That is the migration from little fish anywhere to the right fish in the right pond.

But do not confuse one very large fish with a healthy pond. A whale can feed the company for a while, but it can also distort the ecosystem. It can make the company appear larger than it really is, more stable than it really is, and more valuable than a buyer will believe it is.

If you are building with a future sale in mind, client mix matters. Industry focus can increase value. Repeatability can increase value. A clear market position can increase value. But dependence lowers value, because buyers do not pay full price for revenue they are afraid might swim away.

So yes, grow. Land better clients. Move upmarket when it makes sense. Build a reputation in the industries where your team does its best work. Just keep enough balance in the client base that the business remains a business, not a single relationship with a staff attached. Big fish are nice. A healthy pond is better.

Turns out every teacher has a brother that owns a business and needs IT help. These unsolicited referrals launched my MSP career.

08/26/2026

𝗙𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝗠𝗦𝗣 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲

💠Financial Clarity

💠Owner Independence

💠Consistent Agreements and Pricing

💠Documented Service Delivery

💠A Realistic Growth Story

Get these right and your MSP turns into the golden egg that you want your most valuable asset to be.

From chaos to transferable: how ownership planning makes your MSP more sale-ready and easier to grow. Now is the time to start doing it.

08/26/2026

When a buyer looks at an MSP, they are not only asking, “How much revenue does this company generate?” They are asking a deeper question: “What happens after the owner leaves?”

Transferability is the word buyers care about, even when they do not say it out loud. Can the revenue transfer? Can the clients transfer? Can the employees transfer? Can the work continue without everything flowing through the owner?

The more clearly the business can answer yes, the stronger the owner’s position becomes.

Five Areas That Quietly Shape MSP Value
The good news is that preparing an MSP for a future sale is not mysterious. It is not about producing a perfect company or pretending the business is larger than it is. It is about removing uncertainty in the areas buyers care about most.

• Financial Clarity
• Owner Independence
• Consistent Agreements and Pricing
• Documented Service Delivery
• A Realistic Growth Story

Get these right and your MSP turns into the golden egg that you want your most valuable asset to be.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗗𝗼 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗕𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹
One of the biggest misconceptions about exit planning is that it means a sale is around the corner. For many MSP owners, the opposite is true. The best time to prepare is when there is no pressure.

No buyer is waiting on an answer. No due diligence list is sitting in your inbox. No letter of intent is forcing decisions before you have had time to think.

Preparing early gives you room to improve the business on your own timeline. It also gives you better choices. You may decide to sell. You may decide to grow. You may decide to bring in leadership. You may decide to make the business less dependent on you so you can enjoy it again.

The work is still valuable even if you never sell.

𝗦𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘄𝗶𝗱𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺
The benefit of this work is that it improves the business long before a sale. Cleaner reporting makes better decisions easier. Documented processes reduce interruptions. Consistent pricing protects margins. Clear service packages make sales conversations simpler. Less owner dependency gives the owner room to think, lead, or breathe.

Most owners do not have a knowledge problem. They have a bandwidth problem. They know the agreement needs cleaning up. They know pricing has drifted. They know the chart of accounts is not telling the whole story. They know too many decisions still land on their desk.

The challenge is turning all of that knowing into action while still running the business. That is where outside perspective and accountability can help. A good planning process gives the owner a practical starting point, a prioritized roadmap, and a way to make progress without trying to fix everything at once.

From chaos to transferable: how ownership planning makes your MSP more sale-ready and easier to grow. Now is the time to start doing it.

08/24/2026

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 The August cohort starts tomorrow. It's not too late to join.
https://b2mspadvisors.com/service-details/

08/24/2026

MARKETING SUCKS -- the life from your business if you don't do it. That's why we ask if you've nailed it in the assessment that you need to take before joining the Aug 24th group. We're asking all of the embarassing questions about things you should be doing. But don't fret. We'll show you how to do it without the stress.

Please click the link to complete this form.

08/21/2026

If adding real asset value to your MSP was “on the list” for this year and hasn’t happened yet, you’re not alone.

Our Better Business mentored peer group gives you a focused 4‑month window with accountability, structure, and peer support to make measurable progress on operations, process, and profitability.
b2mspadvisors

Included resources:
– Strategic Exit Planning Guide $1000 value
– Implementation Workbook $300 value
- Mentor-led workgroup $1200

Total program value $2,500

Your investment is only $1200

Cohort launches August 24 and seats are limited.

➜ Secure your spot here: https://b2mspadvisors.com/service-details/

08/20/2026

Business owners need experts to talk to. We're hear for you. You can be in the group without coaching and simply lean on your peers OR you can join with coaching and lean on us too. We're starting a new group on Aug 24th and we'd like you to be there.

Here's what we offer: Expertise, accountability, proven asset building value. Personal service, coaching, plain language. It's the right success path for you.

08/19/2026

Every MSP M&A story starts to sound the same after a while. Deal activity is up. Multiples are strong. Private equity is active. Another platform bought another provider. The numbers are exciting, the headlines are clickable, and people like Jay McBain and Jessica C. Davis do an excellent job tracking the visible side of the market.

But if you own an MSP with fewer than 20 employees you may read them and think, “That is not me.” Or you may have stopped reading them at all. You may wonder whether your business is too small to matter, too owner-dependent to sell, or too ordinary to attract attention. And when you see references to median target size, larger platforms, and institutional capital, it is easy to assume the M&A market has already passed you by.

It has not.

Less than 20 employees is not an unusual MSP. It is most of the MSP market. These are the businesses built by technical founders, service-minded owners, local operators, and small teams that know their clients deeply. They may not make the acquisition headline, but that does not mean they have no value.

The Headline Market Is Not the Whole Market

The public M&A market is naturally biased toward larger, more visible deals. Those are the transactions that get announced, quoted, analyzed, and passed around on LinkedIn. They matter. They show where capital is moving and what strategic buyers are prioritizing.

But they do not represent every path to ownership transition.

Smaller MSPs often sell every day without fanfare. They may sell to another local MSP, merge with a peer, transition to a key employee, join a regional operator, or become an add-on acquisition for a buyer looking for customers, talent, geography, or niche expertise. These transactions never show up in the big industry roundups, but they happen all the time.

The mistake is assuming that if your business is not attractive to every buyer, it is attractive to no buyer.

https://b2mspadvisors.com/most-msps-are-small-that-does-not-make-them-worthless/