Beyond Operations: The Leadership & Cultural Shift for Scaling Your Managed Service Provider Business

Many Managed Service Providers (MSPs) intensely focus on technical proficiency and operational efficiency, believing these alone will pave the way for growth. While crucial, accurate exponential scaling demands something more profound: a fundamental shift in leadership mindset and organizational culture. Tim Conkle, founder and CEO of The 20 MSP, passionately argues that the most significant barriers to an MSP’s expansion often reside not in technology or market conditions, but within the owner’s perspective and the company’s internal dynamics. This article explores Conkle's insights into the critical role of MSP leadership, cultural transformation, and inspiring a collective vision for achieving unparalleled success and financial freedom in the Managed Service Provider industry.

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The Unseen Barriers to MSP Growth: Mindset and Ego

For many MSP owners, the very qualities that helped them build a successful small business—hands-on control, deep technical knowledge, and a fierce independence—can become shackles preventing true scalability. Conkle pinpoints mindset and ego as the most significant hurdles.

The "King" vs. "Wealth Creator" Paradox

Conkle frequently highlights a central paradox: many MSP owners prefer to remain the "king" of their small domain, maintaining absolute control over every aspect, rather than evolving into a "wealth creator" who builds a valuable, scalable enterprise through collaboration and delegation. This attachment to being the sole authority often stems from ego and a deep-seated fear of losing control or making significant changes. While enabling initial success, this mindset eventually caps growth, as the owner becomes the bottleneck for every decision and process. Overcoming this internal resistance represents a crucial step in scaling IT companies.

Overcoming the Fear of Letting Go

The fear of change and the reluctance to "let go" often manifest as an unwillingness to standardize, delegate, or trust external partners. For an MSP to grow beyond its initial entrepreneurial phase, its leadership must embrace a broader vision that transcends individual control. This involves trusting processes, tools, and, most importantly, people—both within their organization and across a collaborative network. Without this fundamental shift, any external growth strategy will likely falter, unable to sustain itself against internal friction. This speaks directly to the need for a mature entrepreneurial mindset Managed Service Providers.

Embracing Cultural Transformation: The Path to Standardization

Scaling an MSP is not just about adopting new technologies; it necessitates a significant cultural transformation, particularly around standardization. This transformation can prove challenging, as it often requires "unlearning" old habits and embracing new, unified working methods.

Unlearning Old Habits: A Necessary Evolution

Conkle stresses that getting MSP owners and their teams to "unlearn" represents the biggest hurdle in consolidating companies under a unified model like The 20 MSP. Over the years, individual MSPs often develop unique ways of managing IT, preferred tools, and idiosyncratic processes. While these methods may work locally, they create significant inefficiencies and inconsistencies when multiple entities attempt to collaborate or integrate. Unlearning old habits to adopt a standardized approach requires considerable patience, clear communication, and strong leadership to guide the MSP organizational change.

The Challenge of Unified Toolsets

A practical manifestation of this cultural challenge lies in tool standardization. Many MSPs develop emotional attachments to their existing Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) software, Professional Services Automation (PSA) platforms, and other tools. Convincing them to switch to a single, unified toolset across an entire network—even when that unified toolset offers superior capabilities and efficiencies—can prove incredibly difficult. This resistance is often less about the technical merits of the tools and more about comfort, familiarity, and the perception of lost autonomy. However, true scalability and shared service delivery depend on everyone operating within the same, optimized ecosystem.

From Chaos to Consistency: The Power of a Single System

When MSPs within a network like The 20 operate on a single, consistent system—from ticketing to billing to service delivery—they unlock unprecedented operational efficiency. This consistency eliminates redundant training, streamlines processes, and enables shared services like a centralized 24/7 help desk. It allows for a scaling IT companies approach, where growth does not equate to increased chaos but rather to enhanced control and profitability through uniformity. This cultural shift towards shared systems underpins the ability to deliver enterprise-level services at a fraction of the cost an individual MSP might incur.

The Cornerstone of Leadership: Building Trust

At the heart of any thriving collaborative ecosystem lies trust. Tim Conkle views trust not merely as a soft skill, but as a critical, tangible asset that underpins every aspect of The 20 MSP's success. Without it, the "better together" philosophy, standardization, and the pursuit of exponential value simply cannot materialize.

Trust as the Foundation of Collaboration

For individual MSP owners to cede some control, embrace new methodologies, and pool resources, they must implicitly trust the leadership of the collective. Conkle builds this trust through transparent communication, consistently delivering on promises, and demonstrating that the collective's success directly translates into individual member prosperity. This creates an environment where MSPs feel secure in their investment, knowing that the central entity genuinely acts in their best interest. This reciprocal building of trust in MSPs fosters strong partnerships.

Leading by Example: Integrity and Transparency

Conkle emphasizes that leadership means taking the risks first, demonstrating the path, and consistently walking the talk. He believes true leaders earn trust by showing integrity and transparency in their actions and decisions. When The 20 MSP acquires a company, they offer a significant cash payout upfront, allowing the selling owner to experience immediate financial gain. This demonstrates tangible trust and commitment, contrasting with models that might heavily rely on earn-outs or less liquid compensation structures. This practical manifestation of trust encourages buy-in and ensures members feel valued and secure in joining the collective.

Inspiring the Dream: Financial Freedom and Exponential Valuation

Beyond operational improvements and cultural shifts, effective MSP leadership articulates and inspires a compelling dream—a vision of financial freedom and unparalleled business valuation that motivates owners to transcend their comfort zones.

Beyond the Dollar: The Pursuit of True Leverage

Conkle often distinguishes between simply "working for a dollar," which he likens to "modern day slavery," where earning ties directly to hours worked, and building proper leverage. The Managed Service Provider model creates this leverage, particularly when structured for recurring revenue. It generates predictable income streams that are not directly tied to hourly effort. The 20 MSP further amplifies this leverage by enabling owners to achieve substantial business valuations, transforming their equity into significant wealth. The dream extends beyond just making money; it’s about freeing time, gaining autonomy, and securing long-term financial security.

Creating Shared Prosperity: The 20 MSP's Model

Conkle openly states his ambition to generate significant wealth for himself, but crucially, he achieves this by making his partners wealthy first. This shared prosperity model stands in stark contrast to more extractive business models. By focusing on increasing the collective value of all participating MSPs, The 20 MSP creates a powerful incentive for collaboration. For example, he recounts how the initial six companies that joined The 20 MSP and took 60% cash upfront saw their remaining 40% equity stake grow to be worth more than their entire company was initially valued, achieving a 20x multiple. This demonstrates the profound financial benefits of their collective approach and the power of unity in driving financial freedom MSP.

The Multiplier Effect: Valuing Unity

The exponential increase in valuation that member MSPs experience under The 20 MSP framework underscores the "multiplier effect" of collaboration. A fragmented collection of individual MSPs might collectively command a specific valuation, but by unifying under a standardized, collaborative structure, their combined entity commands a significantly higher multiple. This happens because the collective represents a more attractive, efficient, and scalable acquisition target for private equity or strategic buyers. Therefore, the 20 MSP’s model does not just optimize operations; it fundamentally revalues the entire business, unlocking an IT business culture that thrives on shared success and a clear path to extraordinary wealth.

Conclusion

Scaling a Managed Service Provider business exponentially requires more than technical expertise and efficient operations. It demands visionary MSP leadership, a willingness to embrace profound cultural transformation, and the ability to build unwavering trust among partners. Tim Conkle’s journey with The 20 MSP exemplifies this holistic approach, demonstrating how overcoming ego, standardizing processes, and inspiring a shared dream of financial freedom can unlock unprecedented valuation and collective prosperity. For MSPs looking to transcend their current limitations and achieve impactful growth, the blueprint lies not just in their service delivery but in the strength of their leadership and the unity of their culture.