3 Takeaways from DattoCon 2024
DattoCon 2024 was fantastic. The 3-day event, which took place last week at the lovely Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, brought in a record number of attendees. It was the perfect example of what happens when you get a bunch of smart and driven people in the same room to tackle common challenges and share their best ideas – pure magic!
If you’re not already attending shows like DattoCon – at least one or two a year – you’re missing out. Your MSP is missing out. Beyond the content itself, there’s something unbelievably motivating about being around other MSPs. If you’re on the fence about attending a reputable industry event, go for it – and thank us later.
But if you missed out this time round, all is not lost. We’ve got you covered with 3 Key Takeaways – insights too good not to share with the MSP community at large. Enjoy!
Takeaway #1 – There’s still plenty of room for smaller MSPs.
Industry giant and CEO of Kaseya, Fred Voccola, took the stage at DattoCon and delivered an eye-opening presentation on what’s been happening in our industry – as well as things to come. Fred covered a lot of ground, and we’ll just zoom in on one key insight here:
There’s still room (and opportunity) for smaller MSPs – and lots of it!
MSPs worth $1M or less – even less than $500k – are in a position to thrive in the coming years. Of course it will require the right strategy, but the conditions are right, and the opportunities are there.
Consider this: there are, as Fred reported, a lot more MSPs getting started than getting acquired – more than 3x more to be exact. In short, yes, the MSP industry is consolidating – just not nearly as quickly as it’s proliferating. There are multiple reasons why this is so…
First, businesses’ IT needs continue to grow in number and complexity. What were formerly aspects of IT (e.g., compliance, backup, security) are now their own distinct categories, requiring specialized services and focused attention. As a result, most (73%) of the new MSPs on the block are “specialized,” offering expertise and support in one or two key areas.
Second, MSPs are facing a huge and growing TAM, or “Total Addressable Market,” which refers to all the revenue they could generate by serving every potential customer. Simply put, companies need MSP services – and more than ever – meaning there’s plenty of business to go around.
Finally, as Fred shared in his presentation, “small-cap M&A” (EBIDTA < $750k) is exploding, on track to nearly double last year’s number of deals. Smaller MSPs can be attractive acquisition targets, especially for companies seeking to add key expertise or access new markets quickly.
Bottom line: There’s still plenty of room for smaller MSPs, despite what consolidation and the rise of MSP platforms might have you thinking – but success will require playing your cards right, a sound M&A strategy, and a well-defined market niche.
Takeaway #2 – MSP growth is personal growth.
During his talk at DattoCon last week, The 20’s own Tim Conkle (founder & CEO) passed out little mirrors to the MSPs in attendance. He told them: If you want to see the solution to your MSP’s biggest challenges, open your mirror and take a good, hard look.
Tim didn’t mince words, and that’s because he’s speaking from experience. Tim spent almost two decades struggling to grow his MSP business. During that time, his entire focus was on changing his business – tweaking tools and processes till the cows came home. But it wasn’t until he did something far more radical that things took off: change himself.
To get more concrete, Tim changed how he conceptualized his role as leader of his MSP business. He replaced a my-way-or-the-highway mentality with a we’re-stronger-together philosophy. He kicked ego to the curb and began delegating, trusting, and connecting. He started spending less time perfecting his stack, and more time on sales and marketing.
The result? Tim’s MSP took off. His reminder to MSPs last week was a hard truth most business owners need to hear: if you want to take your MSP from surviving to thriving – from good to great – you will likely have to start with the person in the mirror.
Takeaway #3 – This industry is on the brink of something big.
After attending DattoCon – after 3 days of hearing from some of the channel’s best and brightest – we’re more convinced than ever:
This industry is on the brink of something big – a major leap forward in the way IT support is done, the likes of which we haven’t seen since the move away from break/fix two decades ago.
We’re not just talking about consolidation either. We’re talking about concerted efforts to solve the ‘profitability problem’ that’s been hampering MSPs for decades. We’re talking about radical progress in how we integrate AI and automation into our core business processes. We’re talking revolutionizing service delivery to allow for unprecedented
scalability.
MSPs are evolving – and so are the skills required to run a successful MSP. Don’t get left behind. Schedule your call with The 20 to discuss your MSP’s future.