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Chris Day has spent over two decades building and selling companies in the managed services industry — including Fully Managed and IT Glue. In this episode, he joins Joe Pardavila to break down his new book, MSP to MVP: Building Unbreakable Partnerships in the Customer Success Era, and why the MSP (Managed Services Provider) industry is at its most exciting — and most vulnerable — inflection point yet: AI.
Chris explains why customers don't leave MSPs because of bad tech support — they leave because no one is helping them plan for what's next. He unpacks the rise and fall of the "break/fix" billing model, why the old vCIO (virtual CIO) role is the real key to client retention, and why AI has finally given IT providers a reason to get invited into the boardroom again. Plus: what it's really like starting and scaling a company with your own brother, the mentors who shaped his leadership style, and how to tell a legitimate AI startup from "snake oil" in an inbox full of pitches.
In this episode: The 3 types of leaders — founder, manager, and turnaround — and which one Chris is Starting and running a company with his brother (and why sibling co-founders can actually work) What MSP actually stands for, and how the industry has changed since 2002 The shift from "break/fix" billing to subscription-based managed services Why the vCIO (virtual CIO) role is the key to "unbreakable" client partnerships The real reason clients churn from their IT provider (it's not what you think) Why ownership and accountability separate great service providers from average ones How to avoid selling AI "for the sake of AI" — and spot real ROI use cases Chris's #1 piece of advice from the book, in one sentence
📖 Get the book: MSP to MVP: Building Unbreakable Partnerships in the Customer Success Era by Chris Day🔗 More info on Chris and our other authors: https://theauthoritycompany.com
⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 – Intro: Meet Chris Day 00:41 – The 3 types of leaders (founder, manager, turnaround) 01:44 – Chris's leadership style & hiring for his weaknesses 03:33 – Building a company with his brother 07:01 – What does "MSP" actually mean? 09:19 – MVP = Most Valuable Partner, explained 09:54 – How the MSP industry has changed since 2002 10:37 – The shift from "break/fix" to subscription billing 13:12 – Starting a business in his early 20s & lessons from F5 17:12 – Mentors: learning what to do (and what not to do) 19:04 – The vCIO and building "unbreakable" partnerships 22:30 – Ownership, accountability & the landscaping analogy 26:23 – The simplest advice: just work a little harder 28:48 – The one takeaway from the book: "get in the boardroom" 31:03 – The problem with doing AI just for the sake of AI 33:58 – Spotting real AI value vs. "snake oil" pitches 35:20 – Where to find the book & final thoughts
