In the opening episode of the 10 Million Dollar MSP Podcast, host Brian Hoppe introduces himself as a strategic coach for Managed Service Providers (MSPs) with revenues between $5M and $50M. He outlines his background—over 20 years in the industry, building two successful MSPs, and eventually selling one to private equity—and explains why he became a coach, citing three pivotal actions that accelerated his own businesses: joining an MSP‑specific peer group, implementing a business operating system such as EOS, and securing an executive coach for the leadership team. Hoppe describes his current coaching practice, working one‑on‑one with about 25 MSP owners monthly and facilitating peer groups for companies ranging from $15M to $100M. He then explains the purpose of the podcast: to fill a content gap for MSPs aiming to reach or already surpass the $10M revenue milestone, offering high‑level, value‑creation, strategic, and people‑focused discussions rather than sales‑ or tool‑centric material. He highlights industry data—only ~14% of technology providers ever hit $10M, and the top 25% of MSPs earn 2.3× the average profit—emphasizing that management skill and disciplined business planning, not size or geography, differentiate best‑in‑class firms. The podcast will feature bi‑weekly interviews with successful MSP leaders, delving into personal stories, practical scaling practices, systems, shortcuts, and exit‑planning insights. Hoppe stresses the importance of leader maturity and early exit planning as essential for sustainable growth and a smoother transition. The overall goal is to provide actionable, experience‑based guidance for founders who recognize that the tactics that got them to $2M‑$5M won’t suffice to reach $10M and beyond.
Chapters
My name is Brian Hoppe, and I'm a strategic coach to MSPs. I generally work with MSPs in the $5 to $50 million range, really helping them dive into what they need to do in order to ultimately achieve their goals as a shareholder in their MSP. So we look at things like value creation planning, and how to build the right team for where they want to go. And ultimately, how do they become really best in class and profitable? Increasing their operational maturity. Not only that, but we work on the person because the person of the leader actually needs to grow as well in order for the business to grow. I'm a former MSP owner. I've been in the industry for over 20 years at this point. I've been a part of building 2 successful MSPs in my career. And I got into coaching because I realized at some point that I didn't know exactly what I was doing early on in my MSP journey. And really, we did 3 things that actually propelled us to the next level. So the The first thing was we joined an MSP-specific peer group. Can't overemphasize how much impact that had on us as a business. The second thing that we did was we implemented a business operating system, something like EOS, for instance, really a big game changer for us. And the third thing that we did was we got an executive coach for our leadership team. And that experience for me was so transforming, not only for the business, but also in life. And that's when I decided that I was going to be an MSP coach. And somewhere around the range of like 10 years later, after I built my MSP sold it to private equity, I decided to launch out and become a coach myself. So now I work with about 25 MSP owners one-on-one in any given month. And also I do peer group facilitation for companies that are in the range of about $15 million to about $100 million. And really, that's all just working on how do we build a sustainable, growing, value-creating business? And how do we do that in the most efficient way? Why the $10 Million MSP Podcast? Well, I think that what we have in our industry is kind of a lack of content for larger MSPs out there. And there's a lot of things that you can watch or listen to that are maybe sales-focused or tech-focused or tools-focused and those kind of things. Really what I wanted to create was a space where you can come if you're over $10 million already, or if you're looking to become a $10 million MSP, where you can hear from people who have actually already done it. And we're going to be talking about things that are higher level, that are more value creation related, strategic related, people related. Because as you know, once you get to that point, your job changes as a CEO of the company, you become much more about people and numbers and culture and the things that actually drive real growth at the higher levels. There's so few MSPs in our industry that are over $10 million in revenue. And my goal is to find the best leaders of those, bring them to you on this podcast so that you can learn what it takes to get there. Most of the MSPs in our industry are under $2 million in revenue. And so getting to that $10 million mark is a really significant milestone. The other big piece that we want to look at is the owners themselves, or the leaders themselves, and how are they growing individually, because you can't grow your business past the point of your maturity. And so we want you to mature as an individual and as a leader and as a person. And so we're going to have conversations around that as well. This podcast is needed, in my opinion, because we have to have a place where we can have the real conversations about what it takes to actually grow and scale an MSP to some of the larger levels in our industry. So when we look at the data around the size of solution providers, not just MSPs, we see that only about 14% of technology providers ever make it to that $10 million mark. And if you want to be in that rare air, it's a great idea to learn from people who have gone before. So what you can expect is To hear interviews from MSP leaders, and we're going to dive into the details of their personal stories, how they got where they are, what to do to get there, the shortcuts that you can take, the things that you can avoid to get there quicker. We're not just going to be kind of going behind the scenes, but we'll get to, okay, how do we actually scale? What are the practices you need to have in place? What are the systems that you need to have in place in order to scale? And again, it's not just tools and tech. This is the practical things that MSP owners say that it takes to get to that $10 million mark. Right now, there's not a lot of content like this in the marketplace. And so my goal is to provide you the best content, whether you're at $10 million already or looking to get there. You're going to hear from some of the best leaders in the industry, some of the people who have grown the biggest and most successful MSPs in the space. So if you're the type of founder who is looking to scale, wants growth, understands that what got you here isn't going to get you there, then this is the show for you. So we're going to be recording and releasing episodes every other week. And really what we're going to be getting into is how to significantly grow and scale your MSP. So the best MSPs in the industry, as we define as best in class, the top 25% of MSPs earn on average 2.3 times the profit of the average MSP. And we want to get you into that space. The difference between the best in class MSPs and everybody else Doesn't have to do with size or where they serve, how big their geographic area is, or any other factor that you might think. The main thing that differentiates the best in class from everyone else is the skill of the management team and the ability for them to create a business plan and manage to it. The good news is that if you're not best in class, which is defined as around 20% in EBITDA, those skills can be learned. And so one of the things we're going to bring you is the people who have achieved that and the skills that they have that have enabled them to get there. As an MSP owner, one of the things I learned was the importance of planning for exit. I owned my MSP for around 5 years in total. And one of the things that allowed me to buy and scale and exit so quickly was that I planned for my exit from the beginning, even when I wasn't ready. And so One of the things that me and my friends say is you don't choose the time, the time chooses you. You're going to exit at some time or another, and it's better to be prepared now than wait until you think you want to sell. And so that's one of the big lessons that I learned early on and one of the things that enabled my success because I was always ready. And not only are you ready to exit, but you're also running a more peaceful and more successful business in the process.
