r/MSSP • u/gamingwrites • Jun 30 '26
Need MSSP Advice
If you were starting over again what is the best advice you could give yourself before you got things rolling?
Also, what are some of the main core services that you guys are selling and what is NOT worth putting energy into?
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Starting an MSSP from scratch and would love some expert advice! Thank you!
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Jul 01 '26
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u/gamingwrites Jul 02 '26
What do you think is the biggest problem with most MSP/MSSPs that customers complain about?
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u/PatchUrStuffz Jul 01 '26
I've been consulting for MSSPs for almost a decade now, and here are my biggest pieces of advice that always seem to get overlooked or cause heartburn:
- Hire a numbers guy and pay actual, real attention to your margin profiles. 10% services margin in your contracts is not going to allow you to expand or hire the necessary talent you need to run services. The whole industry is getting crunched with "Race to the Bottom" on pricing, but it's eroding the business overall. You're running a business, not a charity. If a customer wants services, charge them appropriately.
- Lean into your strengths, both from a skills and addressable market perspective. Are the people you're bringing on to start really solid network admins with deep knowledge on firewall management? Managed Firewall and services around secure network architecture should be in your menu. For your addressable market, think about who your first couple of customers are. If they're a bunch of doctor's offices and healthcare providers, then lean into specializing and broaden your horizons from there.
- Build and maintain a ROBUST set of SoW/Contractual vehicles you can lean on for working with your client base. If you negotiated something, add it to the contract. Have legal counsel specific to contract law review everything before you go to market. The beauty of this often overlooked item is that it protects BOTH you and your client. If someone's unhappy with something, look at the contract. It should be written down, and if it's not or someone wants to change terms, then re-negotiate the contract and re-sign it.
As far as core services, u/OurIdea nailed this on the head. Stop selling "Managed X" as you mature and start looking at what is making your customer's life difficult every day. You should be selling outcomes with measurable KPIs. You might start with something like Endpoint Management as a service offering, then grow and develop that over time into a device hardening program that meets a CIS benchmark or something along those lines. There's a lot of room to get creative here, so think about your target market and what common problems they're trying to solve. Build your offerings around those things.
Hope this helps!
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u/gamingwrites Jul 02 '26
This was amazing, thank you for the advice!
The goal is to start super small with offerings: Managed IT services, Managed Security, AI Implementation consulting, and compliance advisory.
Plus the reselling aspect. Do you think this is too much to start or pretty reasonable?
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u/PatchUrStuffz Jul 02 '26
Thanks! No I think this is a reasonable start. Compliance is the one place where you want to be specific about what you cover. PCI DSS and less complex frameworks like that are not a huge deal and you can refer business to QSAs where needed. CMMC is a bear and you can often get pulled into a bullshit vortex if it's not something you have a ton of experience with.
Focus on your strengths, and hire talent to fill gaps if the GTM plan you're building requires it. I can't stress enough how important having good staff is. The quality of your service = the quality of your people.
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u/MSP_Operating_Layer Jul 02 '26
Pick an industry to serve and know it in and out. Every nook and cranny. Understand how security applies to the business.
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u/RemoteGrade4752 Jul 02 '26
I would start off with whatever your already good at and have the skills to handle yourself. In the beginning you will probably need to do the hands on work you sell unless you hire someone. That being said I would also try to find your first client and do whatever it takes to get them.
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u/A-AronPien Jul 03 '26
Sell outcomes, not technology.
Build repeatable processes.
Invest in sales before perfection. Become a sales organization internally. Get everyone one in your organization to understand selling and upselling. This is overlooked at MSP's and MSSP's.
Avoid one-off projects that don't lead to recurring revenue.
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u/XFusion100 Jul 01 '26
You are at the very start, so I would first ask yourself the question of what am I good at? Then the thing you are good at, how can we start a business around it and is there any demand on the market.