Tim Conkle is the CEO and Founder of The 20 MSP, an established IT Managed Services and Consulting Firm providing expert solutions to businesses. With over 30 years of entrepreneurial success, he has advised hundreds of Managed Service Providers (MSPs), developed a multimillion-dollar sales model, and led 36 acquisitions through a unique consolidation strategy that transforms operational efficiency. A visionary and leading expert on mergers and acquisitions, Tim’s innovative approach eliminates traditional integration challenges, allowing businesses to thrive under a unified model. He also serves as the President of the board of directors for Cytracom and is an active member of the Forbes Technology Council and Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO).
Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Hear:
- [02:06] Tim Conkle describes his father’s approach to teaching entrepreneurship through tasks
- [06:38] How an eight-year-old started a bike shop business
- [10:12] The pivotal trend-spotting that led to the founding of a thriving MSP in the 90s
- [12:32] How Tim became good at selling IT services without technical expertise
- [16:24] The transition from running an MSP to empowering others in the industry
- [20:28] Game-changing business model that simplifies MSP roll-ups
- [25:28] What are the criteria and processes for integrating acquired companies?
- [30:32] Importance of balancing visionary leadership with detailed execution
- [34:38] Building a centralized help desk to improve efficiency for smaller MSPs
- [39:39] Why Tim developed patented solutions like double-blind human verification
In this episode…
Building and scaling a successful business is challenging, especially in industries prone to inefficiencies and misaligned goals. Many MSPs struggle with growth due to fragmented systems, lack of standardization, and limited resources for creating seamless customer experiences. Additionally, the complexities of mergers and acquisitions often deter MSPs from pursuing growth opportunities, leaving many business owners without viable exit strategies.
Tim Conkle, a leading voice in the MSP space, tackles these challenges head-on by creating a groundbreaking model for MSP collaboration and acquisition. His strategy involves uniting MSPs under a shared platform with standardized tools, processes, and service delivery models, enabling businesses to streamline operations and prepare for acquisition. Tim’s flat-rate IT support model aligns directly with client goals, while his unique consolidation framework ensures seamless transitions during mergers. Tim attributes his success to his ability to dream big and unite aligned businesses while fostering a culture of empowerment and entrepreneurial spirit.
Tune in to this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast as John Corcoran interviews Tim Conkle, Founder and CEO of The 20 MSP, about his innovative strategies for scaling MSPs. Tim shares insights on cultivating the right mindset for expansion, the advantages of pre-aligned acquisition targets, and harnessing the power of dreaming with one’s eyes open. Business leaders looking to expand and leave a mark will find Tim’s journey a blueprint for leveraging vision and teamwork.
Resources Mentioned In This Episode
Special Mention(s)
Quotable Moments:
- “My dad always said, dream with your eyes open. Those are the dreams that matter.”
- “We’re better together than we’ll ever be apart.”
- “You can’t roll up everybody at one time. Those that do the right things can be acquired by us.”
- “If your company is good enough and great enough, money is the easy part.”
- “I know how to make money. I can take any company, and I’ll tell you how to take it to a new place.”
Action Steps:
- Develop a clear vision for your business: Identify a long-term vision for your business that aligns with your strengths and market opportunities. This approach enables you to prepare for future trends and position your company strategically to leverage emerging opportunities, such as acquisitions or market expansions.
- Align core values with business operations: Ensure that your company’s core values and goals are consistently mirrored in all operations, from client engagements to internal processes. By doing so, you create a cohesive organizational culture that resonates with employees and customers alike, reducing friction and enhancing productivity.
- Invest in building strong relationships: Foster robust relationships with stakeholders, including commercial banks and potential acquisition targets, to create a supportive network for your business ventures. This strategy was pivotal for Tim Conkle, as strong banking relationships allowed him to secure funding without sacrificing equity, demonstrating the power of strategic partnerships.
- Empower your team with clear roles and responsibilities: Clearly define roles and responsibilities within your team to ensure everyone is working towards a common goal, enabling efficient operations and decision-making. Tim emphasized the importance of having a strong CEO and team in place to execute the vision, which is essential for navigating complex operations like acquisitions.
- Adopt a customer-centric business model: Focus on understanding and meeting the primary needs of your customers, such as ensuring seamless IT operations, which can differentiate your business in a competitive market. By adopting a model that prioritizes client satisfaction, like the flat-rate IT services model discussed, you can enhance customer loyalty and drive long-term success.
Sponsor: Rise25
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Episode Transcript
John Corcoran: 00:00
All right. Today we’re talking about how to acquire 30 companies in less than a year without your head exploding, and actually have it function as a functioning being. We’re going to find out how that worked. My guest today is Tim Conkle. I’ll tell you more about him in a second, so stay tuned.
Intro: 00:16
Welcome to the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, where we feature top entrepreneurs, business leaders, and thought leaders and ask them how they built key relationships to get where they are today. Now let’s get started with the show.
John Corcoran: 00:33
All right. Welcome, everyone. John Corcoran here I am, the host of this show. And you know, each week I get to talk to smart CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs from all kinds of companies, ranging from we’ve had Netflix and Grubhub, Redfin, Gusto, Kinkos, YPO, EO, Activision Blizzard, LendingTree, OpenTable, and many more. You can go check out our archives to check out those episodes.
And of course, this episode is brought to you by our company, Rise25, where we help B2B businesses get clients’ referrals and strategic partnerships with Done-For-You podcast and content marketing. You can go to Rise25.com to learn more about what it is we do, or email support@rise 25.com. And all right. My guest here today is Tim Conkle. He’s the CEO and Founder of 20 MSP.
It is. He has about 30 years of experience in the world of IT services and MSPs. And now the most recent thing he’s been doing, which is fascinating, is basically a new school version of a roll up acquiring, as I mentioned in the preview, about 30 different MSP providers. And so it’s a fascinating story. I can’t wait to dive into it.
And he’s got a long background with entrepreneurship, which we’re going to find out about in a moment. But Tim, it’s so exciting to have you here. And I loved hearing about your background as a kid. You grew up actually around a lot of entrepreneurs in the area of Plano, Texas, and you were the son of a serial salesperson and a serial entrepreneur. Your two parents and you.
Sounds like you got qualities from both of those. But tell us a little bit about your upbringing and growing up around entrepreneurs in Texas.
Tim Conkle: 02:07
So, growing up, I mean, my dad was always, always starting something new. Typically he started and never sold a company. Typically he would start it, bring either one of my mother’s brothers in or his brothers and teach them how to do it and give it to them.
John Corcoran: 02:27
Just give it away.
Tim Conkle: 02:28
Just give it away. And what it did, though, is create a very self-sustaining family. So he never had to worry about any of my mother’s brothers or his brothers coming. Hey, you think you can lend me a thousand bucks or whatever? He literally.
It’s almost crazy. It’s. It’s to give a man a fish you can eat for a day, but show them how to fish and feed himself forever. Yeah, it is really that story, and my dad was a giver. And don’t get me wrong, he did well himself and did a lot in real estate.
And so my dad’s 86 now, my mother’s 84. And both of them are in pretty good shape and financially. Really cool shape. And so we got to watch from the edges. A funny thing about my dad was that my mother was very, very tight.
My dad didn’t just hand you money and say, hey here or we learn not to ask him for money, because my dad would always find a task because if you gave it, you know, it kind of makes a lazy kid just to hand them $20.
John Corcoran: 03:37
But yeah.
Tim Conkle: 03:38
My dad would say, hey, go out in the backyard and see if there’s any money on the trees. If you find it, come in, and I’ll help you. I’ll help you pick it off. Of course we’d come back in and tell him, no, there’s no money in the trees. He goes.
I bet the grass was high, though. And so you can mow. You can mow the lawn, maybe and get $20 or something like that, but I cannot remember a single time in my life that I walked up to my dad after maybe 1 or 2 times of doing it as a very small kid, of ever walking up to my dad and him handing me money or my mother.
John Corcoran: 04:10
But the interesting thing about that is that he handed the companies to these relatives. So he didn’t pay you anything because he wanted to teach you a lesson. But he handed these companies to these relatives in your recounting. And also, by the way, I should point out that that could be a disaster. Like you start a company, get it to be successful, and then you hand it to a relative who hasn’t done anything to build it up.
Why do you think that these businesses continue to persist with a relative running them?
Tim Conkle: 04:39
Well, because it went back to the same thing, there was always a task involved. So a relative didn’t just get it. The relative came to work for my dad, worked for a year, maybe two, learned how to do the business. Then my dad would give it to him. Ask first.
He didn’t give any of them. And so what it did was one. It was created. It created the want to. If I do this, I will make more money.
So he basically just taught him how to make money. And the company was to me as a little kid. I just saw it as another task. If you look, my dad’s fingerprints are on all my mother’s brothers and his. They’re also on my brother’s. So my oldest brother took my dad’s construction company.
You know, I was. Now most of these companies were labor intensive. Right. You used more muscle than you did brain, but it was really good money. Construction. Foundation.
Repair. My dad’s companies built wastewater treatment plants. They built pump stations in the middle of lakes for all the people to drink water to come into the water treatment. My dad was extremely, extremely mechanically smart, although he never went past eighth grade. So it was pretty wild.
My mother, I would say, was the more educated of the two. But she’s the personality. My dad was more than that.
John Corcoran: 06:09
She was the salesperson.
Tim Conkle: 06:10
But yeah, my mother. Oh my God. But yeah, from that, all my uncles and all my brothers had multi-million dollar companies today.
John Corcoran: 06:19
And you had a funny response when we were chatting beforehand, because I’ve interviewed a lot of people that have said, you know, they did lemonade stands or they, you know, babysat neighbors, kids or they mowed lawns or something like that. And you said my first business was a bike shop. Not like fixing bikes in the neighborhood, but a bike shop. Tell me about that.
Tim Conkle: 06:37
Well, it’s deeper than that. So growing up, anything big, my dad always said anything worth owning is worth owning. So at Christmas, we got functional things, a single toy, and typically clothes. I remember two toys very distinctly. One was a Tonka truck that was a dump truck.
Metal. The other was a barn. You’d open the door and he’d go, mama. And a little white picket fence. And chickens.
Those are big things to us. At Christmas, they got a bike. So I was walking one year after Christmas and up against the fence, set a bike. Our houses had alleys that went behind them. And so you put your trash out by the fence behind your house.
And up against the fence was a bike. Well, I can tell you now, a bike was a big ticket item. You’re not getting it for Christmas, so you had to figure out how to get a bike. And I, of course, wanted a bike. As an eight year old.
And I thought the bike was in the trash. But my dad always beat into us that the kids that are given things will just throw things everywhere. It’s not, it’s not of much value. So I went around the front, knocked on the door. Hey, I think you have a bike in the trash can I have it?
And of course, they laughed at me. Kind of. It’s in the trash, dude. And so I took that, and that became a business. I would walk around my town of 3000 people.
If a bike was in the trash, I’d take it. So really, it was a repair shop that I started.
John Corcoran: 08:10
Fixing up these.
Tim Conkle: 08:11
Bikes. No, I took them apart.
John Corcoran: 08:14
Oh, you didn’t fix them up?
Tim Conkle: 08:16
No. So a buddy or somebody in the town would get a flat. I’d sell them. I’d sell their own trash bags to them. So I would take one of the tubes that came out of the ones that came in the trash, put it in their bike, and air it up.
They were off on their way. And so tons of stuff. I had a lawn mowing business. Every every part of that lawn mowing business. I have a riding lawn mower, an edger and a push lawn mower.
All of it came out of the track, but my dad was again a mechanical genius in the sense that he could make anything work.
John Corcoran: 08:52
So he showed you the way on how to repair these things?
Tim Conkle: 08:56
Yeah, yeah. I had motorcycles, I had go karts, all kinds of stuff. And the funny thing is, you could go to one of my dad’s buildings right now. He owns a lot of real estate, and in one of them, it’s full of stuff that we accumulated. Some of the bikes, some of the mini bikes.
So 30 years later, my little nephews are riding go karts and mini bikes. I pulled out of the trash 30 years ago.
John Corcoran: 09:19
Yeah, glad to see they’re still getting used. Yeah, yeah.
Tim Conkle: 09:23
We just. My dad had this way of teaching you how to create money with what you had at your fingertips. And I had these bikes. I could get them and all that. And so you just learn to make money at whatever you have in front of you.
John Corcoran: 09:42
I have a feeling this is going to be a relevant story to the roll up the acquisitions that you’ve been doing more recently, but before we get to that, you end up going in the military and you interesting journey to starting an MSP because you you when we talked about it beforehand, you said that you weren’t really fascinated with working on computers, which is sometimes the story of people just get really good at working on computers and then it becomes a bigger and bigger business. But that wasn’t your story.
Tim Conkle: 10:12
No, mine was more. I saw as a funny thing about me, I’m a true visionary. I see ten years in advance and rarely see things up close. That’s why I surround myself. Very detail oriented people.
I dream and I could just dream where computers were going to go. It’s going to be big business and I knew I wanted to be in it, which meant I needed to know everything there was to know about fixing them, making them work and all that. And so I did that. But it wasn’t with this idea of, wow, I love that box and I can type a letter on it.
John Corcoran: 10:48
I just saw that computers were going to be this way in the early 90s. You just saw the computers were going to be more and more indispensable tools, and that there was an opportunity there.
Tim Conkle: 10:57
Yeah. And again, our minds, all of our minds, my brothers as well. Our minds work towards running a business, not working a job. It’s just the way we’re built. You know, so it was really, really cool.
My dad, every morning at breakfast would tell elaborate stories. And he’d always say, dream with your eyes open. Those are the dreams that matter. And he taught us to dream bigger than we were. Even things that were very unrealistic.
Like one of my favorite stories he’d always tell was when we make it, whatever that means, we’re going to build a house and it’s going to have a basement. There’s no basement in the house that I know of in Texas, period. But we were going to have a house with a basement that can have an Olympic size swimming pool, but some days you don’t want to swim. There’s going to be a button on the wall that says football. You press that button and a football field folds out over that swimming pool.
And there’s a soccer button. There’s a basketball button. It’s very, very. And my dad said it as if we’re never leaving each other. You’re your wives and kids and everybody we’re going to.
It’s like an amusement park. But it taught us to expand beyond what you can see with your eyes, to dream or imagine something much bigger than we were. And it’s come in very handy in life.