The MSP Built for Clients Nobody Can Standardise
with Noah Landow, Co-founder and chief executive officer, Macktez. Independent New York information technology (IT) firm serving nonprofits, cultural institutions and organizations mid-build
Noah Landow co-founded Macktez in 1996, still runs it, and has kept it independent. Most managed service providers (MSPs) chase one stack across every client because that is what scales. Noah spent 25 years reluctant to use the label at all, because his clients cannot be standardised: nonprofits, cultural institutions, organizations in the middle of a build, and a public park in the middle of the Hudson River.
We also get into the mechanics. How he staffs jobs where the delivery date beats the supply chain. Why he keeps a closet of decommissioned switches and a cabling team on the payroll. What his recurring revenue number actually means once you strip out the five-year projects billed as subscriptions. And how a firm with no outside money reads the consolidation now moving through the channel, after thirty calls with private equity and venture groups.
What we cover
- Taking jobs where the deadline cannot move, and phasing the network in anyway
- Buying equipment six months early against a nonprofit's three-year budget
- Keeping cabling in-house with almost no temporary staff
- The 25 years he called it IT consulting instead of managed services
- What the 65 to 70 percent recurring figure hides
- The three business units: managed services, consulting, physical installation
- Thirty calls with private equity and venture groups, and what he makes of them
- Single-vendor lock-in and what it costs to leave
What's inside
- 00:00 Cold open and intro
- 00:38 The jobs where the deadline cannot move
- 02:13 Why event specialists ship one fixed stack
- 02:58 What happens to the equipment after the event
- 03:23 Buying six months early against a three-year budget
- 04:23 Pulling older switches out of the closet
- 05:38 Staffing the peaks without a temp bench
- 06:22 Paying people properly instead of contracting it out
- 07:31 Twenty-five years reluctant to call it an MSP
- 08:10 What co-managed looks like day to day
- 09:23 One stack for every client, and why it does not fit here
- 10:18 The recurring versus project split
- 11:03 Billing a five-year migration as a subscription
- 13:25 The three business units inside Macktez
- 14:36 An in-house cabling team on live construction sites
- 15:19 Where clients come from after thirty years
- 16:47 The buying window that opens and closes
- 17:04 Referrals, the book, and telling prospects to do it themselves
- 19:06 How a new tool gets evaluated
- 21:04 A two-year timeline to change the ticketing system
- 22:01 The tool that changed the picture: JumpCloud
- 23:27 Private equity, AI roll-ups and thirty calls taken
- 25:16 Single-vendor lock-in and the cost of leaving
- 26:31 Fire round
- 29:45 Where to find Noah
The guest
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