Xcellerate has named Tommy Wald president and CEO to oversee the MSP accelerator's North American operations. The organization, with roots that stretch back to New Zealand, is mentoring nearly 30 MSPs across sales, marketing, finance, strategy and more.
Xcellerate's founder is Ken Davis, former CEO of CodeBlue, a New Zealand-based MSP that CSG acquired for $15 million(NZ) in 2015. CodeBlue typically serves customers with 30 to 300 seats. Many of the best practices and platforms that CodeBlue developed over the years are repurposed today as part of the Xcellerate content and platforms, Wald tells ChannelE2E.
Wald, based in Texas, has launched, built and sold multiple managed services providers (MSPs) over the past decade. As leader of RIATA, Wald built and sold the company to White Glove Technologies in 2010 and ultimately led the combined organization. Within two years, Wald successfully sold White Glove to mindSHIFT technologies, which Best Buy owned at the time. He exited after the deal and has since mentored multiple companies.
Now, Wald turns his attention to Xcellerate, an MSP accelerator that launched North American operations last year. According to Wald:
“Our approach is based on standardization, optimization and automation. We provide the best practices, processes, training, and tools for an MSP to be successful in building a profitable and sustainable business. But it’s also about belonging and being part of a community – an ecosystem - of like-minded MSP’s who by standing together can be more than the sum of their parts.
MSPs may get there on their own. But Xcellerate will get them there faster."
Wald won't be working in a vacuum. Xcellerate's team includes multiple MSP and IT outsourcing veterans.
The Xcellerate Team
Key leaders in the accelerator include Ken Davis (partner), Ray Barber (partner), Mark Woldman (partner), Sue Caley (marketing) and Meredith Hayes (HR services). The team has extensive experience building and/or managing outsourcing companies and/or key business functions.
The organization's services include:
- Vision and planning;
- service catalog pricing and product guidance;
- marketing;
- sales;
- service-delivery know-how (NOC, help desk, etc.)
- HR
- finance; and
- strategic goal setting, coaching and succession planning.
More Than MSP Coaching?
No doubt, the MSP market is filled with various coaching, sales, marketing and leadership consultants. To differentiate, Xcellerate "addresses the whole of the business," the company claims -- from staffing, to marketing and sales, operations, financials and leadership.
Xecellerate has spent the past 12 months testing and fine-tuning its service development. With Wald's arrival as CEO, the company is "now ready to scale the business throughout the U.S.," according to a statement from Davis.
Xcellerate has two levels of engagement.
- MSPs enter at the Member level for a flat monthly fee.
- Then, by invitation, MSPs can move to the full Partner level. Partners pay Xcellerate based on growth.
Specific fees/dollar figures were not disclosed.
Xcellerate's Target MSP Members, Partners
The ideal Xcellerate Member (and eventually Partner) likely has fewer than 10 staff members, the company says. Those members, Xcellerate says, likely generate 60 to 80 percent of their business by going deep with two or three foundational accounts.
Members gain an MSP Blueprint, which reflects their level of operational maturity and customizes their development priorities. Each Member also gains unlimited access to a portal that contains best practices for MSP success. (Side note: Service Leadership CEO Paul Dippell is widely known for pioneering the operational maturity model for IT service providers. And groups like HTG and TruMethods also are known for the MSP-centric business portals.)
Members that move up to Xcellerate's Partner level gain:
- Unlimited staffing and recruiting services;
- unlimited digital marketing services; and
- platforms and tools customized to the industry workflow.
Xcellerate is approaching 30 Members, with plans to grow across North America before extending into the United Kingdom. The group is funded with private equity from investors in New Zealand.
So what's next for Wald? We'll gather more details when we meet with him later this week at CompTIA Annual Member Meeting this week in Chicago.
