https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • MSP 501 Rankings
    • NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Channel Futures 20: Top Tech Providers
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2023 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Technology Advisor 101 (TA 101)
    • Channel Leaders Lists
  • Events
    • Back
    • 2023 Call for Speakers
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • MSP 501 Rankings
    • NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Channel Futures 20: Top Tech Providers
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2023 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Technology Advisor 101 (TA 101)
    • Channel Leaders Lists
  • Events
    • Back
    • 2023 Call for Speakers
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Agents
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • Channel Partners Events
 Channel Futures

MSP 501


Comeback

MVP Network Consulting Named MSP 501 Comeback Kid Award Winner

  • Written by Todd R. Weiss
  • September 10, 2018
Rocked by the sudden death of their co-CEO, the company's employees banded together to continue his mission.

When MVP Network Consulting held its annual picnic for its 18 employees and their families on Sept. 10, 2011, it was to be a day of fun, food and friendship. But while playing a pick-up game of touch football with employees, co-CEO Jeremy Pollock, only 38 years old, had a massive heart attack and died in the Buffalo, New York, park where the event was being held.

For the then nine-year-old MSP and MSSP, it was a devastating day.

A few days later, Ikram Massabini, Pollock’s co-CEO, and the rest of his company’s team began trying to regroup.

Ikram Massabini

“We came back to the company and didn’t know what to do,” Massabini said. “We had to completely reinvent ourselves, from the products we were selling to the company’s organization.”

Pollock and Massabini, who had worked together in the past, bought MVP in August of 2002. Until his premature death, Pollock was a core part of the business, involved in nearly every stage of the product life cycle. He conducted R&D and wrote code, helped test it and developed documentation for how to install and sell it. Pollock even delivered solutions to customers.

“Jeremy handled the back of the house,” said Massabini. “I had no idea what was going on back there. He did just about everything and told us what to do with it. And then we went and sold it.”

That meant Massabini had to relearn the business from top to bottom.

On the first work day after Pollock’s death, the first thing Massabini and his team members did was create a leadership team to help guide the now shell-shocked company.

“We came back and we selected a couple of our top techs and our top sales guy for the leadership team, which was tasked with running the company using committees and figuring out how to grow it moving forward,” he said.

The team pulled together to continue Pollock’s mission. They wanted to make him proud. But it has not been an easy road. Massabini said it took MVP six years after Pollock’s death to get back to where it wanted to be. The leadership team helped dramatically with the company’s transition by adding structure, providing direction and helping to determine how to best serve MVP’s customers.

During those six years, MVP tripled in size to 51 employees, added its own 2,000-square-foot on-site data center to better serve its customers and moved into providing cloud services and consulting to follow emerging trends.

“Things were tenuous at times,” said Massabini. “We were stuck a little bit.” In fact, MVP held stagnant at $2 million in revenue for a couple of years due to concerns from clients about the company’s growth prospects after the tragedy.

To overcome this, Massabini and his team started a Virtual CIO program to provide responsive online support, started a marketing department and went out to the streets to talk with their customers.

Today, things are much improved at MVP. “When something like this happens, it really brings a team together or it breaks it apart,” said Massabini. “It took us some time to wrap it all together and get the growth that we found.”

Revenue for the business to date in 2018 stands at about $8.5 million and is expected to reach $10 million by year’s end. MVP’s average customer has about 30 users, with its largest customer at more than 1,000 users.

Receiving the 2018 Channel Futures MSP 501 Comeback Kid of the Year Award means a lot to the company.

“It’s exciting, and it’s well-deserved because our team truly shocked me by banding together so tightly following Jeremy’s death,” said Massabini. “We really thought after the first year that we were going to close down, that there was no way we could keep going.”

Tags: Agents Cloud Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs Cloud Data Centers MSP 501 Sales & Marketing Strategy Technologies Virtualization

Most Recent


  • AI and Cloud
    Generative AI and Cloud: Google, Salesforce, Bessemer, BCG Chime In
    Plus non-AI news from OVHcloud and TD Synnex. Yeah, we’re breathing a sigh of relief, too.
  • IT Nation Secure Solutions Pavilion 2023 Feature
    IT Nation Secure Images: Solutions Pavilion with ThreatLocker, SentinelOne, Cisco, Trend Micro, More
    This week's Solutions Pavilion included a record number of exhibitors.
  • Cisco's Jeetu Patel on stage at Cisco Live 2023, Cisco Webex
    Cisco Webex Gets Generative AI Boost, AT&T Network Integration
    In the meantime, AT&T is targeting SMBs with a new self-service platform.
  • Imperva partner program redesigned with 3 tiers
    Imperva Partner Program Redesigned with 3 New Tiers
    Partners can engage in one of four go-to-market strategies.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Stressed young people
    More Partner Pain Points: MSPs On Lack of End-to-End Security, 'New Normal'
  • Depressed frustrated trader tired of overwork or stressed by bankruptcy, sad shocked investor desperate about financial crisis or money loss, upset businessman having headache massaging nose bridge
    Partner Pain Points: MSPs on Cybersecurity 'Nightmares', War for Talent
  • Online Survey
    Channel Futures Quarterly MSP Survey: Uptick in Recurring Revenue, Strong Cloud Sales
  • FastChat - An Inside Look at the 2021 MSP 501 With Ingram Micro

Upcoming Events

View all

Channel Partners Europe

June 13, 2023 - June 14, 2023

Channel Futures Leadership Summit

October 30, 2023 - November 2, 2023

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

March 11, 2024 - March 14, 2024

Galleries

View all

Generative AI and Cloud: Google, Salesforce, Bessemer, BCG Chime In

June 7, 2023

IT Nation Secure Images: Solutions Pavilion with ThreatLocker, SentinelOne, Cisco, Trend Micro, More

June 7, 2023

Channel Cloud Challenges Abound: Pax8, Dell, VMware, Rackspace Talk

June 7, 2023

Industry Perspectives

View all

Identity Is Increasingly Valuable – and Targeted

May 18, 2023

Gaining a Competitive Advantage through AV Managed Services

May 10, 2023

How to Build an Organization That Attracts and Retains Talent

May 1, 2023

Webinars

View all

From Problem to Profit: Mastering the Science of Selling Using Business Outcomes

May 9, 2023

Meet the 2023 Channel Futures Channel Influencers

April 13, 2023

DE&I Dialogue: How the Right DE&I Initiatives Can Propel Your Business

April 5, 2023

White Papers

View all

6 UCaaS Reseller Challenges and How Real World Businesses Solved Them

February 1, 2023

Frost Radar: North American UCaaS Market, 2022

February 1, 2023

The Complete Guide to White-Label UCaaS for Reseller Success

February 1, 2023

Channel Futures TV

View all

Coffee with Craig and James Episode No. 123: MartinWolf M&A Advisors, CP Expo Preview

UScellular Takes On Rivals with Partner Program Simplicity

April 21, 2023

OpenText Simplifying Deal Registration, Doubling Down on MDF

April 21, 2023

Everything-as-a-Service: CloudBlue Touts Critical Customer Transition

April 18, 2023

Twitter

MSP 501

The industry's largest and most comprehensive partner awards program.

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Galleries

Educational slide shows and images from live events.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Events
  • Telecoms.com
  • MSP 501
  • Black Hat
  • IoT World Today
  • Omdia

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X