https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • Analytics
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud
    • Data Centers
    • Desktop
    • IoT
    • Mobility
    • Networking
    • Open Source
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Virtualization
    • Voice/Connectivity
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Best Practices
    • Business Models
    • Channel 101
    • Channel Programs
    • Channel Research
    • Digital Transformation
    • Diversity & Inclusion
    • Leadership
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Specialty Practices
  • MSSP Insider
    • Back
    • Business of Security
    • Cloud and Edge
    • Endpoint
    • Network
    • People and Careers
    • Training and Policies
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2020 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2020 Hot 101 Rankings
    • 2020 MSP 501 Report
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Our Sponsors
    • From the Industry
    • Content Resources
    • COVID-19 Partner Help
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • Reports
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • EMEA
  • Awards
    • Back
    • Excellence in Digital Services
    • 2020 MSP 501
    • Top Gun 51
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Partners Evolution
    • Channel Evolution Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
  • Channel Mentor
    • Back
    • Channel Market Intelligence
    • Channel Educational Series
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • Analytics
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud
    • Data Centers
    • Desktop
    • IoT
    • Mobility
    • Networking
    • Open Source
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Virtualization
    • Voice/Connectivity
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Best Practices
    • Business Models
    • Channel 101
    • Channel Programs
    • Channel Research
    • Digital Transformation
    • Diversity & Inclusion
    • Leadership
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Specialty Practices
  • MSSP Insider
    • Back
    • Business of Security
    • Cloud and Edge
    • Endpoint
    • Network
    • People and Careers
    • Training and Policies
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2020 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2020 Hot 101 Rankings
    • 2020 MSP 501 Report
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Our Sponsors
    • From the Industry
    • Content Resources
    • COVID-19 Partner Help
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • Reports
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • EMEA
  • Awards
    • Back
    • Excellence in Digital Services
    • 2020 MSP 501
    • Top Gun 51
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Partners Evolution
    • Channel Evolution Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
  • Channel Mentor
    • Back
    • Channel Market Intelligence
    • Channel Educational Series
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Digital Service Providers
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • CHANNEL PARTNERS ONLINE
 Channel Futures

Networking


5 Lessons Learned from Master MSP Thomas Clancy of Valiant Technology

  • Written by Michael Cusanelli
  • April 27, 2016

Thomas Clancy Jr. is the founder and CEO of Valiant Technology, a NY-based MSP specializing in providing break/fix services for enterprise customers. Clancy started the company in 2002 as an Apple reseller and service provider.

Fast Facts:

Name: Valiant Technology
Headquarters: Manhattan
CEO: Thomas Clancy Jr.
Year Founded: 2002
Area of Focus: Break/fix services and infrastructure management

Thomas Clancy Jr. is the founder and CEO of Valiant Technology, a New York-based MSP specializing in providing break/fix services for customers large and small. Within the MSP community, Clancy is know as a straight-talking, outspoken leader in his field. Clancy started the company in 2002 as an Apple reseller and service provider, but transitioned to delivering MSP-centric services in 2008 following the growing popularity of Apple’s NYC-based stores.

Today, Valiant Technology chiefly serves clients in the creative industry, including fashion designers, television executives, artists and architects. The company has grown significantly in the past 24 months due to Clancy’s personal focus on driving new sales, through which he was able to double the company’s recurring revenue.

Although his professional background is grounded in the art and music worlds, Clancy’s business savvy and technical skill has enabled him to turn Valiant Technology into a thriving managed service provider for clients in the NY metropolitan area. By creating a culture of like-minded engineers with a dedication to customers and not vendor relationships, Clancy and his team consistently strive to meet the needs of their clients by adapting to their specific needs.

Here are 5 takeaways from The VAR Guy’s recent discussion with Clancy.

  1. Don’t Be Afraid to Back Up the Lead Singer –Clancy started his career as a musician and spent more than 20 years playing drums for a number of different bands. Through it all, he said he learned one critical lesson: sometimes, it’s better to do the technical work rather than lead the band.

“The bands I was in never made any real money but when the guitar player would strum and nothing would come out I would just dive across the stage and plug the cable in because I could just see it,” he said. “I’ve always been sort of that support crew for artists, so when I started Valiant it made sense to keep that attitude, that vibe. I like to think of myself as a drummer behind those lead singers and I’m very happy to be there.”

  1. Company Culture is Everything: Clancy says he values engineers who not only have an aptitude for what they do, but a real passion for something in their lives other than their work. As a rule, he only hires engineers with a broad set of interests, hobbies and passions outside of their regular nine to five jobs, which ensures that they have an appropriate work/life balance. As a former musician and artist, Clancy said it is critical for him to connect with his employees in a manner outside of enterprise tech—whether it be playing tabletop roleplaying games, collecting comic books or simply grabbing a beer at the in-house bar in Valiant’s rec/conference room.
  2. The cloud is a tool for building customer relationships: Clancy said there is no use in being loyal to a particular vendor or brand simply because of their namesake because at the end of the day what matters is the level of service that an MSP provides, not the technology itself. This is especially true of cloud technology. “The cloud is not your house, it’s the tool you use to make it. It will make your business better if you use it correctly. But a managed service provider will make sure that your cloud is the right cloud for you, that your data is safe.”
  3. Meet All of Your Customers’ Needs, No Matter Their Skill Level or Requirements: Clancy believes that to be successful, an MSP needs to adjust its services to meet the specific needs of its customers. While some customers require minimal handholding, others require a full-service IT crew, which Valiant is able to provide if necessary. Clancy said he has a fully-staffed IT crew ready and waiting for clients, with professionals capable of running the entire backend of their customer’s business if need be.
  4. It’s OK to Tell Customers What Services You Can’t Provide: Just because Clancy and his team try to provide the full suite of support services to their customers doesn’t mean there aren’t some things his team won’t do. For instance, Clancy said Valiant does not do any design work or front-end edits on their customer’s web content because he feels it could put him at odds with other clients. Rather than take on design work for a client, Clancy said he would rather help make the connection between two Valiant customers so they can work together. “Everybody here has some aspect of their personality that is creative,” said Clancy. “But I think that just about all of us recognize that while we’re all good, we all suffer from the ‘curse of the competent,’ which is that we recognize how good we’re not. And you can’t be all things to all people.”

For more of Tom Clancy’s wisdom, check out the full Q&A over at MSPmentor, our sister site.

Tags: MSPs Networking

Related


  • Ransomware and malware
    Help Your Customers Mitigate Malware: Viruses, Worms, and Trojans…Oh My!
    With the right antivirus protection, your customers can better detect and prevent the spread of malware.
  • RMM on keyboard
    Kaseya Unified RMM Solution Tackles Growing Number of Connected Devices
    The evolution of Kaseya VSA brings all device management into a single product.
  • Cloud Growth
    SADA SaaS Alliance Aims to Give Members ‘the Best Opportunity to Grow’
    Find out what the managed service provider is doing alongside Google Cloud Platform.
  • Beef
    Huntress Acquires Level Effect EDR to Beef Up Platform
    Level Effect will continue to operate as its own independent business.

One comment

  1. Avatar Pat LaRussa April 27, 2016 @ 4:24 pm
    Reply

    I have a long-standing
    I have a long-standing business relationship with Tom Clancy and Valiant Technologies. This article shows that Valiant is led by a unique individual who breaks the mold of “tecchie”, bringing creativity and diversity to his clients!

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

  • Daunting Year Ahead: 12 Cybersecurity Predictions for 2021
  • How FortiSOAR Can Help MSSPs Provide Differentiated Service Portfolios
  • 2021 Trends: Set the Stage for a Successful 2021
  • Rethink Endpoint Protection in 2021

Galleries

View all

New, Changing Partner Programs: AWS, Tech Data, Avaya, Verizon

January 11, 2021

Industry Perspectives

View all

Cyberattacks: Threat Hunters Conquer Unpredictability with 3 Measures

January 21, 2021

The Right Data Migration Tool Helps Schools Move to Cloud During COVID Crisis

January 19, 2021

Cloud-Based CRM: What SMBs Need to Know about Backup and Recovery

January 19, 2021

Webinars

View all

Who’s Behind the Mask? Hacker Personas Explained

January 26, 2021

Your Network Perimeter Has Changed

February 18, 2021

How Managed Hosting Providers Thrive with the Alternative Cloud

February 24, 2021

White Papers

View all

Why Subscription Business Model

January 15, 2021

The Ultimate MSP Guide to Sales Efficiency

January 14, 2021

Eight Reasons Why MSPs Need IT Industry-Specific Sales Tools

January 14, 2021

Upcoming Events

View all

Channel Partners Virtual

March 2, 2021 - March 4, 2021

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

November 1, 2021 - November 4, 2021

Videos and Fastchats

View all

FASTCHAT: How SOAR Eliminates Security Challenges and Elevates Service Provider Revenues

January 6, 2021

Happy Holidays from Channel Partners & Channel Futures!

December 21, 2020

FASTCHAT: How Old, Unpatched Technologies Are Creating New Security Threats for MSPs and Their Customers

December 3, 2020

Twitter

ChannelFutures

#MSPs can inject predictability into #threathunting @Sophos #cybersecurity #ransomware dlvr.it/Rr4ffV https://t.co/Bztc2Yxwvc

January 22, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@RiskBased report shows decrease in #databreaches, jump in exposed records in 2020. dlvr.it/Rr4fcW https://t.co/PYiDMiJFbt

January 22, 2021
ChannelFutures

Legal experts say @VMware's #lawsuit against @nutanix's new CEO holds little weight. dlvr.it/Rr48FJ https://t.co/oLxPhgvgAt

January 21, 2021
ChannelFutures

bit.ly/2Y0kFZh twitter.com/Craig_Galbrait…

January 21, 2021
ChannelFutures

Our latest #Cybersecurity Roundup features @BitSight and @kovrrIns, @Vectra_AI and @AppOmniSecurity,… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

January 20, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@solarwinds hackers target @Malwarebytes, impacting internal emails. #cybersecurity dlvr.it/RqzkZp https://t.co/aWqLjCCW9y

January 20, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@citrix $2.25 deal to acquire @wrike expands @CitrixPartners network into collaborative work management.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

January 20, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@Carbonite Migrate uses real-time replication to move workloads to #cloud with minimal risk and near-zero downtime… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

January 20, 2021

MSSP Insider

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.

Channel Partners Online

Want more? Find more channel news and analysis on our sister site, Channel Partners.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Online
  • Channel Partners Events
  • MSP 501
  • MSSP Insider
  • IoT World Today
  • Webhostingtalk

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 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