Marco Hernandez runs a one-man MSP with 140 clients, gets 100% of his leads from referrals, and closes every deal he quotes. This episode takes apart exactly how.

Marco was on his way to becoming a lawyer in Venezuela when a computer repair shop tried to screw him. Thirty years later he runs TEK IT UP IT Services, a deliberately solo MSP in the Greater Toronto Area, and he has turned being small into his biggest advantage.

What we cover:
00:00 Cold open
00:21 Intro
01:12 Origin story: from law student to IT
02:47 Going solo on purpose
05:51 Winning clients with 100% referrals
18:52 Pricing and scope creep
23:36 AI in a one-man MSP
33:46 Rapid fire round
36:39 Closing

Play It Smart is the show where Alexej Pikovsky sits down with MSP operators and takes apart how they do it.

Oliver Kenyon is a UK-based entrepreneur and the Co-Founder of ConversionWise, a company specializing in conversion rate optimization (CRO). Under his leadership, ConversionWise has collaborated with over 3,500 brands, including GFUEL, Lotus Biscuits, and Lamborghini, as well as prominent figures like Lionel Messi and Kim Kardashian.

He is also the Founder of AffiliateFix, a leading affiliate marketing community that grew to over 70,000 members and 400,000 discussions. This platform was later acquired by Neil Patel’s investment firm in 2017.

Before his entrepreneurial ventures, Oliver was a fully qualified chef. Beyond his business achievements, he is dedicated to education, offering courses on platforms like Udemy to share his expertise in CRO.

Summary

In this episode with Oliver Kenyon, you’ll learn:

• How Oliver built ConversionWise, a large conversion rate optimization (CRO) agency, including how they helped put landing pages on the map.

• Since the landing page industry exploded, how ConversionWise has evolved and adapted.

• When Oliver met his co-founder Andy and how they divide their workload.

• Whether they have any systems in place, such as EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) or OKR (Objectives and Key Results).

• The current status of the affiliate community that Oliver built (and his first exit), AffiliateFix.

• Whether Oliver started out specifically aiming at eCommerce or if he had adopted a more general approach.

• Some examples from Oliver of best practices that apply across the whole industry.

• Where Oliver sees issues where direct response does not really work but conversion is optimized, such as traffic that is too expensive.

• Whether Oliver thinks tech stack and brand infrastructure can affect conversion.

• How he feels about the future, including CMS (content management systems), Shopify, and AI.

• How ConversionWise works with brands on the CRO side and what their retention is like.

• How you can get in touch with Oliver.

In this episode with Luc Arama, you’ll learn:

• HSBC Innovation Banking’s acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Luc’s feelings about it.
• How companies manage a debt facility with SVB in both the UK and the US.
• Why a founder should consider going down the debt route rather than the equity route.
• At what stages does HSBC Innovation Banking lend to companies.
• What terms HSBC Innovation Banking usually offer for someone who is raising money through both an equity round and a venture debt facility.
• How HSBC Innovation Banking differentiates itself in the market against traditional banks, venture debt funds, and VC funds.
• How it differentiates from revenue-based financing.
• Why HSBC Innovation Banking helps so many software companies compared to e-commerce.
• What the due diligence process is for HSBC Innovation Banking when it underwrites.
• Examples of covenants being breached and what happens if they are breached.
• What needs to happen for HSBC Innovation Banking to auction off a business.
• How Luc sees the financing landscape evolving in the future.
• How you can get in touch with Luc.