Can your MSP scale without you?

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Reaching $10 million once can be momentum. Reaching it again after falling back forces you to build an MSP that can actually hold its ground.

Brian Hoppe sits down with John Snyder, CEO of Net Friends, to unpack the company’s journey to $10 million and the mistakes that made its first attempt unsustainable.

Net Friends grew quickly, but growth without enough management, financial discipline, or strategic focus created a business that was difficult to control. The company pursued too many markets, offices, and service models at once, leaving leadership stretched thin and the core managed services business without a clear direction.

John explains how Net Friends returned to $10 million as a focused, pure-play MSP with stronger management, clearer systems, and a much better understanding of what drives profitability.

He also shares his unusual path from the company’s fourth employee to owner and CEO, how a company split unlocked four consecutive years of 40% growth, and why Net Friends replaced its dependence on sales “rock stars” with a repeatable system that helped convert 24 new clients in 2025.

In this episode:

- Why MSPs repeatedly stall around $1 million, $3 million, and $5 million

- How competing business lines consume leadership headspace

- John’s transition from field technician to owner and CEO

- How Net Friends rebuilt its sales and marketing engine

- Why budgeting and profitability are leadership responsibilities

If your MSP is growing but becoming harder to manage, this conversation will help you identify the systems, leadership depth, and financial discipline required to scale with stability.

Key Moments

0:00 - Introduction

2:23 - Growth ceilings and the missing management layer

5:12 - Why Net Friends had to reach $10 million twice

9:54 - Leadership headspace and the cost of divided focus

17:16 - John’s journey from employee to owner

27:15 - How focus produced four years of 40% growth

33:26 - Preparing an MSP for ownership transition

39:45 - Choosing the right business partner

44:34 - Rebuilding sales around a repeatable system

49:35 - How cold calling and marketing worked together

54:05 - The profitability target for a $10 million MSP

1:01:37 - John’s biggest leadership mistake

1:07:31 - Where to connect with John Snyder

Connect

Brian Hoppe:

https://brianhoppe.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianhoppe/

John Snyder:

https://www.netfriends.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsnyder-netfriends/