512 Live from ASCII Edge: Sean and Jerry

06/27/23 • 11 min

In this episode of Uncle Marv's IT Business Podcast, Marvin Bee is joined by Jerry Koutavas from ASCII and Sean "the Man of Summer" Lardo from ConnectWise. They are streaming live from Clearwater, FL at the ASCII Edge event. The episode begins with playful banter about being fantastic on the first day of summer and plans for the upcoming ASCII events. Jerry explains the name change from ASCII Success Summit to ASCII Edge, emphasizing the focus on business content and best practices for MSPs. Shawn discusses the collaboration between ASCII and ConnectWise to support startups and emerging technologies, providing exposure and sponsorship opportunities. They highlight the importance of early adoption and building relationships with MSPs. Marvin expresses his appreciation for being made aware of new companies and technologies that can benefit his MSP business. The hosts discuss the upcoming event and their joint efforts to help MSPs improve their operations. The episode concludes with lighthearted remarks and anticipation for the rest of the event.

Highlights:

Uncle Marv and his guests are live from the ASCII Edge event in Clearwater, FL.

ASCII has rebranded from Success Summit to ASCII Edge, focusing on business content and best practices for MSPs.

ConnectWise and ASCII collaborate to support startups and emerging technologies in the industry.

Early adoption and building relationships with MSPs are essential for success.

The event provides MSPs with exposure to new vendors and technologies.

The hosts are excited about the event and their joint efforts to improve the industry.

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The ASCII Edge conference was held in Tampa, Florida on June 21-22, 2023. The conference is designed for MSPs (Managed Service Providers) to come together, share best practices, and learn from one another's experiences. The event was held at the Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park. There were private peer meetings of ASCII members, networking opportunities, and time to meet with sponsors. The conference also had a focus on cybersecurity, with a private meeting about the Conceal secure browser extension.

=== Show Information

Website: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/
Host: Marvin Bee
Uncle Marv’s Amazon Store: https://amzn.to/3EiyKoZ
Become a monthly supporter: https://ko-fi.com/itbusinesspodcast

Highlights:

Uncle Marv and his guests are live from the ASCII Edge event in Clearwater, FL.

ASCII has rebranded from Success Summit to ASCII Edge, focusing on business content and best practices for MSPs.

ConnectWise and ASCII collaborate to support startups and emerging technologies in the industry.

Early adoption and building relationships with MSPs are essential for success.

The event provides MSPs with exposure to new vendors and technologies.

The hosts are excited about the event and their joint efforts to improve the industry.

===

=== Show Information

Website: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/
Host: Marvin Bee
Uncle Marv’s Amazon Store: https://amzn.to/3EiyKoZ
Become a monthly supporter: https://ko-fi.com/itbusinesspodcast

Previous Episode

511 Pax8Beyond with Bradley Gross

Marvin Bee interviews Bradley Gross, a technology lawyer, at the Pax8Beyond conference. They discuss the importance of MSP agreements that cover the realities of day-to-day operations and how agreements should provide guidance and direction. They also talk about the unique challenges faced by MSPs, such as matching customer needs with different vendors and adapting to a dynamic industry. Bradley shares his impressions of the Pax8Beyond event, highlighting its focus on MSP education and solutions, the genuine interest of attendees in learning, the well-kept venue, the credibility of organizers and speakers, and the organizers' commitment to continuous improvement.

Highlights:

Emphasizing the need for MSP agreements that cover day-to-day operations

Unique challenges in the MSP industry and the constant need to adapt

Positive impressions of the Pax8Beyond event: MSP focus, genuine interest in learning, well-kept venue, credible organizers and speakers, commitment to improvement

===

The inaugural Pax8Beyond 2023 was held on June 11-13, 2023, at the Gaylord Rockies Hotel in Denver, Colorado and was attended by over 1000 IT service providers, vendors, and media worldwide. The event content was curated specifically for partners, aimed at helping them grow their businesses, increase deep cybersecurity expertise, future-proof innovations, and dynamic efficiencies.

=== Show Information

Website: https://www.itbusinesspodcast.com/
Host: Marvin Bee
Uncle Marv’s Amazon Store: https://amzn.to/3EiyKoZ
Become a monthly supporter: https://ko-fi.com/itbusinesspodcast

Next Episode

513 PitchIT Vendor Spotlight: DefenseX

In this episode of Uncle Marv's IT Business Podcast, Marvin Bee and his guest, Sean Lardo, discuss the Connectwise PitchIT program. They explain that the program is a competition where innovators complementary to Connectwise's ecosystem and mission of supporting MSPs compete to become finalists. The finalists have the opportunity to pitch their ideas at Connectwise's event, IT Nation. The first-place winner receives a grand prize of $70,000 and the chance to present their pitch in front of a large audience. Sean then introduces Dave from DefensX as the featured vendor for the episode.

Dave explains that DefensX is a web browser isolation tool with credential and file protection, primarily acting as a DNS filtering product. It offers protection for endpoints while browsing the web and supports major browsers, including Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. The product allows organizations to implement a zero-trust approach and customize the level of protection based on user groups. Dave also mentions the remote browser isolation feature, which streams only the necessary website content to prevent the download of malicious code.

Website: https://www.defensx.com/

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PitchIT is an annual accelerator program created by ConnectWise in 2018 to incubate growth in startup integration partners dedicated to the MSP space. The company is offering small companies the chance to take part in a 16-week program where participants receive a thorough business assessment, gain coaching from industry experts, earn placement on the ConnectWise marketplace, engage in co-marketing and more.

The finalists are selected to present their solutions on the center stage at IT Nation Connect. The PitchIT 2023 program is officially underway, and 27 companies have been selected to participate in the program.

Interested but still have questions? Email [email protected].

Join the PitchIT waitlist for next year: https://www.connectwise.com/theitnation/pitchit

=== Show Information