SMB Nation | SMB IT Professionals
The Place to Start-up and Start Over!
Houston we have a PROBLEM with the SMB MSP ecosystem.
Last week at NASA Houston the full AI paradigm shift in the MSP community was laid out at the Thread AI Service Unleashed Conference like NASA did eons ago when folks said it couldn’t be done. Thread is arbitraging the opportunity to lean forward into the future for MSPs like NASA did for space travel. FYI - everyone enjoyed the format as a sub-100 attendee gathering that was intellectually intimate. At the same time,
Join Dave Doerre and tech expert Grace Schroeder on Smart Company as they sit down with **Harry Brelsford, the visionary founder of SMB Nation**. Discover Harry's incredible journey from working on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to **buying an Apple II Plus in 1982 for $3,500 (nearly $14,000 today!)**, getting in early with tech, and building a global community for Microsoft Small Business Server. In this must-watch episode, Harry reveals:
I’m past mid-point in the book “Far from Home” by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and my lifelong friend dating back to the Alaska daze Charles “Coolie” Wohlforth. The quality of the writing and editing continue to impress me. And, again, I’m compartmentalized reading the book itself and when I finish I’ll have plenty to say about “the vote” that Lisa cast on July 3, 2025. Soon I’ll run a Lisa approval poll and post the results in my final comments after I finish the book)
The SMB MSP community was built on exactly that: community. Over the epoch from SBS and beyond, we’ve always come together in different ways depending on the need. Here are a few past and present examples.
MSP Navy
We rallied the geeks to assist with Hurricanes Katrina and Harvey. In NOLA with Katrina it was legendary SBS MVP Jeff Middleton leading the way in his hometown. So inspired we were that a few SBSers went to New Orleans to assist.
Michelle Hodges, the new Senior Vice President for Global Channels and Alliances at Barracuda, discussed her recent role and the company's strategic direction. Barracuda has been under the radar but has been investing in its portfolio and teams, launching four new products in the past two and a half months, including managed security, vulnerability management, ID backup, and XDR 24/7 managed SOC. Hodges highlighted the importance of consolidating cybersecurity solutions into a single platform, as evidenced by a recent MSP study. She also mentioned Barracuda's global presence and hybrid work environment, emphasizing the importance of in-person engagement with customers and partners.
Geeks gotta live life to the fullest and have fun where we can find it. As a tech exec, summer was also a fantastic time to participate in festivals, events, reading and (gasp) vacation time. It’s also when a lot of worthy causes deserve your geek love.
In the past, myself and family participated in numerous multi-day bikeathons for numerous causes such raising pledges for the National MS Society. Most recently I participated in and completed (see the pic yay!) the American Cancer Society’s July 2025 5-mile Swim Challenge here in the Texas Hill Country outside Austin.
Mine is “Far From Home” by Lisa Murkowski and Charles Wohlforth. It’s the story of senior US Senator Murkowski’s journey growing up in Alaska to a long-time tenure in the US Senate. I’ve just completed chapter one and will periodically check-in with you from bucolic coffee shops in the Texas Hill Country. Such is life as we recover from the devastating floods in the region.