While just about every MSP out there is pushing for growth, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t come without its own set of challenges. For Brad Lassiter, the rapid growth of his New York City-based MSP, LastTech, led to internal inefficiencies and wasted costs that he had to dedicate extensive time and energy to fix.
For several years, LastTech had been growing around 80% year-over-year in top-line revenue. Last year, however, Lassiter (CEO of LastTech) and his team turned their attention inwards and fixed many of its operational efficiency problems, resulting in a nearly flat top line, but a roughly 200% increase in its bottom line.
This radical readjustment of its internal processes allowed LastTech to continue to scale while delivering on its mission—fixing businesses’ operational inefficiencies.
Founding LastTech and Finding Its Mission
Lassiter’s first client—and reason for starting his MSP—was an investment bank. While exploring their systems, he noticed that the technology limited the bank’s operational efficiency. By mapping the workflow and creating a new file structure, employees could “stop wasting time searching for what they needed, and focus on driving deals instead of managing technology,” Lassiter says.
This experience laid the foundation for LastTech. “I realized there was a huge opportunity to bridge the gap between technology and business outcomes,” says Lassiter. With this vision in mind, he founded LastTech in 2019, aiming to help businesses achieve clarity, confidence, and scalability through technology alignment.
“We don’t just solve tech problems; we solve business challenges,” he explains. “Our focus is on measurable outcomes like improving deal speed, minimizing downtime, and maximizing ROI.”
The Value of Referrals and a Reliable Niche
LastTech’s strongest source of prospects is currently referrals. “We ask for them explicitly in our TBRs and regularly reoccurring meetings,” says Lassiter. “Referrals are still the strongest source of high-quality leads. We haven’t seen anything beat that.”
However, the MSP is also engaged in several drip marketing strategies: direct mail, with follow-up phone calls, emails, and LinkedIn messages. “We’re trying to be omnipresent in that way, to make sure we’re seen and heard,” Lassiter says.
In addition, LastTech has also begun leaning into speaking engagements. “We’re using networking groups, like the chambers of commerce, to grow our brand awareness and get out in front of people. [We’re trying to] become a known entity in the spaces.”
They’re specifically zeroing in on their niche—finance and real estate in and around the New York City area. “We find there’s a lot of companies that meet that profile,” Lassiter says. “Those are the companies that we can serve best. Of course, we have clients of all types, but those are the ones we target and the ones we can have the greatest value improvement for.”
When it comes to upselling their existing clients, LastTech holds regular TBRs for each one. “We do them all on different cadences, depending on the size of the client,” says Lassiter. “We talk about the various projects and managed services that may increase the value to them, what those would look like, and what the cost would be. Then, we see when they’re ready to pull the trigger and start upgrading their services.”
Leveling Up Their Operational Efficiency
While LastTech’s rapid growth in recent years is cause for celebration, it also gave way to internal inefficiencies that lowered productivity and raised costs. These growing pains are common for many MSPs as they scale.
Last year, Lassiter had enough and decided to fix their operational efficiency issues. However, he has a different perspective than many MSP owners. “A lot of MSPs have been doing tech forever, and then they decide to start a company. So they understand the technology pretty intimately, but they’re trying to get a handle on the business. I come at this from the business side—I’ve been a tech hobbyist, but I’m a lot more familiar with the business operations,” he explains.
“A lot of what we’ve done is make sure that we’re delivering our product in an effective way,” says Lassiter. “We found that we were spending 3–4 times as many manpower hours per client as a lot of our colleagues. Granted, we’re making a higher revenue per client, but we’re still doing a lot more work that isn’t needed to deliver the same value.”
Lassiter recognized that because LastTech is a relatively young company, they didn’t have automations established, like MSPs that have been in business for decades. “So, we started building out some of those automations,” Lassiter explains. “We started improving our processes, creating a structured and streamlined approach to delivering our services, and niching down and focusing on our customer profile.”
The MSP also pared down services offered, allowing their technicians to focus on mastering fewer systems. “We found that we could do it with fewer personnel, in fewer man-hours, and increase the quality of our final product, all at the same time,” says Lassiter.
LastTech’s Future Goals
Looking forward, Lassiter hopes to continue bringing LastTech’s mission of improving operational efficiency to more businesses and industries. “Business-technology alignment is a universal need,” he says. “While we’ve started with industries like investment banking and real estate, this philosophy can benefit businesses in any field, anywhere in the world.”
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