In MSP Success’ latest My First Million podcast, Matt Rose (CXO) and Erica Martinez-Rose (She-EO), co-founders of Longwood, Florida-based Tech Rage IT, share how they grew their business from a single consulting contract into a managed services company on track for $2 million in revenue. From funding their early growth to rebuilding their team and redefining their roles as leaders, the husband-and-wife duo share the lessons that helped them reach their first million—and continue scaling beyond it.
The Grind from Consulting to Managed Services
Tech Rage didn’t begin as a traditional MSP. Today, Tech Rage is on track for $2 million in revenue, but their first million didn’t come so easily.
Rose initially took on consulting work that provided stable income while they figured out their long-term direction.
“We bootstrapped the organization,” Martinez-Rose explains. “Matt was building his MSP business while consulting. So, we didn’t have to take out loans or debt or anything like that.” That financial discipline mattered. In the early days, the pressure was real. “If we lose a contract, I must sell my house. I need to get a job,” Martinez-Rose recalls thinking.
As they transitioned into managed services around 2018–2019, they skipped the break-fix phase entirely. Rose remembers quoting their first 10-user client $1,500 per month—and being terrified.
“We were able to make the jump right into managed services,” Rose says, rather than transitioning through a break-fix phase. They also managed to avoid charging less than they were worth, even in the early days. “We were fortunate enough to never charge, you know, 25 bucks a computer or something like that, where we were super undercharged.”
Standing Out in a Crowded Market
One of their biggest early challenges was differentiation.
“There’s so many [MSPs] and we were the youngest one in the market,” Martinez-Rose says. “Everyone had 15–20 years over us.”
At the time, they didn’t yet have a formal ideal client profile or a polished growth framework. What they did have was an understanding that blending in wasn’t an option.
Their original name—Intersection Technology Solutions—wasn’t exactly memorable.
“It was super long, super boring,” Martinez-Rose admits. “We need[ed] something that stands out—something unique, bold.”
So they made a bold decision: rebrand. “That’s where the Tech Rage came from,” she says. “It defines me. I’m a hothead when technology doesn’t work.”
The name wasn’t designed to appeal to everyone—and that was intentional. “We’re not going to be for everyone,” Martinez-Rose says. And it worked; in a crowded market filled with safe, generic names, Tech Rage IT stood out immediately. “It’s a good conversation starter,” she adds. “We’ll have clients calling us and saying, ‘I have tech rage, help me today.’”
That brand clarity positioned Tech Rage as relatable problem-solvers, instead of another faceless IT provider. And for a young MSP competing against firms with decades of history, that differentiation became a growth advantage.
Letting Go to Grow
As Tech Rage IT grew, one of the hardest transitions was personal, not operational. In the early days, Rose was “the tech, the salesperson… I was everything,” he says.
For a founder who genuinely enjoys solving technical problems, stepping back wasn’t easy. “It’s been a struggle for me to not be seen as the best technical asset,” he admits. “We have some great employees now, but in some instances, I can still do the tech just as [well], but I have to not do it. Even though I might do something in 15 minutes, [and] they’ll take 20 minutes.”
That tension is familiar to many MSP owners. When you’ve built the company on your expertise, it’s difficult to hand off the work, especially when you know you can do it faster. But Matt realized staying in the weeds was limiting growth. If he was buried in tickets, he couldn’t focus on sales, partnerships, or long-term strategy.
He also had to reset client expectations. Some customers had his personal cell phone number from the early days. “They would call it or text it like, ‘I need help,’” he says. Shifting those relationships from “call Matt” to “call the team” was part of the evolution.
The turning point came as they embraced EOS and clarified their roles—Rose stepping into the visionary role and Martinez-Rose serving as an integrator. With a more intentional structure, Rose was able to dedicate more time to sales and marketing. “That free time to do sales and marketing has started to show a lot of growth,” he says.
For MSPs chasing $1M, the lesson is clear: you can’t scale if you’re still the primary technician. Delegation isn’t just about efficiency; it’s about creating the space required for growth.
Rebuilding the Team—and the Business
That said, growth doesn’t happen in a straight line.
Over the past 11 years, Rose and Martinez-Rose have had to rebuild their team from the ground up—twice. “We’ve had to turn over our staff twice,” Martinez-Rose says. “We went from having full staff to Matt and myself.”
At one point, it was just the two of them and an intern supporting more than $1 million in revenue. “We didn’t have any clients leave,” she says. “They were also going through their own staffing issues… so they understood.”
It was a trial by fire, but Tech Rage came out the other side stronger. Rose and Martinez-Rose learned to stop tolerating behavior that slowed down operations. “You have to terminate sooner than later,” Martinez-Rose says. “It doesn’t help operations to have someone who’s not holding their weight.”
They also became more proactive about hiring, adopting what Martinez-Rose calls an “always hiring mentality.” Instead of scrambling when someone left, they began planning for turnover.
Related: MSP Hiring Strategy: The Right People Fix (Almost) Everything
Advice for MSPs Chasing Their First Million
When asked about the worst business advice they’d received, Martinez-Rose shared something many owners can relate to.
As a business owner and mom, she was often told that growth should mean stepping back.
“When I would tell my mom we would get a new client, she would say, ‘Oh great, so does that mean you’re going to stay home and cook more, because now you can have someone do your job?’ I said, ‘No, that means I can have someone cook for me.’”
Martinez-Rose’s takeaway is to “lean on your business owner friends… regular friends, they don’t understand what you do.”
Rose offers a different caution: avoid getting into debt to try and get ahead. “I remember hearing tax experts or whatever back in the day [say] in the first few years of your business, you can write off losses and stuff… seemingly telling you to basically go in debt. [But] there’s no sure thing, or else everyone would do it,” he says. “I’ve heard of people doing that and therefore having no profit, taking no salary themselves.
“It’s a hard enough job. For the amount of work we’re [doing], we need to take home a fair wage.”
Today, Tech Rage IT is on track for $2 million in revenue—not because it was easy, but because they kept adjusting, learning, and moving forward. From shifting roles to rebuilding their team, Rose and Martinez-Rose are still growing right alongside the company.
To hear more about their journey—including how they managed client concentration risk, embraced EOS, and balanced business ownership with family life—check out their full podcast episode.
