EP307 - The MSPGH September 2026 Intensive Round Up with Stuart Warwick, Julie Hutchison, Peter Williamson, and Ian Luckett
The IT Experts PodcastShow Notes
In this episode of The IT Experts Podcast, I take you behind the scenes of the MSPGH September 2026 Intensive, the two day client event at The MSP Growth Hub where MSP owners step away from the day to day and rebuild their plans for the next 16 weeks. We share one of these round up episodes three times a year, and this time I am joined by three of our coaches, Stuart, Julie and Peter, to talk through what happened in the room, what landed with our clients, and what any MSP owner can take from it.
Stuart opens by explaining why the intensive exists in the first place. He is the first to admit that taking time out to work on the business sounds like a cliché, and he is right that what you focus on expands. Our clients are building an owner not needed business, one that works for them and gives them a choice about the role they play and the time they put in. The MSPGH September 2026 Intensive gave them space to look at what is happening right now, then step back to a 36,000 feet view and ask whether they are heading in the right direction. We also ask everyone to book a decompression day afterwards, and once clients have been to one or two intensives, they tell us they would never skip it.
We talk about why we run three intensives a year on a 16-week cycle. Stuart explains the thinking behind it: a couple of weeks to ramp up, a solid block of focused work in the middle, and a couple of weeks to wind down and refuel. Each intensive is themed around a pillar of the MSP Scale system, and the MSPGH September 2026 Intensive was all about maximising your opportunities through sales, marketing and account management.
Stuart's opening session reminded everyone what a great time it is to be an MSP. Small businesses are the backbone of the UK economy, and almost every one of them relies on an MSP in some form. AI is creating huge interest, and most businesses are still driving around with their L plates on, so they need guidance on governance, guardrails and cybersecurity more than ever. Recurring revenue makes the MSP model a golden goose, and to scale it, owners need to step out of the technical work and lead the business.
Mit Patel from Assurix then shared how he grew Netstar to an 8 million business, and how understanding lifetime client value gave him the confidence to invest heavily in marketing. If a client is worth £80,000 over five years, how much would you invest to win one? It was a timely jab in the ribs for the room: spend on marketing and spend it on a system you know will deliver.
That led nicely into my session on reimagining account management. Our previous workbook was 19 pages. The new relationship revenue engine runs to 49 pages, broken into manageable chunks with diagnostics covering triggers, white space selling, raising prices and much more. Every client now has an account management maturity score alongside their scaling maturity score, and a group challenge built around a real account scenario sparked some of the best conversations of the two days. Peter explains why this matters for smaller MSPs where the owner still handles every account, and for larger firms that need clear KPIs to measure the return on their account managers.
Julie talks about growing future leaders from within. The people already in your business know how it works and often want progression, so look for potential, desire and skill that can be developed. She also explains a small tweak we made to the order of our planning sessions, linking goals, plans and masterminding so clients completed their 16-week plan on day one. Her advice is refreshingly simple: do not leave your plan for the train home.
Across all three conversations, one theme from the MSPGH September 2026 Intensive keeps coming back. The room is maturing. Stuart calls it solidity, I call it deliberateness, and Julie describes a safe culture where people can say what they need to say. Peter saw new members settle in quickly, and Mit told us he had never seen a g
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