Did Kaseya Connect???

I just got back from a week in Vegas at Kaseya Connect, an annual event for Kaseya MSP partners, internal MME, and MSPs from around the world to attend.

Full Disclosure: I am a former Kaseya employee via the ID Agent Acquisition.

In my humble opinion, Kaseya absolutely stepped up their annual event. We got hints of this last year, but they spared no expense and put on a world-class event this year for the MSP industry.

Look, I understand there is a loud faction of naysayers on the forums, but when you attend their event, you find MSPs that 100% buy into what they are building with IT Complete and it's a stark contrast from the forums vs in-person in terms of the energy and excitement you feel around this community. Particularly those MSPs who have invested in peer groups/programs like TruMethods Peer run by Gary Pica and Powered Services run by Dan T. .

Kaseya Connect was PACKED, I don't know the exact numbers, but they delivered on their promise; there had to be 2k+ attending Fred's keynote which with vendors put the total number somewhere between 2.5k-3k people. Put it this way, there were enough people that I saw posts from friends in the industry and never actually saw them at the event.

Here are some musings, observations, and recaps from my perspective.

1. IT Complete message continues: The keynote from Fred Voccola may have sounded vaguely familiar to many who have heard the IT Complete message but with 1,600+ new MSPs in attendance it was probably a wise move to hammer it home.
2. Acquisition Announcements: I think everyone in attendance anticipated at least one acquisition announcement but Kaseya announced two.

3. Vonahi Security: Automates network pentesting and delivers continuous testing at a fraction of the cost with vPenTest, a SaaS cybersecurity platform. They announced 10% lower rates for new customers and 10% more licenses for current customers. (Verify with your rep, I'm only reporting on what I heard at the event)

4. Audit MSP Sales Automation: premiere sales tool for MSPs that delivers beautiful, emotionally impactful, persuasive, and non-technical presentations that will wow your prospects and clients. Use audIT for prospecting, selling, and business reviews. They announced 5 FREE licenses for all Kaseya customers and 5 additional for current Audit customers. (Verify with your rep, I'm only reporting on what I heard at the event)

Both continue to build on the IT Complete message. AudiT led by MSP Owner Frank DeBenedetto has been a darling in the industry for several years, getting a lot of early traction in the ASCII and Technology Marketing ToolKit communities. Mike Brooks and Brett Jaffe round out a fantastic group of people in the channel.

Vonahi Security burst on the scene and caught fire when they participated in Channel Program's Pitch (now Engage) event and set the record for the most demos requested (39), a record that remains intact. They also took home 2nd place in ConnectWise 's PitchIT program for emerging vendors that Sean Lardo and Louie Cocchiola have re-built into a fantastic program for emerging vendors.

Vonahi is led by the wicked smart Alton Johnson, OSCP, OSCE .

Look, you don't come to me for the technical breakdown, I can speak on the integrity of the team Alton has built around him with Trammie Anderson , Jason Wells , Ky Tran , and others. They are some of our favorite people to work with at Channel Program, they want what is best for their MSPs, and they are willing to go the extra mile.

If you haven't spoken with either check them out. They both actually have special deals listed among our 50+ Channel Deals section:

For AudiT's deal click here

For Vonahi's deal click here

5. VIP Guest: "The sea was angry that day, my friends, like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli…"

Jason Alexander aka George Constanza: Jason had his buddy interview him. Despite his interviewer seemingly mumbling questions for most of the interview which had our entire row asking "What the hell is this guy saying", it was great entertainment listening to Jason Alexander talk about his journey into Seinfeld, and for any fan of the show, you absolutely ate up his behind-the-scenes stories.

Of note, Jason shared a great story about the monolgue from which the quote above came from. Long-story short, it was thrown together LIVE during the taping of the show because the original ending didn't land. Jason had 10 minutes to learn it and what you see was all done in one take.

Shout-out to Jim Lippie , CEO of SaaS Alerts for crushing Jason Alexander in a Seinfeld trivia competition.

6. After-Party: As mentioned before, Kaseya put on a show, whether that was themed Vegas celebrities, novelty acts, or straight up one of the most impressive closing parties at Wet Republic that I've ever experienced at an event. It was one of those, you had to be there to truly appreciate it, but I'm sure there are plenty of videos floating around for you to look at. (Also, tell me "Elvis" [3rd picture on the right above] isn't a doppelganger for Shooter McGavin?)

7. Quickpass unveils rebrand at the event to CyberQP. Looks like they have stuck with the green colors but added a new mascot (a cheetah). From a press release, CEO, Mateo Barraza said "The rebranding was necessary to accurately portray the company's mission. "The 'Quickpass Cybersecurity' name took us far, but as our product evolved it stopped accurately portraying what we did. Our new name helps clarify what we are here to do: help MSPs with Privileged Access Management."

I know I show a lot of love in these recaps, but I can't help it when companies have been built with great people, it's a who's who of the industry with the likes of Jimmy Hatzell , Cynthia Schreiner , Kelcye Blankenship-Lackland , Jared Venson , Nadia Karatsoreos , Jeff Benedetti and others.

8. M&A Pre-day: [Note: I didn't attend this, I'm only passing along the feedback I get from MSPs in attendance] Obviously, M&A is a hot topic, and if you're an MSP looking to partner up, be acquired, sell, and peace out, you should be attending this next year. In addition to great content, the amount of networking you get to do with your peers is amazing. If you don't believe me, ask MSP Owner Kevin Damghani about his experience there. Also, he is mench.

9. What I didn't love as a vendor: 7 am start times are BRUTAL for vendors, especially when events are going on for MSPs until 2 am. The vendors were left for dead on the final morning. (I say this with a caveat, I understand how difficult these things are to plan and accommodate this large of a crowd, you can't please everyone). Still, 7 am is mean ??.

Also a minor suggestion, MSP lanyard colors should be different from MME lanyard colors, it saves everyone the time of a wasted conversation when you're a 100% MSP vendor (which many are).

10. What I loved as a vendor: (by the way, vendors never all agree on these things), but personally I really liked that they shut down the vendor hall during the keynote. Vendors need to know what is going on in the industry at large events like this, and being able to participate as an audience member keeps us connected.

Also, having those 4 hours when the sponsor hall was completely off-limits for evening activity setups was a much-needed break.

Bonus: Having the entire event on the 1st floor this year felt like a game changer to me.

In conclusion (haven't written that since writing papers in middle school), this was a MAJOR step up for Kaseya with Connect this year, truly on a different level than past years. While I don't think I'll make the EMEA Connect/DattoCon in Dublin, if I was an EMEA MSP or Vendor, I'd be heading to this event.

PS: A big shout-out to the vendors that traveled all the way from Australia/New Zealand, Techno Global Team (TGT) , Invarosoft , and Pia (Apologies if I missed anyone). That isn't easy, but hopefully, the MSPs showed you love while over here.

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Shameless Plug: We have an awesome group of vendors for our May Channel Engage, you'll get a little cybersecurity/compliance, followed by 4 vendors who specialize in CX (Customer Experience) in one form or fashion along with an amazing MSP panel on CX, moderated by Debbie Kestin Schildkraut and featuring Henry Timm and Arti Dutt ?? . MSPs, as a reminder, you attend anonymously!

Register here!