#58 – From the Trenches: M&A, Re-Signing Clients & Enterprise Value (David Spire – Entech)

Most MSP owners believe “enterprise value” is something you think about when a buyer shows up. In reality, value is built (or quietly destroyed) years earlier—inside the daily decisions you make about pricing discipline, client standards, agreement governance, and whether growth comes from a repeatable sales engine or a series of “hopefully this works” acquisitions.

In this From the Trenches episode, Josh Peterson sits down with David Spire (Chief Transformation Officer at Entech) for a conversation that lands on a truth many owners resist: you don’t get to negotiate your valuation later if you refused to measure your economics today. David and Josh explore why Agreement Gross Profit (AGP) and Effective Hourly Rate (EHR) are not “finance concepts”—they are the operational scoreboard that tells you whether your business model actually works at scale.

What makes this episode unusually practical is that it connects the mechanics of building value—sales systems, re-signing discipline, integration planning—to leadership realities: autonomy vs partnership, the discomfort of governance, and the maturity required to trade “I can do whatever I want” for “we run a repeatable business.” If you’re building toward optionality—whether that’s a future recap, a strategic exit, or simply a more stable business—this conversation will sharpen your thinking.

What actually drives enterprise value in an MSP?

Owners tend to over-index on the deal mechanics—multiples, LOIs, earnouts—because those are the visible parts of the exit process. But enterprise value is mostly the compound result of less glamorous inputs: financial instrumentation, agreement structure, and operational repeatability. David’s point is simple: if you can’t generate predictable margins on managed services, your valuation story collapses, regardless of how “busy” your team is.

If you want a grounded baseline for how buyers think about value, start here: understanding how business valuation is determined.

Re-signing clients isn’t paperwork—it’s governance

One of the most important takeaways is David’s insistence on re-signing agreements as a forcing function. Most MSPs sign a contract once, then operate on inertia. The danger is subtle: scope drifts, security expectations rise, tool standards evolve, and the MSP quietly absorbs cost—until “fixed price for unfixed service” becomes the default.

Re-signing turns the relationship back into a managed system. It creates a structured moment to:

• Validate scope and standards against current reality (users, endpoints, security stack, service expectations)
• Strengthen legal posture (terms, cancellation language, modern risk considerations)
• Correct profitability drift without waiting for a crisis
• Improve the client experience by clarifying what “good” looks like going forward

Organic sales is the engine; M&A is the amplifier

Many MSPs treat acquisition as the strategy, not the lever. David frames this as a long-term trap: buying your way to a revenue number can look like progress while you’re still missing the ability to reliably create new revenue. Without a consistent organic sales engine—one that lands the right clients at the right price—M&A becomes a string of integrations you must survive rather than a capability you can scale.

If you’re thinking about an eventual exit, this is the underlying logic most owners miss: buyers pay for repeatability. They don’t just acquire your current book—they acquire your ability to keep building a healthier one.

Full-integration M&A requires an operating plan, not optimism

“We’ll figure it out” is a common acquisition posture—and it’s also how integrations die quietly. David describes an integration approach built around detailed planning, stakeholder cadence, and sequencing that prioritizes people and stability before system cutovers. The lesson is leadership-level: integration is not a technical event; it’s an organizational change program.

Key components they emphasize:

• A structured 30/60/90 plan (and a six-month integration arc)
• Weekly stakeholder cadence focused on blockers, progress, and the next sprint
• Sequencing that protects payroll, benefits, onboarding, and cultural alignment first
• Delayed PSA cutover until the acquired team has context, trust, and operational footing

The hidden risk of “similar-sized” mergers

David shares a hard-won insight that’s especially relevant for MSPs pursuing peer-to-peer combinations: if the organizations are too close in size, integration often becomes emotional and political. Instead of adopting a clear operating model, teams default to “we’ll take the best of both worlds,” which sounds collaborative—but usually creates decision paralysis and inflated cost structures.

This is where enterprise value can leak fast: benefits creep, process sprawl, and “two ways of doing things” becomes permanent. If you want the merger to increase value, leadership has to enforce a single model quickly enough that the organization doesn’t fracture into internal rivals.

Episode highlights

• 00:01:35 – David’s MSP origin story and why “managed services” emerged from consulting fundamentals.
• 00:02:16 – The 2015 merger catalyst: “right people, right time” and the reality of trading autonomy for partnership.
• 00:06:40 – Building a sales engine without a sales pedigree: systems, consistency, and coaching over heroics.
• 00:12:28 – Hiring junior sales talent versus experienced sellers—and why process fit matters more than resume polish.
• 00:19:39 – Re-signing clients as a discipline: scope validation, legal protection, and correcting AGP drift.
• 00:28:01 – The Chief Transformation Officer role: running M&A diligence, integrations, and cross-functional execution.
• 00:30:30 – Full integration done right: the project plan, cadence, and what has to happen before the PSA cutover.
• 00:38:56 – A hard M&A lesson: why “similar-sized” mergers can create rivalry, complexity, and benefit-cost blowups.

About the guest: David Spire

David Spire is a longtime MSP operator and leader at Entech, where he serves as Chief Transformation Officer. His experience spans organic growth system design, sales process engineering, agreement governance, and full-integration M&A—covering diligence, close, and the operational playbooks required to unify teams, tools, and service delivery. David is known for his process-first approach to predictable growth and for reinforcing the fundamentals that drive durable enterprise value.

Connect with David on LinkedIn →  |  Visit Entech →

Frequently asked questions

Why do AGP and EHR matter so much in managed services?
Because they reveal whether your agreements produce real margin after delivery cost—without that, revenue growth can actually increase stress and reduce enterprise value.

What’s the purpose of re-signing MSP agreements?
Re-signing creates a deliberate checkpoint to validate scope, update standards, strengthen legal terms, and correct profitability drift before it becomes a retention or delivery crisis.

Is M&A a substitute for building an organic sales engine?
No. M&A can amplify growth, but without organic sales discipline, it often becomes a fragile “growth narrative” that collapses under integration complexity.

When should an MSP cut over PSA tools after an acquisition?
After people, payroll, onboarding, and stakeholder cadence are stable. Early PSA cutovers can overload a newly acquired team before trust and operational footing exist.

Why are similar-sized MSP mergers riskier than they look?
Because they can trigger rivalry and “best-of-both-worlds” sprawl, which leads to slow decisions, duplicated processes, and cost inflation that erodes value.

Related resources from Bering McKinley

• Understanding how business valuation is determined
• Selling your MSP the smart way: maximize value in the exit phase

Want to continue the conversation?

If you’re an MSP owner building toward stronger enterprise value—and want help creating clarity, discipline, and execution—explore Vision or apply to be a guest on the podcast.

👉 Apply to be on the BMK Vision Podcast →
👉 Learn more about Vision →

About the host: Josh Peterson

Josh Peterson is the CEO of Bering McKinley and host of the BMK Vision Podcast. Through the From the Trenches series, Josh facilitates candid conversations with MSP leaders focused on operational discipline, leadership clarity, and building sustainable businesses with long-term enterprise value.

🔗 Connect with Josh on LinkedIn →  |  📺 Subscribe on YouTube →