Bering McKinley’s From the Trenches Interview with John Snyder

Net Friends CEO John Snyder sits down with the BMK Vision Podcast to discuss How to Pick A Lane. John shares his path from field tech to majority owner and the mindset shift from “say yes to everything” to a focused MSP. He explains how Primary Business Model (PBM) clarity changed profitability, why VAR-heavy procurement distracted the team, and how “Account Management 2.0” is being rebuilt around trackable, team-based communication instead of single points of failure. The conversation also dives into practical automation starting points and the underrated compounding effect of consistent marketing investment.

Interview Chapters:  

00:00 – Coffee-chat intro & origin story

03:00 – From field tech to CEO: gifted equity to 49% → 90% ownership

12:30 – Partners, morale, and the “AI makes you feel seen” aside

16:15 – Primary Business Model confusion and choosing MSP as the core

18:05 – VAR/procurement highs, hidden costs, and why focus wins

21:25 – Breaking fix habits, culling the long tail of $59/hour clients

32:24 – Automation starting point: customer portal + HR workflows

37:53 – Outlook: integrations, data flow, and making tools better

41:57 – Account Management 2.0 problems & the shared-inbox fix

48:39 – Sales vs. Success vs. Ops: one role at a time

56:48 – Lifecycle Insights, TBR pushback, and relationship signals

1:01:39 – Marketing lessons: invest ~8% of revenue & hire the team

1:03:54 – Where to find John + wrap
 
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