Meet 'The Evolvers': The Partner Masters

It's one thing to report on how IT service providers (ITSPs), including MSPs, CSPs and ISPs, keep evolving. But it's quite another thing to actually help channel partners who read this column to improve their practices, grow their businesses and increase their profitability. Nothing could be more important, more valuable or more compelling to a channel veteran like me.

That's why this instalment of The Evolving MSP begins a new subseries, "The Evolvers." These are companies who make their expertise available to all channel partners to coach, advise and help them develop their businesses. More and more such firms have been emerging over the past few years. Our effort here will be to identify those that have won the respect and appreciation of many of their clients. Those readers who are seeking assistance in growing their business will find great resources in this subseries.

The Microsoft Partner Ecosystem Is Large
Over the years, estimates of how many Microsoft channel partners exist have varied widely. At one point it was estimated there were over 700,000. At another, fewer than 400,000. Most recently, the approximate seems to be 500,000. At one time, there were complaints that many on the roster were not really partners but had applied for partnership to obtain the "Action Pack," which contained free-use versions of all the Microsoft products. That was a long time ago.

Partners who joined the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP) were considered to be the most committed, best informed and most successful partners in the Microsoft partner ecosystem. While the IAMCP has existed for more than three decades, there are only a few hundred members in this global organization. It is not, however, reasonable to assume that IAMCP members are the best informed or most successful partners; there are many, many others. Perhaps a few thousand out of a half-million!

The Best Objective Any Vendor Ever Assigned
Here's why being among the best informed partners is so important. Early in my career, I attended a Microsoft quarterly partner briefing (QPB) at which a Microsoft manager informed us that we now had a quota to fulfill. This was very surprising to all of us in attendance, and initially of some concern, as well.

That concern disappeared when the presenter said that Microsoft wanted each of us to produce at least $250,000 in services related to Microsoft products. Immediately, some of us realized that was something Microsoft had no way of tracking, and therefore couldn't possibly enforce. Then, the presenter explained, "We want each of you to focus on attracting projects that require Microsoft products, because we know that's the best way to maximize your deal size and profitability."

I will never know how many of my colleagues in that room fully appreciated how progressive and insightful that "quota" was. For me, it was Microsoft expressing how much they wanted to see partners thrive and grow their businesses. It was something I already knew, but this was wonderful reinforcement -- just not yet the best reinforcement.

Sometime later, I found myself in a conversation with then-channel-chief Allison Watson, who told me she was introducing Partner Account Managers (PAMs) to work directly with those partners who, like me, wanted more support. I had previously complained about having no direct contact to work with, and this was her solution. That was impressive enough, but then she said something that I'll never forget: "You see, Howard, we want to see each Microsoft partner get the most they possibly can out of their Microsoft relationship."

This one statement changed my relationship with Microsoft forever.

An Awful Discovery
At subsequent QPBs and Worldwide Partner Conferences (later Inspire conferences), I made the awful discovery that very few, if any, Microsoft partners I spoke with had received Watson's message. Neither did they know that Microsoft wanted them to maximize the value of their relationship, much less how. This is what drove me to join the IAMCP -- to help other partners realize what was available to them and how to obtain it.

Unfortunately, over the next 15 years, I would never feel that I had actually accomplished that to any great extent. I eventually moved on to write for and about the channel -- and that's what brings us here to The Evolving MSP.

In the subsequent conversations I have had with the many Microsoft channel chiefs and other executives, I have found that the intent to see partners get the most out of their Microsoft relationship is still strong in the Microsoft culture. This is great news.

The challenge is still the fact that only a fraction of the partner community knows this, and even fewer know how to actually make it happen. There is a need for guidance -- for someone who has learned how to work with Microsoft productively and efficiently, who understands how to maximize the relationship, and is willing to share that with those partners who understand the opportunity but need help getting there.

Meet 'The Partner Masters'
When I first met Justin Slagle, he was president of the IAMCP Southern California chapter, and I was president of the IAMCP New York chapter. At that time, he was also director of business development for a substantial Microsoft Learning Center Partner. Like me, Slagle deeply understood his Microsoft relationship and worked hard to exchange value with them in the way that most optimized partnerships.

In 2012, he went to work for Cindy Bates, then vice president of U.S. SMB & Distribution at Microsoft, helping to support some 50,000 SMB partners. He was quickly promoted to the Global Partner Solutions Team, where he was able to focus on just 500 partners. "I really, truly love and breathe the Microsoft mission of empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more," Slagle tells me, though he adds, "You can't empower partners if you're going from 50,000 to 500. Every year, we were dropping multimillion-dollar licensing partners from Microsoft management."

He relates how many partners messaged him on LinkedIn asking if they could pay him to help them. With five years under his belt as a Microsoft partner and 10 as a Microsoft channel development director, Slagle was ideally suited and more than qualified to provide such services. He approached his direct superior about an idea he and his closest friend, Matt Soseman, had to start a business specifically designed to help these Microsoft partners who were looking to optimize their Microsoft relationships. To his credit, that manager made it easy for Slagle and Soseman to test their idea and prove the concept to themselves.

In the spring of 2023, Slagle and Soseman launched The Partner Masters with a goal of adding two Microsoft partners to their client list every month. By the end of that year, they had added over 100.

You Don't Have to Be a Managed Partner to Enjoy All the Benefits
According to Slagle, what keeps partners from maximizing their partnership with Microsoft is the need to know all the programs that are available and how to take advantage of as many of them as possible. He likens it to tax specialists; any U.S. citizen can download the 5,500-page book on the current tax programs from IRS.gov, but who is really going to do so? Instead, they hire a CPA who has already learned what's in that book and can tell them all they can do to save as much money as possible on their taxes.

The Partner Masters knows the Microsoft version of that book intimately and assures all partners that you don't have to be a managed partner to enjoy all the benefits, including, he says, "Back-end rebates, cybersecurity, investment funds, all those things that are there, but you have to know that they're there, and if you don't, then Microsoft just keeps the profit."

Experience has taught them to go beyond what their Microsoft partner development manager (PDM) does for them. The PDM can inform them of available programs, but The Partner Masters offers the service of doing the execution on those programs to obtain the benefits for the partner.

Slagle describes their work with tremendous enthusiasm. "All you have to do is create an identity for me within your tenant. I'm going to go into Partner Center. I'm going to do all the claims. To do all the claims, I'm going to get the solution designation, I'm going to apply for all the funding for you, and you'll just see the money show up in your bank account. Does that sound fair? That's the big difference." He adds, "We have these managed partners coming to us because they don't have time to do this. We start helping them do all their things, and then all of a sudden, their numbers start skyrocketing."

An Expert at Doing What You Need Done
The greatest value The Partner Masters offers may be in simply knowing everything a Microsoft partner has available to them and how to obtain all of it. Add to that the availability of experts to do everything required to obtain all those benefits. Having lived on both sides of the equation -- as a Microsoft partner and as a manager of Microsoft partners for Microsoft -- I know The Partner Masters has truly mastered what it takes to be a very successful, very profitable partner.

To learn more about The Partner Masters and how they can help you enjoy greater return on your investment in your Microsoft relationship, contact [email protected].

Posted by Howard M. Cohen on May 01, 2025