Tate Talks - The MSP Podcast

Tate Talks - The MSP Podcast is a conversation series in which host Chris Tate catches up with people from the managed service provider world. It runs in numbered seasons. Guests come from organizations including Slide, Huntress, Proofpoint, GTIA and MSP Finance Team, and several are introduced as old friends. Rachel Williams is a returning guest whose earlier appearance goes back to the show's first season. Episodes typically open with a brief spoken note from Tate on who he talked to, sometimes with a teaser attached: Phil McGowan of Huntress, it emerges, is a great snooker player. As Tate puts it, 'Who knew?' A sponsor read for JumpCloud for MSPs bookends the conversations. The interviews follow a loose pattern. Tate asks for the career story first, how a guest came to be where they are, and only then turns to the day job. When he does, he often frames the question for a newcomer, asking guests to picture someone who has just joined the MSP community or, in one case, just landed from Mars. The answers come out plain. Huntress is described as a cybersecurity vendor whose mission is to 'wreck hackers', working in partnership with MSPs. GTIA is presented as a not-for-profit industry trade association built around research and membership. Slide, whose CEO and founder is Michael Fass, is explained as a backup company for MSPs that has launched across EMEA. Asked how he got there, Fass begins by saying he is a lawyer, and Tate notes that many people know him from his Datto days. Then the detours arrive. Daniel Welling, introduced as a man with irons in many fires, describes moving into motorsport sponsorship after his first exit and building a business networking program around British touring car race weekends. Rachel Williams, whom Tate calls a health and well-being expert, keeps things practical: book gym sessions ahead, put plans in the diary so they become non-negotiable, keep a running shopping list. The humor is friendly ribbing. Rick Yates is billed as the show's most requested guest, a title Tate says rests on literally a handful of people suggesting him, and the exchange soon turns to jokes about influencer status and memories of recording a podcast together in Manchester before COVID. Dan Wensley's conversation closes out season 11 and is framed as a chance to look back over the year. For a first listen, the Rick Yates episode is the one for banter, while the Huntress and GTIA conversations offer straightforward accounts of what those organizations do. The companies get explained along the way, but the people behind the company names are the real subject.