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GET IN WE'RE BOOKING: THE VALIANT KICKSTARTER ENDS TODAY. If you want your name in the book, today's the last day to do that. Things Discussed: VALIANT: Sam's getting background to tell stories nobody's heard yet from Dusty May. Ken Pomeroy is going to walk us through the 2PA Revolution and how it led to some of the best basketball teams ever. John Gasaway is going through the history of his understanding of the game, and the Michigan fans who pulled him along that journey. Will Warren is going to get into the way strategy and analytics created a special team. Craig's book too. Alex Drain chopped it in half, and it's finally written. Texas Tech and Sorsby: Craig walks us through the judge's insane decision, notes there's still a four-judge panel (of all TTU grads) that it needs to get through before this really is a thing. The reaction of the league is loud, but they're not going to do 90% of what they threaten, for many reasons. Comparison with reaction to Signgate: Difference was anyone who knows ball was saying it's horseshit. What do TTU fans say? They say Texas has been getting players off for worse for a century. What's the fix? Probably one part of the story that eventually leads to a CBA, because that's how the pro leagues control this. In break: the 1950s NYU scandal in the context of 1950s NCAA and the players making no money as everyone was getting rich. In-state recruiting: Some big guys going out of state. Guerrant: let's see if Michigan passes the ball this year before we take an impending Oregon commitment seriously. Gideon Gash: TTU means Michigan can come back around; big loss for MSU. Whittingham has done a good job adapting to Michigan recruiting. Retaining Bellamy retained connections in Michigan and the East. Harding gives him credibility all over the Midwest. Way they reacted to the NCAA attacking SMSB was like early Harbaugh. Pat Fitzgerald's slow start means little; he's got some OL, and that's what you really need. Seth likes the Frey-type tackle they got from Brighton.
Show Open – Michigan State has taken a lot from Ohio State over the years. Cowboys might not be that good. Buckeyes have first road game at Michigan State. Big Ten weekend slate. Georgia vs. Alabama in September is another thing to get used to. Can Travis Hunter win the Heisman? Tim May (Lettermen Row) joined us. Know the Scores. OSU vs. MSU. Doug Lesmerises (The Kings of the North) joined us for more college football talk.
We dug into our takes and yours — the Tigers' and A.J. Hinch and Scott Harris, on MSU football and the Spartans' recruiting momentum, MSU basketball and the center position, the mess with MSU's president and board of trustees, the most hated prominent MSU figures, the Pistons and Wemby regret, and more.
‘Tis the season for Recruit Reflections! It's that time of year when we kick off our Recruit Reflection series once again for Season 4, sponsored by Full Out Collegiate Recruiting. We're so excited to begin with three athletes who are not only among the top Level 10 gymnasts in the country, but are also teammates at Brandy Johnson's in Florida.We are joined by Imani White, who was originally committed to Cal before ultimately switching her commitment to Mizzou. She is a four-time Level 10 National Champion, a four-time Nastia Cup qualifier, and will be headed to Mizzou this upcoming season.Jada Oliver is also here. She is committed to LSU and will join the Tigers for the 2028 season. She is the 2025 Level 10 National All-Around Champion and a two-time Nastia Cup qualifier.We also have Sofia Estrada, who will be an Oklahoma Sooner this fall and recently won a national title on vault at the 2026 Level 10 National Championships.They join us for a recruiting roundtable discussion about their experiences as highly sought-after Level 10 gymnasts, the advice they received along the way, whether they influenced one another's recruiting decisions, and more.Thank you to our monthly Patreon supporters: Lee B, Cookiemaster, Happy Girl, Erica S, Semflam, Amy C, Maria L, Becca S, Cathleen R, Faith, Kerry M, Derek H, Emily, Sharon B, MSU, Kimberly G, Lela M, Mara L, Jenna A, Alex M, Dana, Lidia, Maria P, Alicia O, Cristina K, Hayley B, Bethany J, Kentiemac, Marni S, Betny T, Emily C, Cathy D, Lisa T, Libby C, Thiago, Debbie, Taryn M, Amy M, Jamie S, Chuck C, Kaitlin, Susan P, LFC_Hokie, Ella, Kay, Julie B, Austin K, Jane, Sarah, Amy, Stephen S, Johanna T, Alison S, Alberto D, Kristina T, Abigail W, Jennifer K, Kate M, Naomi S, Claudia L, Erin L, Thomas B, Lauren D, Kihika M, Beth C, Amy, Renee PM, Ryan V, Brandon H, Okcaro, Tyler, Paola, Heather, Kate, Danielle, ALittleUnderRotated, Lacy, Dana C, Grace, Pat G, Lexi G, Laura N, Kathy, Katie A, Róisín, Megan J, Emily D, Britton, Ry Shep, Reyna G, William A, MB, Jackson G, Stella, Ulo F, Noah C, Melissa H, Alexis, William M, Susie, Leslie G, Catherine B, Laura L, Katy S, Kathy M, Kathy S, Okcaro, Caroline P, JD B, Cookiecutter, SuniFan, Caroline M, kcmojojojo, Sammy S, Fabio B, Lacie M, Sara G, Kerry H, Leah D, Margaret G, Molly, ClemsonTigersFan, Lisa B, Sarah M, Grace M, Laura A, Justin D, Jas, Kendrick C, Rich A, Ty T, Nick S, Becky E, Annsley M, Melody M, Stacey M, Erica H, Kathy, Teressa, Angela C, Bridgett C, Ashley D, Whitney J, Shelly A, Erika B, JuJu & DFP!
We dug into our takes and yours — the Tigers' and A.J. Hinch and Scott Harris, on MSU football and the Spartans' recruiting momentum, MSU basketball and the center position, the mess with MSU's president and board of trustees, the most hated prominent MSU figures, the Pistons and Wemby regret, and more.
June 1, 2026 ~ Chris Renwick and Lloyd Jackson spoke with Crain's Detroit Business Reporter Mike Lee. They discussed MSU's outgoing president and the upcoming Gordie Howe Bridge opening. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Daily Detroit is on the porch at the Mackinac Policy Conference, and Jer and Devon have a wide‑ranging conversation about Michigan's political future and Detroit's urgency problem. From Governor Gretchen Whitmer's emphatic "no" on a presidential run to the very real possibility she ends up as the top choice for vice president, they unpack what her popularity says about the broader electoral landscape and 2024's lessons for Democrats in a swing state. (That said, after we recorded, she hedged her bets later in the day). On the island, the 2026 governor's race was present (but not in a debate), and we talk about it. Then, they zoom in on one of the most revealing moments of the week: A years‑long legislative delay on the RenCen brownfield deal, even with a billion‑dollar offer on the table and no profit motive. What does it say about how Michigan makes decisions, and we talk about why "maybe" is often worse than "no." The conversation closes with a look at the dysfunction of elected university boards in Michigan in the wake of the resignation of the MSU president, the talent pipeline, and the physical glow‑up on Mackinac Island — from the Grand Hotel to Lake View and Mission Point — as Michigan lives up to its billing as a top national destination.
Things Discussed: Pre-Show: I came on early to discuss the U.S. Senate's NCAA bill. Proposal: A provision that every game that's broadcast is available for free. You can put it on a streaming network but not behind a paywall. The guys say it's impossible for the people to get anything out of a bill, but I argue this might have enough juice with the public that a senate candidate (we know you're an MGoBlog reader, Abdul) could get some run out of it. Proposal: Michigan Coney Dog Playoff, with Only in Monroe's host as judge. Fun fact: Jim Abbott's dad invented the Flint-style Coney. Fears returns, which was the way to go; he's a college player through and through but a denuded Draft was the time to test his value and jack up his return cost. MSU vs Michigan next year: MSU fixed their frontcourt but have a ceiling in their shooting, Michigan's ceiling is higher but they need big steps from Trey, Cadeau, and someone at the three to offset their frontcourt losses. Cadeau growth potential is real. What we see from Reed (caveat: healthy). Opportunity to grow the threes while he's healing, but the ability to add another 6'10" forward down the stretch makes M an elite D. Football recruiting: Feels like competency. Feels like a Lloyd Carr class juiced by NIL. Some guys are really underrated; Seth likes Xavier Muhammad and Tavares Harrington, who's that tall nickel the defenses running switch coverages want; the football equivalent of giving Dusty May a 6'10" guy at the three. Lundon Hampton is also underrated: Hassan Haskins but Fast. Runs very upright but he's supremely agile and a tackle-breaker with breakaway speed.
We dug into our takes and listener takes and answered your questions on the drama and happenings at Michigan State, on President Kevin Guskiewicz's untimely exit at MSU, the Board of Trustees (and what should be done about the Board), what it means for athletic director J Batt, on Jeremy Fears' return to MSU basketball for next season, on MSU football, the Tigers, Pistons, parenting, best bets and more.
We dug into our takes and listener takes and answered your questions on the drama and happenings at Michigan State, on President Kevin Guskiewicz's untimely exit at MSU, the Board of Trustees (and what should be done about the Board), what it means for athletic director J Batt, on Jeremy Fears' return to MSU basketball for next season, on MSU football, the Tigers, Pistons, parenting, best bets and more.
#FactsMatter, the Citizens Research Council of Michigan podcast
This episode of the #FactsMatter focuses on Michigan's 2026 budget season, with Guy Gordon interviewing the Research Council's Craig Thiel and Bob Schneider. All three major budget proposals—the Governor's, House's, and Senate's—are now public, making this year's process smoother than last year's. Schools and local governments benefit from early budget clarity. All three FY2027 School Aid budget proposals align on a 2.5% increase in the foundation allowance, bringing per‑pupil funding to roughly $10,300. At‑risk funding continues to grow, though the chambers differ sharply: the Governor proposes a 6% increase, the House 5%, and the Senate a dramatic 25% bump, which Craig describes as “a major revenue stream” for districts with high poverty rates. The Legislature has rejected the Governor's plan to shift $400 million from the School Aid Fund to higher education, though this could re‑emerge in negotiations. On the General Fund side of the budget proposals, Bob reports modest revenue growth—“better up than down”—but not enough to ease structural pressures. The House proposes deep cuts to university operations, including a $421 million reduction to U‑M and MSU, while the Governor's proposed new revenues have been dismissed by both chambers. All three budgets create shortfalls heading into FY28, meaning more cuts or revenue changes will be required next year. Despite tensions, there is agreement among the three proposals on several items: funding for universal school meals, continued mental health and school safety grants, and the foundation allowance. The biggest risks ahead include unresolved General Fund gaps, higher‑ed funding battles, and the possibility that K–12 dollars could again be eyed to plug holes elsewhere.
Dr. JD Barton sits down with Dr. Nicole Hayes, who served as the UCLA gymnastics team psychologist from 2019 to 2023, to discuss body image in and out of the gym, the impact of social media and NIL, navigating injuries, academic pressure, and more.Thank you to our monthly Patreon supporters: Lee B, Cookiemaster, Happy Girl, Erica S, Semflam, Amy C, Maria L, Becca S, Cathleen R, Faith, Kerry M, Derek H, Emily, Sharon B, MSU, Kimberly G, Lela M, Mara L, Jenna A, Alex M, Dana, Lidia, Maria P, Alicia O, Cristina K, Hayley B, Bethany J, Kentiemac, Marni S, Betny T, Emily C, Cathy D, Lisa T, Libby C, Thiago, Debbie, Taryn M, Amy M, Jamie S, Chuck C, Kaitlin, Susan P, LFC_Hokie, Ella, Kay, Julie B, Austin K, Jane, Sarah, Amy, Stephen S, Johanna T, Alison S, Alberto D, Kristina T, Abigail W, Jennifer K, Kate M, Naomi S, Claudia L, Erin L, Thomas B, Lauren D, Kihika M, Beth C, Amy, Renee PM, Ryan V, Brandon H, Okcaro, Tyler, Paola, Heather, Kate, Danielle, ALittleUnderRotated, Lacy, Dana C, Grace, Pat G, Lexi G, Laura N, Kathy, Katie A, Róisín, Megan J, Emily D, Britton, Ry Shep, Reyna G, William A, MB, Jackson G, Stella, Ulo F, Noah C, Melissa H, Alexis, William M, Susie, Leslie G, Catherine B, Laura L, Katy S, Kathy M, Kathy S, Okcaro, Caroline P, JD B, Cookiecutter, SuniFan, Caroline M, kcmojojojo, Sammy S, Fabio B, Lacie M, Sara G, Kerry H, Leah D, Margaret G, Molly, ClemsonTigersFan, Lisa B, Sarah M, Grace M, Laura A, Justin D, Jas, Kendrick C, Rich A, Ty T, Nick S, Becky E, Annsley M, Melody M, Stacey M, Erica H, Kathy, Teressa, Angela C, Bridgett C, Ashley D, Whitney J, Shelly A, Erika B, JuJu & DFP!
Show Open – Michigan State has taken a lot from Ohio State over the years. Cowboys might not be that good. Buckeyes have first road game at Michigan State. Big Ten weekend slate. Georgia vs. Alabama in September is another thing to get used to. Can Travis Hunter win the Heisman? Tim May (Lettermen Row) joined us. Know the Scores. OSU vs. MSU. Doug Lesmerises (The Kings of the North) joined us for more college football talk.
The big beasts arise as we talk EVE Frontier, MapleStory Universe and how Wemade's approach bests Ubisoft. [00:34] Jon attended EVE Fanfest 2026 in Iceland. What are his takeaways?[02:40] Why EVE Fanfest works beyond being just an event for players.[05:05] EVE Frontier is EVE Online if made from scratch now.[06:46] In Cycle 6 (out 25th June), EVE Frontier finally becomes more of an actual survival game.[09:28] Modular shipbuilding replaces fixed ships.[10:40] EVE Frontier is a game that rewards players who improve their manual gameplay skills. [11:55] “This is a game that makes EVE Online feel cuddly.”[13:58] Does EVE Frontier need non-EVE players?[15:30] The fundamental approach is blockchain as a unified API.[16:38] Why some CCP/Fenris developers want to work on EVE Frontier, not EVE Online. [17:38] How EVE Frontier is using AI for coding and prototyping.[19:10] Nexon is talking about MapleStory Universe, MSU 2.0 and VIBE IP.[22:11] MapleStory Universe did $31 million in revenue in year 1. [23:22] The real KPI for MSU 2.0 is the revenue third-party devs make. [25:55] Average EVE Fanfest attendee had played 7,900 hours of EVE Online. [30:50] Legend of Ymir has released the ability to mint and trade character NFTs.[32:00] Legend of Ymir NFT character trading was $77,000 on day 1. [34:40] Ubisoft is shutting down Champions Tactics' web3 features on 27th May. [36:00] Ubisoft's blockchain problems are a minor part of much wider issues for the company. [39:00] Champions Tactics was beautifully made, but too narrow in its addressable audience. [42:29] Wemade is iteratively learning. Ubisoft is scattergun, lacking learning loops. [44:30] The post-crash shape of blockchain gaming is now becoming apparent.
We answered your questions — on Michigan State basketball and Jeremy Fears Jr., on MSU football and college football playoff expansion, on the Tigers' lost season, life and more.
Show Open – Michigan State has taken a lot from Ohio State over the years. Cowboys might not be that good. Buckeyes have first road game at Michigan State. Big Ten weekend slate. Georgia vs. Alabama in September is another thing to get used to. Can Travis Hunter win the Heisman? Tim May (Lettermen Row) joined us. Know the Scores. OSU vs. MSU. Doug Lesmerises (The Kings of the North) joined us for more college football talk.
Chris Holman welcomes Tim Daman, President and CEO, Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce, Lansing, MI. Chris Holman of Michigan Business Beat interviews Tim Daman, President and CEO of the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce, about the highlights of their Lansing Economic Club season, which featured speakers including Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a women's leadership panel, the Canadian Consul General, and MSU basketball figures Tom Izzo and Mike Garland. Daman outlines the upcoming fall lineup, including programs on NIL and college athletics, Fraunhofer's diamond coating technologies at MSU, regional economic growth, and a year-end financial forecast. He also reflects on the Chamber's broader mission, noting that post-COVID engagement is returning to pre-pandemic levels across events, leadership programs, and networking. On the national front, Daman highlights tariff uncertainty and the "Big Beautiful Bill" as top concerns, particularly its potential impact on higher education institutions like Michigan State University. » Visit MBN website: www.michiganbusinessnetwork.com/ » Subscribe to MBN's YouTube: www.youtube.com/@MichiganbusinessnetworkMBN » Like MBN: www.facebook.com/mibiznetwork » Follow MBN: twitter.com/MIBizNetwork/ » MBN Instagram: www.instagram.com/mibiznetwork/
Jaan Tallinn is a tech billionaire and founding engineer of Skype who leverages his wealth to mitigate existential risks from artificial general intelligence (AGI). He co-founded the Future of Life Institute and the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, while making early foundational investments in frontier AI labs like DeepMind andAnthropic.Chapter Markers:00:00 Assessing Current AI Risk Levels03:28 Inside Self-Sustaining AI Scenarios09:10 The Global AI Race Dynamics42:25 Explaining the Techno-Capital Flywheel45:34 Insider Origins of AI Safety56:06 Race Politics and Public Fear01:23:12 Pop Culture, Movies, and Fame01:30:15 Big Questions for Humanity's Future–Steve Hsu is Professor of Theoretical Physics and of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering at Michigan State University. Previously, he was Senior Vice President for Research and Innovation at MSU and Director of the Institute of Theoretical Science at the University of Oregon. Hsu is a startup founder (SuperFocus.ai, SafeWeb, Genomic Prediction, Othram) and advisor to venture capital and other investment firms. He was educated at Caltech and Berkeley, was a Harvard Junior Fellow, and has held faculty positions at Yale, the University of Oregon, and MSU. Please send any questions or suggestions to manifold1podcast@gmail.com or Steve on X @hsu_steve.
Off the top, we dug into the Jeremy Fears Jr. NBA decision, the discourse around it and what MSU might look like without him. Then a conversation with Detroit Free Press Pistons' writer Omari Sankofa on the Pistons' future and the decisions ahead with Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson (21:30). Plus, a discussion on the state of sports media(50:00).
Episode 301 | "Show Me What You're About, Coach" It's official visit season and we're bringing you behind the scenes! Cedric "Swerve" Irvin joins Jason Strayhorn and Slow Sipper for a real, unfiltered conversation about what it's like to have a son going through the college recruiting process — and the six questions every recruit NEEDS to ask on an official visit. Amari Irvin is heading to East Lansing, and Dad has thoughts. We also break down Jeremy Fears Jr.'s impressive showing at the NBA Combine and whether he should stay in the draft or come back to Michigan State. The Detroit Pistons crashed out in Game 7 at home — we get into the fallout, JB Bickerstaff's controversial press conference, and what Detroit needs to do this offseason to build around Cade Cunningham. On the college football side, MSU fans are buzzing after the $401M Spartan Ventures announcement — but is the money actually available yet? We talk expectations for Jonathan Smith's first full season, the NIL arms race across the Big Ten, and what Indiana's rise should teach us all. Plus, we pay tribute to Michigan State legend Sherman Lewis — the highest Heisman vote-getter in MSU history and a 4x Super Bowl champion coach — who passed away this week. A true trailblazer and a great man.
Off the top, we dug into the Jeremy Fears Jr. NBA decision, the discourse around it and what MSU might look like without him. Then a conversation with Detroit Free Press Pistons' writer Omari Sankofa on the Pistons' future and the decisions ahead with Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson (21:30). Plus, a discussion on the state of sports media(50:00).
Chris Holman welcomes David Souder, Dean of the Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. David Souder, the newly appointed Dean of the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University, joined Michigan Business Beat remotely from Connecticut, where he spent 17 years at the University of Connecticut before taking the role. He brings a background in strategic management consulting and academia, with degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Minnesota. Souder expressed enthusiasm for MSU's land-grant mission of making quality education broadly accessible, and cited the arrival of a highly regarded new university president as an added draw. His key priorities for the Broad College include managing high undergraduate demand creatively, expanding diverse graduate programs beyond the traditional MBA, and better communicating the real-world relevance of the college's business research to the public. » Visit MBN website: www.michiganbusinessnetwork.com/ » Subscribe to MBN's YouTube: www.youtube.com/@MichiganbusinessnetworkMBN » Like MBN: www.facebook.com/mibiznetwork » Follow MBN: twitter.com/MIBizNetwork/ » MBN Instagram: www.instagram.com/mibiznetwork/
We dug into our takes and yours — on MSU basketball and Jeremy Fears Jr.'s flirtation with the NBA, on the MSU board of trustees' emergency meeting and doubling the salary of MSU president Kevin Guskiewicz, on the Pistons' dud of a Game 7 and future, including that of Jalen Duren, on whether the Tigers are toast, and more.
This week, we break down the latest NCAA coaching changes and transfer portal news, share highlights from the 2026 Development Program National Championships, discuss Ana Bărbosu's suspension, and more.Later in the episode (around the 43-minute mark), we're joined by Kailin Chio following the conclusion of her standout sophomore season at LSU. Chio made program history this year, recording 13 perfect 10s — the most ever by an LSU gymnast in a single season — and becoming the first LSU gymnast to earn a perfect 10 at nationals. She also captured the SEC all-around and vault titles, was named SEC Gymnast of the Year, and finished the season as a finalist for the Honda Award. Thank you to our monthly Patreon supporters: Lee B, Cookiemaster, Happy Girl, Erica S, Semflam, Amy C, Maria L, Becca S, Cathleen R, Faith, Kerry M, Derek H, Emily, Sharon B, MSU, Kimberly G, Lela M, Mara L, Jenna A, Alex M, Dana, Lidia, Maria P, Alicia O, Cristina K, Hayley B, Bethany J, Kentiemac, Marni S, Betny T, Emily C, Cathy D, Lisa T, Libby C, Thiago, Debbie, Taryn M, Amy M, Jamie S, Chuck C, Kaitlin, Susan P, LFC_Hokie, Ella, Kay, Julie B, Austin K, Jane, Sarah, Amy, Stephen S, Johanna T, Alison S, Alberto D, Kristina T, Abigail W, Jennifer K, Kate M, Naomi S, Claudia L, Erin L, Thomas B, Lauren D, Kihika M, Beth C, Amy, Renee PM, Ryan V, Brandon H, Okcaro, Tyler, Paola, Heather, Kate, Danielle, ALittleUnderRotated, Lacy, Dana C, Grace, Pat G, Lexi G, Laura N, Kathy, Katie A, Róisín, Megan J, Emily D, Britton, Ry Shep, Reyna G, William A, MB, Jackson G, Stella, Ulo F, Noah C, Melissa H, Alexis, William M, Susie, Leslie G, Catherine B, Laura L, Katy S, Kathy M, Kathy S, Okcaro, Caroline P, JD B, Cookiecutter, SuniFan, Caroline M, kcmojojojo, Sammy S, Fabio B, Lacie M, Sara G, Kerry H, Leah D, Margaret G, Molly, ClemsonTigersFan, Lisa B, Sarah M, Grace M, Laura A, Justin D, Jas, Kendrick C, Rich A, Ty T, Nick S, Becky E, Annsley M, Melody M, Stacey M, Erica H, Kathy, Teressa, Angela C, Bridgett C, Ashley D, Whitney J, Shelly A, Erika B, JuJu & DFP!
We dug into our takes and yours — on MSU basketball and Jeremy Fears Jr.'s flirtation with the NBA, on the MSU board of trustees' emergency meeting and doubling the salary of MSU president Kevin Guskiewicz, on the Pistons' dud of a Game 7 and future, including that of Jalen Duren, on whether the Tigers are toast, and more.
Man convicted of making up 'disgusting' crime about Bloomfield Twp. official Saline native, MSU prof takes up 'Jeopardy!' challenge this week Ford stock surges as Morgan Stanley backs new battery storage venture
We answered your questions — on Michigan State basketball, Jeremy Fears Jr. and the NBA, on MSU football and NIL resources, on the Lions' schedule, the Tigers' woes, the Pistons and Jalen Duren, vacationing with in-laws, parenting and more.
Chris Holman welcomes Jeff Magnuson, Executive Director of the James B. Henry Center for Executive Development, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. Jeff Magnuson, executive director of the James B. Henry Center for Executive Development at Michigan State University, discussed the center's role as a full-service educational conference facility on MSU's campus that has been operating since 2001. Magnuson was recently honored as the Certified Tourism Ambassador (CTA) Star of the Year by Choose Lansing, a recognition tied to his 15 years of facilitating the CTA program, which trains frontline hospitality employees about the Lansing region's attractions and the importance of customer service. He also highlighted notable 2024 tourism statistics for the Tri-County Lansing region, including 6.7 million annual visitors, 9,500 local hospitality jobs, and $732 million in total economic impact. Magnuson emphasized that supporting local restaurants, arts venues, and hospitality facilities is essential to sustaining and growing that economic contribution. » Visit MBN website: www.michiganbusinessnetwork.com/ » Subscribe to MBN's YouTube: www.youtube.com/@MichiganbusinessnetworkMBN » Like MBN: www.facebook.com/mibiznetwork » Follow MBN: twitter.com/MIBizNetwork/ » MBN Instagram: www.instagram.com/mibiznetwork/
Show Open – Michigan State has taken a lot from Ohio State over the years. Cowboys might not be that good. Buckeyes have first road game at Michigan State. Big Ten weekend slate. Georgia vs. Alabama in September is another thing to get used to. Can Travis Hunter win the Heisman? Tim May (Lettermen Row) joined us. Know the Scores. OSU vs. MSU. Doug Lesmerises (The Kings of the North) joined us for more college football talk.
Montana State junior captain running back Adam Jones joins Colter Nuanez to talk about MSU spring football and his upcoming slate of. youth summer camps.
Montana State commitment Dax Yeager joins Colter Nuanez on 102.9 FM ESPN radio to talk about his pledge to MSU football.
Montana State senior Taco Dowler joins Colter Nuanez to break down getting national championship rings, his analysis of MSU fooball + preview for the summer youth football camps he will host with Adam Jones starting next month. Visit https://tacoandadamsummerfootballcamps.com/ for more on how to sign up!
May 8, 2026 ~ Mark Hollis and Lloyd Jackson welcomed Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo. Izzo discussed the Pistons, NCAA expansion, and NIL. He also talked about MSU leadership and the Final Four in Detroit. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Football adds another recruit to the class of 2027, but will MSU be competitive in the conference? There's other sports on campus, and the guys prove their tennis bona fides. Oh, and the NCAA, they're up to their old tricks.All that, and we take your social media questions!Join us next week on Twitter and IG @spartan_pod and @spartanpod on Bluesky.And watch again on YouTube at https://youtube.com/@spartan_pod
We dug into our hot takes and yours — on Michigan State basketball and football, NIL and MSU, the Pistons first-round rally against the Magic, Jase Richardson, the Tigers (with news breaking on Tarik Skubal's injury), parenting advice, and more.
We're kicking off May with a jam-packed episode. We've got one of UCLA's star freshmen, Ashlee Sullivan, on the show, plus there has been so much news between coaching changes and the transfer portal, so we have a lot to unpack.Ashlee Sullivan is a four-time U.S. National Team member, an alternate for the 2025 Worlds team, the 2025 Winter Cup all-around champion, and now an NCAA All-American on floor after wrapping up her freshman season at UCLA. This season, she was a key contributor for the Bruins on vault, bars, and floor, posting career highs of 9.975 on vault, 9.925 on bars and 9.95 on floor. She was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week three times and was also a Big Ten Co-Event Specialist of the Week. She joins us to look back on her freshman season, the transition from elite to college, her goals for the summer, and whether or not LA 2028 is on her radar.Send us your feedback: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSca-fVM9kZsn7D38p0izSkReln2abT0Ry8obP-5-gi_HZH6ow/viewform?usp=publish-editorThank you to our monthly Patreon supporters: Lee B, Cookiemaster, Happy Girl, Erica S, Semflam, Amy C, Maria L, Becca S, Cathleen R, Faith, Kerry M, Derek H, Emily, Sharon B, MSU, Kimberly G, Lela M, Mara L, Jenna A, Alex M, Dana, Kelsey, Lidia, Maria P, Alicia O, Cristina K, Hayley B, Bethany J, Kentiemac, Marni S, Betny T, Emily C, Cathy D, Lisa T, Libby C, Thiago, Debbie, Taryn M, Amy M, Jamie S, Chuck C, Kaitlin, Susan P, LFC_Hokie, Ella, Kay, Julie B, Austin K, Jane, Sarah, Amy, Stephen S, Johanna T, Alison S, Alberto D, Kristina T, Abigail W, Jennifer K, Kate M, Naomi S, Claudia L, Erin L, Thomas B, Lauren D, Kihika M, Beth C, Amy, Renee PM, Ryan V, Brandon H, Okcaro, Tyler, Paola, Heather, Kate, Danielle, ALittleUnderRotated, Lacy, Dana C, Grace, Pat G, Lexi G, Laura N, Kathy, Katie A, Róisín, Megan J, Emily D, Britton, Ry Shep, Reyna G, William A, MB, Jackson G, Stella, Ulo F, Noah C, Melissa H, Alexis, William M, Susie, Leslie G, Catherine B, Laura L, Katy S, Kathy M, Kathy S, Okcaro, Caroline P, JD B, Cookiecutter, SuniFan, Caroline M, kcmojojojo, Sammy S, Fabio B, Lacie M, Sara G, Kerry H, Leah D, Margaret G, Molly, ClemsonTigersFan, Lisa B, Sarah M, Grace M, Laura A, Justin D, Jas, Kendrick C, Rich A, Ty T, Nick S, Becky E, Annsley M, Melody M, Stacey M, Erica H, Kathy, Teressa, Angela C, Bridgett C, Ashley D, Whitney J, Shelly A, Erika B, & JuJu!
We answered your questions — on whether Michigan State basketball is actually a contender next season, who the Spartans' leading scorer might be, early returns on new MSU football coach Pat Fitzgerald's recruiting and expectations for Year 1, the Pistons, Tigers, Golf, parenting and more.
in this episode i bring on MSU coach Kevin Nguyen and Senior captain Matt Barriball to talk about the story and theme of the year that led to the championship i witnessed. we go over a bit about their team culture, the trust these 2 have for one another and talk about what edson would mean for their NDA team Final Justice for the coming year. take a listen and enjoy
A meth lab was busted inside Wells Hall at MSU.
Off the top, we dig into MSU's basketball roster with the NCAA's decision to push forward with five years of eligibility, but not in time for Carson Cooper or Jaxon Kohler. We look at the addition of big man Anton Bonke, and discuss the problems with the expansion of the NCAA tournament. Then The Athletic's Nick Baumgardner joins us for a conversation on the Detroit Lions' NFL draft and roster (26:00). And finally, the Tigers, Pistons and Norm's golf bets (45:00).
The Spartans are believing again — and so are we. On this episode of This Is Sparta Across the B1G, host Jason Strayhorn is joined by co-hosts Sean "Slow Sippa" Taylor and Cedric "Swerve" Irving for a packed show featuring two special guest appearances. First, we sit down with MSU's Big Ten champion men's tennis standout, who became the first Spartan to win matches in both singles AND doubles at a conference championship — and he's just getting started. Then, we welcome a father-son duo from Virginia — Terrence Edwards Sr. and redshirt freshman defensive back Terrence "Deuce" Edwards Jr. — for a hilarious, real, and inspiring conversation about the recruiting journey from Louisville to West Virginia to East Lansing, the energy of this year's Spartan defense, and why Deuce's eyes are already on the Thorpe Award and a national championship. Plus, the crew reacts to the NCAA Tournament expansion to 76 teams, breaks down the NIL effect on the NBA Draft, and celebrates a new four-star defensive lineman commit. Mama Hall's blanket made an appearance too — and it did NOT disappoint.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/this-is-sparta-msu--5664600/support.
We dug into our hot takes and yours — on Michigan State basketball, the addition of center Anton Bonke, whether that's enough to make the roster a contender, the loss of Divine Ugochukwu, on MSU football's best-case scenario, the scuffling Pistons and Jalen Duren, the Lions' draft, parenting and more.
In this episode of Mental Gymnastics, Dr. JD Barton sits down with Ilka Juk, who represented Canada and Hungary as an elite gymnast and went on to compete collegiately at LIU and Iowa.Ilka looks back on the abusive coaching she experienced in Canada, her struggles with OCD, how she knew it was time to walk away from elite gymnastics, and how her career has shaped the coach she is today.Thank you to our monthly Patreon supporters: Lee B, Cookiemaster, Happy Girl, Erica S, Semflam, Amy C, Maria L, Becca S, Cathleen R, Faith, Kerry M, Derek H, Sharon B, Randee B, MSU, Kimberly G, Lela M, Mara L, Jenna A, Alex M,, Kelsey, Lidia, Maria P, Alicia O, Cristina K, Bethany J, Diane J, Kentiemac, Marni S, Betny T, Emily C, Cathy D, Lisa T, Libby C, Thiago, Taryn M, Dana B, Jamie S, Chuck C, Je_GL, Kaitlin, Susan P, Mallory D, LFC_Hokie, Ella, Debbie, Kay, Diane J, Julie B,, Austin K, Jane, Sarah, Amy, Stephen S, Johanna T, Alison S, Kristina T, Abigail W, Ola S, Jennifer K, Kate M, Claudia, Erin L, Sarah A, Thomas B, Kihika N, Beth C, Amy, Renee PM, Ryan V, Brandon H, Tyler, Hayley B, Ben S, Kate, Danielle, ALittleUnderRotated, Dana C, Grace, Pat G , Lexi G, Laura N, Kathy, Katie A, Ruby B,, Róisín, Megan J, Emily D, Britton, Ry Shep, Reyna G, William A, MB, Jackson G, Stella, Ulo F, Noah C, Melissa H, Alexis, William M, Trish, Susie, Leslie G, Catherine B, Karlin, Laura L, Katy S, J'nia G, Kathy M, Kathy S, Okcaro, Caroline P, JD B, Cookiecutter, Ailish D, Wil D, Caroline M, kcmojojojo, Sammy S, Fabio B, Kerry H, Ricardo A, Brandon, Leah D, Margaret G, Molly, Marco B, ClemsonTigersFan, Lisa B, DSO, Sarah M, Abigail M, Grace M, Laura A, Justin D, Paola, Kendrick C, Rich A, Ty T, Nicholas S, Becky E, Annsley M, Tere, Melody M, Stacey, Erica H, Kathy, Teressa, Angela C, Bridgett C, Ashley D, Whitney J, Erika B, & JuJu!
We answered your questions on Michigan State basketball, on the addition of transfer center Anton Bonke, what's next with Divine Ugochukwu leaving, what to make of the roster overall, on MSU football and whether to have hope, the Lions' draft, parenting a newborn and more.
Mastering the shift from MSP to MIP. Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/Check Out UPX: https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ In this insightful episode, Oguo Atuanya, CVP of Vendor Experience at Pax8, joins us to discuss the pivotal evolution in the IT channel: the transition from Managed Service Providers (MSPs) to Managed Intelligence Providers (MIPs). We explore how the marketplace is moving beyond traditional infrastructure support toward a future defined by AI-driven orchestration, business consultancy, and scalable agent-tech organizations. Oguo details how Pax8 is leading this transformation by curating solutions that allow partners to move from transactional service models to life-cycle management that prioritizes measurable ROI for the Small and Medium Business (SMB) market. Key Takeaways Pax8 is redefining the role of the distributor by acting as an AI commerce platform for the SMB market. The shift from Managed Service Provider (MSP) to Managed Intelligence Provider (MIP) is critical for scaling in the modern tech era. Successful MSPs must evolve into business consultants who integrate AI-driven workflows rather than just selling infrastructure. Security and automation are foundational elements that every modern MIP must prioritize to ensure scalability for customers. The “MIP Playbook” provides the curriculum-driven enablement partners need to successfully pivot their business models. Building strong, end-to-end customer lifecycle management is the key to minimizing churn and maximizing long-term value. https://youtu.be/c8uCnMJd9bg If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags Pax8, Managed Intelligence Providers, MIP, AI commerce platform, SMB technology, MSP evolution, AI-driven workflows, agent-first strategy, digital transformation, channel partner strategy, cloud solutions, customer lifecycle management, IT channel innovation, scalable automation, business consultancy, technology architecture, agent store, managed service providers. Transcript Oguo Atuanya Audio Episode [00:00:00] Oguo Atuanya: I, I mean, the ultimate goal is to get that MIP channel as intelligent or even more intelligent and agile than any enterprise IT department. [00:00:13] Vince Menzione: We just finished Ultimate Partners Winter Retreat here in beautiful Boca to a sold out crowd. Today I’m joined by Dexter Hardy, the founder of Integral for a compelling discussion, a guo. Welcome back, [00:00:29] Oguo Atuanya: Vince [00:00:29] Vince Menzione: to the welcome back to the podcast, my friend. So good to see you. [00:00:33] Oguo Atuanya: Good to see you, my friend. It’s been about, what, two years? [00:00:35] Vince Menzione: It has been two years, almost two years. Almost two years ago now. And uh, man, this [00:00:40] Oguo Atuanya: thing is just picking up steam. [00:00:41] Vince Menzione: It is. We’re having a blast. We were having so much fun. It was [00:00:44] Oguo Atuanya: awesome. [00:00:44] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:00:44] Oguo Atuanya: Really awesome. [00:00:45] Vince Menzione: And you were for context, for people watching and, and listening. Uh, we were here in Boca yesterday for the Ultimate Partner Executive Retreat. [00:00:52] Yep. It was this awesome event and great to have you involved in it. Uh, pat, thank you so much. So, uh, last time you were here [00:01:00] Oguo Atuanya: Yes. [00:01:01] Vince Menzione: Uh, you were representing Microsoft where you spent 22 years. [00:01:05] Oguo Atuanya: 22 [00:01:06] Vince Menzione: years. [00:01:06] Oguo Atuanya: Two years, right. Outta outta Junior Heart. [00:01:07] Vince Menzione: Amazing. And, uh, tell us, tell us about your journey so far. Uh, almost two years, a year and a half at Pax. [00:01:14] Eight. About a [00:01:15] Oguo Atuanya: year and a half. [00:01:15] Vince Menzione: Yeah, [00:01:16] Oguo Atuanya: a year and a half. [00:01:17] Vince Menzione: And tell, tell for our viewers and listeners, uh, your role at Pax eight. [00:01:21] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:01:22] Vince Menzione: Which is a preeminent company in this space. We used to use the term disty. I’ll let you describe them. Uh, officially [00:01:29] Oguo Atuanya: No, [00:01:30] Vince Menzione: because they don’t, you don’t use that term. [00:01:31] Oguo Atuanya: We’re not, we’re not a distributor. [00:01:33] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:01:33] Oguo Atuanya: Scott Cha would kill me. [00:01:35] Vince Menzione: That’s right. No, I know, I know. I remember the, uh, [00:01:38] Oguo Atuanya: the New [00:01:38] Vince Menzione: York, was it the New York Times article? Yes. Yes. [00:01:41] Oguo Atuanya: Was kind of a, [00:01:42] Vince Menzione: that was a launching point coming out. Yeah, yeah. [00:01:44] Oguo Atuanya: No, we, we, we see ourselves as, um, um, the pre, uh, permanent marketplace. For SMB. [00:01:52] Vince Menzione: Nice. [00:01:53] Oguo Atuanya: Right. So you think about the SaaS and the cloud. [00:01:55] Yeah. You know, solutions that you need. In SMB, we work with vendors to bring it, um, you know, to the SMB market through, uh, MSPs. And we also, uh, see ourselves as the premier [00:02:08] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:02:08] Oguo Atuanya: Um, AI commerce platform for SMB. [00:02:13] Vince Menzione: Very interesting. [00:02:14] Oguo Atuanya: Right. And as we go through the discussion, uh, this afternoon, you’ll see why. [00:02:20] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:02:21] Oguo Atuanya: That differentiation is [00:02:23] Vince Menzione: key. I, I love, I love to dive in. I love to dive in. I will say this, I, I think you’ve gotten a lot of people very interested in the community. I mean, certainly your events are becoming bigger and bigger. You’re beyond conference. [00:02:36] Oguo Atuanya: Next one’s coming up in Salt Lake City [00:02:38] in [00:02:38] Vince Menzione: June. [00:02:38] I plan on being there, salt Lake City in June. [00:02:41] Oguo Atuanya: I must have you there. [00:02:42] Vince Menzione: I will be there and you will, and you will be at our event in May. [00:02:45] Oguo Atuanya: Absolutely. [00:02:46] Vince Menzione: Talking about beyond, but also talking about this community. Uh, I’ve also woken up over the last year or so as well and learned a lot about this SMB community and ms, what we call MSBs. [00:02:58] You’ve re you’ve re-categorized them, uh, but this community is palpable. The opportunity is huge. [00:03:04] Oguo Atuanya: It’s huge. [00:03:05] Vince Menzione: And, um, I would say that, uh, yeah, we can talk, we’ll talk, we’ll just talk through it. ’cause it is huge. Yeah. There’s a lot of things that need to be done. [00:03:12] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:03:13] Vince Menzione: And I think, I think PAX eight is, uh, at the forefront in driving a lot of this. [00:03:17] The hyperscalers, like Microsoft are, are paying attention now more in a big, in a bigger way than before [00:03:23] Oguo Atuanya: being great partners. [00:03:24] Vince Menzione: Been great, great partners. Yeah. We’ll talk about your role with Microsoft in that regard. [00:03:28] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:03:28] Vince Menzione: But talk, let’s talk about this evolution too. Let’s, uh, so for those who are listening, who are used to maybe us talking about a SaaS software company Yep. [00:03:36] Or an ISV or an SDC, uh, we’re talking about MSPs, managed service providers, which is the common term that people use. These are, these have been traditionally the companies, the smaller companies, they used to call em mom and pop shops back. The old VARs that became managed service, the past [00:03:53] Oguo Atuanya: provider in, in the past, they’re getting bigger. [00:03:54] Vince Menzione: And then Yes. One of the big [00:03:55] Oguo Atuanya: ones, y say [00:03:56] Vince Menzione: Nexus Tech. We had Yes. [00:03:57] Oguo Atuanya: Partners of ours. [00:03:58] Vince Menzione: Nexus Techs, new Charter. [00:04:01] Oguo Atuanya: Charter, Michelle [00:04:02] Vince Menzione: Evergreen, I could Ira Lyra. Yeah. They’re, they’re becoming bigger and bigger. Private equity is getting involved. What’s important, what’s important to note too is that the customer is driving this because customers are requiring more and it’s no longer about, and my my point of view is it’s no longer about loading up software and just letting it go. [00:04:22] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:04:23] Vince Menzione: You need to be hands-on all the time. [00:04:24] Oguo Atuanya: Abs. Absolutely. And, and [00:04:26] Vince Menzione: yeah, [00:04:26] Oguo Atuanya: kind of skating towards that park of, um. MIP? [00:04:31] Vince Menzione: Yes. Let’s talk about MIP [00:04:33] Oguo Atuanya: managed intelligence providers. [00:04:35] Vince Menzione: So last year, year Beyond conference, I believe you launched this like new in I, we’ll call the new nomenclature or the new name, or this new thing. [00:04:46] And evolved. And evolved, yeah. [00:04:48] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:04:49] Vince Menzione: So talk about the managed intelligence provider for us. [00:04:52] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Wow. When it happened In Beyond Or at? Beyond, I should say. Um. We thought it’d catch on because it’s apt. I mean, it’s, it’s sort of indicative of what’s happening now and what will happen over the next 24 months, but, uh, the sort of migration towards this and the marketplace has been immense. [00:05:17] I mean, you, and you, you know, hit on what the difference is. Yes. Earlier on, um, today. What’s driving this shift is that most MSPs have been really good at being tools and technology infrastructure providers. [00:05:36] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:05:36] Oguo Atuanya: Right. [00:05:37] Vince Menzione: They would hook up your network and your printer. In the old days, they fix your, fix your computers. [00:05:42] Yes. Or replace re-image, all those things. Right? Yes. That was the old days. And, [00:05:46] Oguo Atuanya: and, and also provide some very manual services delivery, which will now play. In this new era that we are actually, I shouldn’t say going into, it’s taking all, [00:06:00] Vince Menzione: we’re, we’re there, [00:06:00] Oguo Atuanya: we’re there right now. So, um, you know, they, they, I guess the transformation from MSP to MIP others partners that would actually become managed intelligence providers. [00:06:14] That means really, you know, integrating intelligence into workflow that matters for the SMBs. Right. So you [00:06:23] Vince Menzione: so double click on that for, [00:06:25] Oguo Atuanya: for [00:06:25] Vince Menzione: our [00:06:26] Oguo Atuanya: viewers. Yeah. So all really means is that you’re moving from being that, you know [00:06:29] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:06:30] Oguo Atuanya: Technology, infrastructure, tools, provider to, you know, becoming an, an orchestrator and a and a and a business consultant. [00:06:38] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:06:38] Oguo Atuanya: Right. For you. SMB. Right. So important. ’cause you have to now get into, uh, very secure, streamlined automated AI driven workflows to help them. [00:06:52] Vince Menzione: All driven in the cloud. Everything’s in the cloud now, as opposed to the old days. Right. On premise. [00:06:58] Oguo Atuanya: All gone. None. That’s happening. It’s all gone. All gone. Yeah. [00:07:00] So you, you’ve got this automated platform right now. You should as, um, an MIP, um, we actually gonna be in a position to design, um, agent tech organizations for your, uh, SMBs who wanna scale. ’cause as we talked about yesterday, yeah. SMBs have opportunities they wanna grow, but not have the wherewithal to go hire a hundred people. [00:07:27] Instead of doing that, you go hire a hundred agents. Yeah, but you’re gonna need that MIP to architect, the organization, launch it for you, manage it, get you, you know, automated, you know, workflows that you’d leverage to run your company, and then they have to manage and optimize the technology. Um, as necessary. [00:07:49] So, so, huge shift. [00:07:50] Vince Menzione: Huge shift. [00:07:51] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:07:52] Vince Menzione: And it was interesting for me being at the, where you talked about the write of Boom conference that you, were you, your organization was there? Yeah, I was there as well and I was in the room with some of the Microsoft folks and we had some of those larger partners we talked about [00:08:07] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:08:08] Vince Menzione: That were in the room as well. And just, uh, different perspectives too. Like I hadn’t heard it firsthand. It was interesting for Microsoft too, to get that feedback from. From some of them as well. Um, I think, I think the ones that are progressive are already on board with you. I’ve, I’ve already talked to some of those organizations, like, oh, we’re a hundred percent Pax eight, that’s it. [00:08:29] But then some of the others I think are still, there are still people out there that are stuck in the past. Would you agree? Like this community is in the, is in a transition right now to this new model? [00:08:38] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:08:39] Vince Menzione: Tell [00:08:39] Oguo Atuanya: us [00:08:39] Vince Menzione: about that. [00:08:40] Oguo Atuanya: There are, I mean, listen, I, I don’t, you know, wanna put a number. You know what we’re seeing. [00:08:48] But I’d say that about eventually, let’s say we’re gonna have about 30% of folks that really get it and move. [00:08:56] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:08:56] Oguo Atuanya: Right. The others we’re gonna have to, [00:08:59] Vince Menzione: there’ll be the laggards that’ll [00:09:00] Oguo Atuanya: take longer and let me just, you know, sort of rephrase that state. Most of them understand, you know, what the opportunity is with this whole Yeah. [00:09:14] Vince Menzione: You [00:09:15] Oguo Atuanya: know. They’re still struggling with being able to, you know, articulate this story, um, from a value prop perspective, right? You know, go in, talk to the SMBs, help the SMBs understand how, you know, they can be more productive, more efficient, and um, ultimately more profitable and scale, um, with an agent, you know, framework. [00:09:44] They still struggle. Yeah. And, and that’s kind of where we come in, where we helping these SMB or sorry, MSPs and to be ips. [00:09:54] Vince Menzione: So tell us, understand that. Tell us what you’re doing. I believe you, you stood up like academies and things like that, right? You’re doing some outreach, some enablement for the community? [00:10:02] Is that what it is? [00:10:03] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah, we we’re heavy, we’re heavy in, um, enablement. Um, because, you know, everyone realizes that. To be successful with this whole campaign. It’s not just about putting agents up in an agent store, real, SMB, you know, native, um, vertical aware agents that actually, you know, when you deploy it in an SMB business, right, they drive value right away, [00:10:37] Vince Menzione: right? [00:10:38] Oguo Atuanya: Right. So, but we also realize that it’s not just about, you know, landing the agents in the marketplace, but enablement is a huge factor. That’s why when you go back to things, you know, like academy, uh, the MIP playbook, uh, some of the, uh, inculcation integrations we we’re doing with, um, partners, really critical to have that enablement layer. [00:11:04] Vince Menzione: Interesting. [00:11:04] Oguo Atuanya: Along with providing the agents and the, in the agents store. [00:11:07] Vince Menzione: Who’s developing these agents in the agent store? Are they providers for the MSP community? Are they organizations like Take, take us through that model. [00:11:17] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. So they, they, they, because [00:11:18] Vince Menzione: you, you manage all the vendors. [00:11:20] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah, I do. Right? [00:11:21] Vince Menzione: I do. So tell us more about that. [00:11:22] Oguo Atuanya: I do. So it’s, it’s multifold, right? Um, one fold is you have prebuilt solutions that you know vendors. [00:11:30] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:11:30] Oguo Atuanya: Built for, you know, SMBs and they’re directed towards SMBs. Then you also have a second category, uh, sorry, category of solutions that are more tools that MSBs use. [00:11:42] Right? But there’s also a third, um, prompt to this where we are orchestrating an integration of, um, um, IP between [00:11:54] Vince Menzione: interesting the [00:11:55] Oguo Atuanya: vendor department, uh, into providing, you know, solutions. That we can land in the, in the agent store. [00:12:03] Vince Menzione: That’s fascinating. So, yeah. So you have, so you have a standalone product or a standalone solution or agent. [00:12:10] You have the orchestration and then you have the customer tools and the tool. And the tools. [00:12:14] Oguo Atuanya: Yes. [00:12:15] Vince Menzione: Yes. That’s fascinating. [00:12:17] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. It’s um, it’s sort of a three flying approach that, um, the market needs, right? Yeah. And that, that’s key. By the way, Vince, when you know, um. You’re developing these agents and these solutions. [00:12:30] Yeah. Because they’re not, they’re not just tools anymore, right. Essentially it could be somebody’s, uh, FTE. [00:12:38] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:12:38] Oguo Atuanya: Right. So they have to address a specific outcome. They have to be, you know, uh, valuable. You have to show the ROI and for these SMBs. Don’t have a lot of wiggle room. [00:12:53] Vince Menzione: So you, that they’re smaller companies, right? [00:12:55] Yeah. So anything you do is gonna be super impactful. Yeah. It’s not something they can absorb necessarily, or, you know, lose time and money. [00:13:03] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:13:03] Vince Menzione: Uh, you’ve gotta be very sensitive to that in this, in this market, this size market. And even the MSPs are, even though there are some that are much larger, there’s still a lot of smaller MSPs out there. [00:13:14] Oguo Atuanya: And, and coming to the MIP playbook, um, what partners don’t need anymore. Um, it’s hype. [00:13:23] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:13:24] Oguo Atuanya: They need an almost curriculum driven approach, right. To landing this initiative and infrastructure and also managing it long term. Yeah. So that’s what the MIP playbook does. [00:13:39] Vince Menzione: So you were an executive at Microsoft. [00:13:41] You managed the channel partner. I, I would call the resellers and the disti. In fact, for the America’s business, I believe was your role. [00:13:49] Oguo Atuanya: I I did manage the large resellers. At [00:13:51] Vince Menzione: large resellers. So at one point, and you also had the Disti at one time? [00:13:54] Oguo Atuanya: At one point I had the Disti, the telco, the domain providers. [00:13:58] Vince Menzione: Yes. The large resellers. I remember when we first met, yes. I think that was when, [00:14:00] Oguo Atuanya: yes. [00:14:00] Vince Menzione: Yes. And so when you came, PAX eight is a very strong Microsoft partner. You were, again, I mentioned you were the launch partner or one of the launch partners for the marketplace. [00:14:09] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:14:09] Vince Menzione: But talk about the role and the relationship with Microsoft and the value that PAX eight provides for this market, uh, kind of layering between, uh, the Microsoft components and, and the SMB market. [00:14:24] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Does that [00:14:24] Vince Menzione: make sense? [00:14:25] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. So, so Microsoft has always been. Um, keen on the SMB segment, um, you know, Jose Gomez and Company in the Americas, and folks like, um, Alison West Hughes from a core perspective that, yeah, they’re very serious about this SMB segment. And, um, I’d say the key difference with Microsoft is Microsoft realized early. [00:14:56] Probably based on the fact that Microsoft’s always been a very strong channel friendly, [00:15:01] Vince Menzione: yes. [00:15:01] Oguo Atuanya: Oriented company. I realized earlier that you really can’t scale cost efficiently by having a direct SMB business, right? Right. You have to go through the channel. [00:15:14] Vince Menzione: They’re what, 160,000 MSPs or ips? [00:15:19] Oguo Atuanya: Um, for us at pax, [00:15:21] Vince Menzione: I think for the world. [00:15:22] Oguo Atuanya: Uh, yes. [00:15:22] Vince Menzione: Somewhere the world around there. The world, yeah. You would have to reach all those companies individually, which Yeah, you’d [00:15:27] Oguo Atuanya: have to, well, I mean, even then the, there’s the Ians of SMBs [00:15:31] Vince Menzione: Yes. In worldwide. Yes. That’s right. Right. At at the customer level. The pyramid is huge. You can’t, [00:15:35] Oguo Atuanya: you can’t really scale. [00:15:36] No, you can’t. You can only do that through the channel. [00:15:38] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:15:39] Oguo Atuanya: And, um, I think, I think the relationship between Microsoft and PAX has just. Strengthened over time because Microsoft sees, if we go back to that definition of a, you know, distributor versus a marketplace and a platform provider stuff. So we’re seeing the difference. [00:15:56] Yes. And the value add and, you know, the services led approach that packs it, you know, brings to, um, um, driving the SMB business. Yes. Um, you know, just that we have, we think PAX eight, we have a very strong relationship. And a very strong MSP ecosystem, which is critical when you sort of, you know, uh, look at that difference between just a regular reseller and an MSP. [00:16:26] Vince Menzione: Absolutely. [00:16:26] Oguo Atuanya: Right. Um, you just can’t, what we talked about earlier, just transact a solution and then walk away. It’s, it’s, uh, it’s, um, it, it’s, it’s really a sustainable end-to-end, you know, customer life cycle management approach. When you’re dealing with them. [00:16:44] Vince Menzione: I think it’s important here too, and, and again for the maturity model of our listeners and viewers, it might be at different levels of understanding about the, about the model. [00:16:53] But if you think about the model and the evolution, right, being the, from the old model of being, uh, hardware centric and maybe software centric, uh, the old days of what was a disti, which are not at disti anymore, but, um, the distis were there to provide credit. Availability of product. [00:17:12] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:17:12] Vince Menzione: And And delivery, basically. [00:17:14] Right? Yeah. That was it. [00:17:15] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:17:16] Vince Menzione: And that’s how that they were intermediaries on some of that. [00:17:19] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:17:20] Vince Menzione: But PAX eight evolved at a later time. [00:17:22] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:17:23] Vince Menzione: More modern time, I would say in the cloud. Yeah. [00:17:25] Oguo Atuanya: PAX eight. So one in the cloud, if you will. [00:17:28] Vince Menzione: And I think that’s maybe a differentiation and this new model that it also feels to like this MSP community has been coming along. [00:17:36] And I, I, I believe a lot of thought leadership from the PAX eight side. I’m speak, I’m speaking for you here, but in terms of some bold moves that the organization is doing. [00:17:46] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Listen. Um, as you know, I dealt or engaged with PAX eight for a while before joining PAX eight. [00:17:54] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:17:55] Oguo Atuanya: I’d engaged with p fact fact pxi, funnily enough was the first meeting I had, um, when I came back from the uk. [00:18:02] Vince Menzione: Is that [00:18:02] Oguo Atuanya: right? Yeah. During my stint running, um. Um, devices, uh, sales organization for Microsoft. The first meeting I had coming back into the Americas was so P Aid and Nick Hedy and, uh, Ryan Walsh and, oh, that’s so funny. Joke about it. By the way, Ryan Walsh all has a prep, uh, notes study, you know, he got ready for the media. [00:18:26] Vince Menzione: Oh, that is hilarious. I met Ryan. Uh, we were on stage together at a channel partners a couple years ago. [00:18:32] Can’t [00:18:32] Oguo Atuanya: miss his energy. [00:18:33] Vince Menzione: He can’t [00:18:33] Oguo Atuanya: miss his energy. [00:18:34] Vince Menzione: Such great energy. [00:18:35] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. But, but listen, I think if I could just sum it in a, you know, in a, um, a framework or a box. The key difference between PAC sales is we look at engaging with MSPs in SMB, um, from a customer lifecycle management. [00:18:57] So we start from, Hey, how do we help you with customer acquisition? When you do acquire the customers and you make that first licensing transaction, it doesn’t go away. That’s when we actually start, you know, thinking about how do we help, um, you ensure that your SMBs realize, um, value from what you sold them. [00:19:18] You know, if you need to expand, but, um, beyond one, you know, skew in the stack, that’s what you do because you understand the needs of USMB that helps drive consumption, you know? Nurture that through all, we start, you know, looking at, is it time for re sorry, renewal. There’s a team minus approach to renewal. [00:19:37] ’cause we also keep our eyes on churn. You can, you know, gain as much business as you can, but if you churn, it does nobody any good. Yeah. So we look at things end to end from our position to churn. And that really is embedded in the platform that sits underneath the marketplace. [00:19:53] Vince Menzione: And you act as the, well see, we’re gonna use technical terms here. [00:19:57] CSP. You’re the first layer of CSP and then they, they also, in many cases, sometimes they’re not, but in many cases they are the CSP to the customer. They’re providing the, the licenses to the customer. [00:20:10] Oguo Atuanya: Well, we, so we, we are the first tier of that, you know, two tier [00:20:14] Vince Menzione: Exactly. [00:20:15] Oguo Atuanya: Model. So we, we, [00:20:16] Vince Menzione: you’re tier one [00:20:17] Oguo Atuanya: Microsoft. [00:20:18] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:20:19] Oguo Atuanya: Right. We, you know, as an existing might press on an example, it could be one of our other vendors, like, you know, um, any of the 150 vendors we have. We engage with them, we enable the um, MSP, who’s the resell, who’s really in the traditional sense, the reseller layer, much more valuable in terms of what they do. [00:20:41] Vince Menzione: That’s right. [00:20:41] Oguo Atuanya: And then. The MSP engages with, uh, the end customer. So that’s kind of what the flow is. [00:20:47] Vince Menzione: Yep. Yeah. And that’s one component of what they do for the customer. The transaction is a one one and done sort of. [00:20:53] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:20:53] Vince Menzione: But then it’s all the managed services and layering Oh, provide on top of it. And then all the other solutions say 150 platforms. [00:21:00] Oguo Atuanya: Uh, 150 vendors. [00:21:01] Vince Menzione: Vendors, yeah. So hundreds of platforms that are available to the customer for [00:21:07] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:21:07] Vince Menzione: Through taxane. [00:21:08] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. But, but lemme just emphasize that especially. We are going actually where we are. Right. Um, again, it starts, it starts way to the left of the continuum than just driving the transaction. [00:21:23] Vince Menzione: So take us through the continuum then. [00:21:25] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah, that’s what I said earlier, the continuum is, you know, helping this, helping with [00:21:28] Vince Menzione: acquisition, customer acquisition, [00:21:30] Oguo Atuanya: even, you know, prior to that it’s, it’s helped. We’re getting to a point now where we’re helping these MSPs and they should all be able to do that during the MIP era. [00:21:38] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:21:39] Oguo Atuanya: Understand the market they’re playing it. Yeah. Understand, you know, the market, their SMBs are in, understand their verticals or their scenarios so that you can actually build, you know, this precision, outcome driven, you know, solutions. [00:21:52] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:21:52] Oguo Atuanya: Right. That, that’s the beginning and then you sell and acquire. [00:21:58] Right. And then once you acquire that business, uh, it’s always on, you know, situation. You’re helping realize value. ’cause if you don’t. You’re not expanding beyond the stock. Yes. And um, you’re not driving consumption. And if you don’t drive consumption, [00:22:14] Vince Menzione: you’re not making any money. You’re really not making, [00:22:16] Oguo Atuanya: it’s not churn. [00:22:16] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:22:17] Oguo Atuanya: Right. And then they have to keep an eye on, when renewals come about, there has to be a healthy T minus period. Right. Um, so ensure that you renew during renewals. Um, that’s actually when we then look at, Hey, what’s your stack look like? Right. Especially with the agent era, right? Do you have everything you need? [00:22:37] Do you have the processes? Is there governance? Is there enough security for your, um, SMB, right? So that’s kind of the tune up time before we renew, and then we help you renew and then retain so that it’s, it’s a, it’s a sort of lifecycle approach, not just transactional. [00:22:55] Vince Menzione: Oh, I, I hear. Talk and, you know, I talk to different people in the industry about the SMBs, the MSPs in the SM B market, uh, that some of these organizations are very much, they’re very technical. [00:23:07] Yeah. Like they’re technical folks. Sometimes they’re not sales folks or they’re not consulting type folks. Yes. So how do you help them overcome some of those challenges or those gaps? I mean, I know some of it’s through the academy. [00:23:19] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:23:19] Vince Menzione: Do you help them also with selecting like, how do they think about their organizational structure to have the right people in the right seats and those types of [00:23:26] Oguo Atuanya: things and that, that’s, that’s, [00:23:27] Vince Menzione: yeah. [00:23:27] Oguo Atuanya: All what the MIP playbook, that’s, and the process is all about Nice. It’s, it’s, Hey, how do we expand your horizon, you know, beyond just providing the technical aspect things, how do you understand the business? How do you go about conversations to discover, right, your, uh, SMB, right? And once you discover, how do you go about architecting, you know, a value framework that includes, you know, maybe looking at the organization and suggesting agents and then, you know, when you land them, right? [00:23:59] What’s the, um, optimization, you know, process beyond just landing them. So it’s, it’s helping them. [00:24:08] Vince Menzione: Make transit, become business [00:24:09] Oguo Atuanya: consultants. [00:24:09] Vince Menzione: Right, exactly. Which is what they need to do. [00:24:11] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. The, in this era, you really need to understand what your SMB is doing because, you know, think about it for the longest, this sort sub, you know, consultative approaches were only sort of reserved for enterprise. [00:24:26] Vince Menzione: Yeah, that’s right. [00:24:27] Oguo Atuanya: But when you look at how, you know, the solutions that we sell, I change, they’re really enterprise solutions now that are in SMB. Right. You have to sell that way. You have to engage that way. Right? So that, that’s, that’s a key differentiator between being an MSP and an MIP, bringing that intelligence into you applying, you know, an intelligent workflow to the way your SMB conduct that, sorry, conducts their business. [00:24:56] Vince Menzione: So tell, take me through, uh, what the ideal MMSP or MIP looks like to you. Like what is the. The, the top of the top and to the right. And then where do you see the challenges? Why do some organizations or, or, ’cause I’m sure there are some that struggle, whether it’s 10%, 20%. [00:25:14] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Yeah. [00:25:15] Vince Menzione: Because it’s, it’s, it’s a continuum. [00:25:16] It’s a, it’s a cycle to get from, from point A to point B for a lot of these organizations. Right? [00:25:21] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. So [00:25:21] Vince Menzione: what do you see from the challenges they need to overcome and, yeah, so, so the, [00:25:25] Oguo Atuanya: the, the optimal MSP looks like what we just described, right? Yeah. Right. You have an organization that thinks through the process that way, set up. [00:25:33] Right. [00:25:34] Vince Menzione: And they become an ongoing consultant. They help them through the process. They understand ai. Right. This is another thing too, right? Organizations, I mean, are struggling right now with their [00:25:43] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah, absolutely. [00:25:44] Vince Menzione: Their people. [00:25:45] Oguo Atuanya: It’s gotta be the baseline. [00:25:47] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:25:47] Oguo Atuanya: You know, these days, understanding ai, understanding the agent, you know, journey. [00:25:53] Uh, what works well is, um, you know, you, um, you know, you, you. You have to be able to design, um, land a scalable, secure, uh, environment, um, [00:26:13] Vince Menzione: secure. [00:26:16] Oguo Atuanya: So, so security is key here, [00:26:20] Vince Menzione: right? I keep thinking about Claude, what’s happened just in the last several weeks. Yeah. In our industry with people putting things up on, through, through open browsers. [00:26:28] Yeah. [00:26:29] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:26:29] Vince Menzione: To Claude and to. Different tools. [00:26:31] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Yeah. [00:26:32] Vince Menzione: And if you’re an SM B and you’re trying to lock down your environment’s, don’t want, that’s, you don’t want your data exposed. [00:26:37] Oguo Atuanya: That’s why security is [00:26:38] Vince Menzione: huge, [00:26:39] Oguo Atuanya: is key. But, you know, one of the things we recommend is start very specific. Uh, it could be a bundle that includes, you know, could be co-pilot, could be some other AI pillar. [00:26:52] Uh, and then it has to be, you know, a security layer. [00:26:57] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:26:58] Oguo Atuanya: Uh, to that. Then there has to be an enablement, you know, services layer to that as well, right? So, um, you build secure, um, you land, uh, and then skills develop key, right? And then monetization. You have to be able to hit those levels, uh, to be able to survive in this world. [00:27:22] You’re no longer just selling. Tools. [00:27:27] Vince Menzione: Yes. At margins, [00:27:30] Oguo Atuanya: flat margins. So the tool, the tool sprawl, um, is what takes a lot of margins away. [00:27:37] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:27:37] Oguo Atuanya: From the equation. [00:27:38] Vince Menzione: Right? Tell, tell us about that. ’cause I, I, I remember even back in my Microsoft days, yeah, we would go in and, and have partners that were successful that would say. [00:27:47] In fact, the ones that are most successful would basically tell the customer, you already own it. Like you have a, you have an enterprise agreement and it has all the capabilities you need to run your enterprise, and you’re buying all these other one-off solutions and trying to patch them into your, into your portfolio of your, your solution set. [00:28:04] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Nobody, nobody, especially in SB, nobody wants any more tools. [00:28:08] Vince Menzione: No, I can [00:28:09] Oguo Atuanya: imagine. Um, you, you’ve gotta sort of assemble this thing into a platform that works. [00:28:14] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:28:15] Oguo Atuanya: Right. And it’s gotta be repeatable. If it’s not repeatable, then you’re not driving the frequency. Right. It’s gotta be scalable. Um, ’cause if it’s scalable, then you’re going into, um, that kind of sprawl where people start thinking they need to replace gaps with more tools. [00:28:32] Yeah. Nobody needs. Right. [00:28:34] Vince Menzione: And that creates more vulnerability by putting [00:28:36] Oguo Atuanya: Absolutely. [00:28:37] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:28:37] Oguo Atuanya: Absolutely. Yeah. It’s [00:28:39] Vince Menzione: fascinating. So [00:28:40] Oguo Atuanya: it’s, it’s a different, um. Sort of engagement and I, I’m refraining from saying it to different kind of sell because the connotation of sell is you transact and you’re gone. It’s a full lifecycle engagement model. [00:28:56] Yeah. [00:28:56] Vince Menzione: I think what you’re doing is you’re enabling the evolution of this market. [00:29:01] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah, [00:29:01] Vince Menzione: that’s the way I would say it. [00:29:02] Oguo Atuanya: Well, that, that’s exactly what we’re trying to do with, um, the shift from MSP to MIP is. Um, we’re driving the transformation in SMB. [00:29:12] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:29:13] Oguo Atuanya: I, I mean, the ultimate goal is to get that MIP channel as intelligent or even more intelligent and agile than any enterprise IT department. [00:29:23] Yes. ’cause they are the, [00:29:24] Vince Menzione: they are ones, the enterprise IT department [00:29:26] Oguo Atuanya: for that customer. Yeah. The, the word trusted advisor is gonna take a very, you know, it’s [00:29:31] Vince Menzione: fascinating, [00:29:31] Oguo Atuanya: more serious connotation in this space. Because the SMBs are dependent on you as the MMIP for that. [00:29:39] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Let’s talk, we, we had a session on marketplace yesterday. [00:29:42] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:29:43] Vince Menzione: Um, you have been a great driver now through, especially through this new program, the new unified marketplace. [00:29:50] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:29:50] Vince Menzione: Uh, PAX eight is stood, stood above and beyond and doubled sales, I think is what I thought I heard. Take, take us through some of the, [00:29:58] Oguo Atuanya: well, I mean, uh, uh, a marketplace. Uh, marketplace sales has grown exponentially, [00:30:04] Vince Menzione: exponentially, [00:30:04] Oguo Atuanya: right? [00:30:05] Um, um, this partnership with Microsoft is really all about for the first time, um, integrating, you know, both the, uh, Microsoft, uh, marketplace and the P State marketplace into the MSP delivery, you know, system. Right? What does that mean for the MSP? It means that for the first time, the MSP is gonna have an ability to, um, you know, uh, bundle seamlessly or package seamlessly. [00:30:36] I know from a Microsoft Yeah. Package seamlessly. Um, you know, so Microsoft, uh, solutions and third party solutions that are complimentary again, to driving the outcomes that, you know, uh, the SMB needs. It’s really all about provisioning. Um, and, um, you know, building those solutions intelligently and, and dynamically, right? [00:31:05] Where it’s very scalable, right? So that, that’s sort of what the intelligence and the, the dexterity of our marketplace, uh, does. Right? So, so it’s, it’s, it’s creating, you know, um, provisioning, building, uh, transacting. Then really managing in a very automated fashion. Right. So that’s what the MSP gets. Yes. [00:31:32] The vendor, like Microsoft and other vendors remove the guesswork from, is this actually gonna hit the mark for, uh, SMBs? ’cause we do that curation through the discovery when we, you know, integrate marketplaces. Make sure that those solutions, those agents that land in the marketplace are SMB applicable. [00:31:57] ’cause the other thing we, we, we see in the marketplace, and I’m using the general marketplace is, um, a lot of companies will tell you that they have SMB solutions or agents. Yes, in the marketplace. And then you go into the marketplace and these are really enterprise, enterprise [00:32:14] Vince Menzione: solutions. Solutions that are [00:32:15] Oguo Atuanya: being forced down into SMB. [00:32:18] Well, you can’t do that these days ’cause you have to hit that, you know, customer, um, precision when you’re driving, you know, outcome based solutions. You have to be precise. [00:32:29] Vince Menzione: What is, what is the curation process for? Um, I’m an SMB customer. I come to the MSP. And you help at your marketplace level, it sounds like you help design what the right solution is. [00:32:42] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Yeah. [00:32:42] Vince Menzione: So what, tell, take us through that process real quick. [00:32:45] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. So, um, you know, we have a set of folks internally. Along with our PXI labs people. [00:32:52] Vince Menzione: Okay. [00:32:53] Oguo Atuanya: When we’re actually intaking, you know? So [00:32:56] Vince Menzione: you’re using AI as well on that side of Yeah. We use AI Doing your discovery process for the customers. Yes. [00:33:02] Using [00:33:02] Oguo Atuanya: AI as well. It, it uses ai, the rules that are being written into it, you know, [00:33:06] Vince Menzione: it [00:33:06] Oguo Atuanya: processes, Hey, it’s gotta be applicable from an SMB perspective. Right. This [00:33:10] Vince Menzione: is very cool. [00:33:11] Oguo Atuanya: Right. So, um, you know, we, we do that, we ensure that it’s, um. It’s applicable. There’s no guesswork. Right. Then we put it on the, um, on the agent store. [00:33:22] Right. And then, um, you know, we help the, uh, uh, MSPs, um, architect and fit solutions around the agents, you know, for very specific outcomes. That’s, uh, so it’s, [00:33:36] Vince Menzione: this is fascinating. [00:33:37] Oguo Atuanya: It’s a very curated process. [00:33:39] Vince Menzione: Yeah. So for, um, the market, the MSP market or MIP market that are watching and listening today, and maybe they’re not with PAX eight yet. [00:33:49] Like what would, what would be the, the, I mean you’ve already described what the differentiation Yeah. Just, I’m just thinking out loud here. Like what would you say to them today, especially as this market is changing, not your market, but the, just the technology sector, the, the shifts are happening so fast right now. [00:34:07] What would be the. I guess the one piece of advice you would give to this community of technology companies out there that they should think about for 10 26. [00:34:18] Oguo Atuanya: It’s, it’s really refrain from Yeah. Selling just tools and infrastructure. Yeah. [00:34:30] Vince Menzione: Which is the way a lot of them have been structured. That’s right. [00:34:32] They’ve done right. [00:34:33] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. Think about [00:34:34] Vince Menzione: they’ve gone down a road with a vendor because they got great margins for some reason. [00:34:37] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. So understand your customer, the space they’re playing and how you can build, you know, solutions, uh, for them. Be specific vis-a-vis the solutions that you’re building. Right. [00:34:50] Again, um. I was having a conversation yesterday with Nina Hard, and we’re talking about the high heat of, uh, traffic verticals, right? Yeah. Uh, you know, things like healthcare, uh, things like financial services, right? Be very specific in the solutions that you’re building, right? Don’t experiment too much land on what an applicable solution is. [00:35:18] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Predictable [00:35:18] Oguo Atuanya: solution. Make it repeatable, make it. Scalable. Emphasize on the upscale and enablement right, and focus on the monetization. Understand exactly how you’re gonna articulate the value add and the ROI. To [00:35:40] Vince Menzione: To the customer. [00:35:41] Oguo Atuanya: The SMB. [00:35:41] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:35:42] Oguo Atuanya: Because that’s where a lot of folks struggle, right. They still cannot do all that, [00:35:47] Vince Menzione: and they get stuck on the cost to the customer. [00:35:50] They get hung up, I guess, is what I would say. Right. They don’t, they don’t articulate the value enough. [00:35:55] Oguo Atuanya: Well, they’re not selling outcomes. [00:35:57] Vince Menzione: They’re not selling outcomes. They’re selling, [00:35:58] Oguo Atuanya: they’re trying to piece together tools. [00:36:00] Vince Menzione: Hot [00:36:00] Oguo Atuanya: and hot [00:36:01] Vince Menzione: tools, [00:36:01] Oguo Atuanya: spot applications. [00:36:02] Vince Menzione: Tools, tools is the best way to [00:36:03] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:36:04] Vince Menzione: To describe it [00:36:04] Oguo Atuanya: to [00:36:05] Vince Menzione: the [00:36:05] Oguo Atuanya: company and all else spills come to Pax it. [00:36:07] Yes. Teach you how to do it. [00:36:09] Vince Menzione: Well, I, I’m fascinated to join you in June at Beyond. [00:36:13] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:36:13] Vince Menzione: Um, same [00:36:15] Oguo Atuanya: here. [00:36:15] Vince Menzione: So dates again. [00:36:18] Oguo Atuanya: Vincent, you put me, I think it’s, uh, June 7th to the ninth. [00:36:21] Vince Menzione: June 7th to the ninth. [00:36:22] Oguo Atuanya: And this is, uh, in Salt Lake City. In Salt Lake City [00:36:25] Vince Menzione: this [00:36:25] Oguo Atuanya: year. [00:36:25] Vince Menzione: Salt [00:36:25] Oguo Atuanya: Lake [00:36:26] Vince Menzione: year. Yeah. You had it, you had it in a different in Colorado last year [00:36:28] Oguo Atuanya: we had it in Denver. [00:36:29] So this is actually, this is actually, um, this is [00:36:32] Vince Menzione: your hometown, [00:36:33] Oguo Atuanya: the company. Yeah. This is, this is the mainstream. Beyond. So [00:36:36] Vince Menzione: I love [00:36:37] Oguo Atuanya: it. This is a big event. [00:36:38] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:36:38] Oguo Atuanya: Right. ’cause we also have regional events. [00:36:40] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Like four or 5,000 people. I think last year [00:36:43] Oguo Atuanya: it was right around three to 4,000. Three to 4,000 last year. [00:36:45] I think we’re gonna get, you know, more than that. Yeah. In, in, uh, salt Lake City. Then of course we have, um, a regional beyond. We just had the Em me version in, um, Berlin. Um. Netherlands, [00:36:56] Vince Menzione: Netherlands [00:36:57] Oguo Atuanya: after that. [00:36:57] Vince Menzione: But you did Berlin last year? We [00:36:59] Oguo Atuanya: did Berlin. Berlin last I knew years ago. Next year we’ll be in, uh, uh, Copenhagen. [00:37:03] Vince Menzione: Okay. [00:37:03] Oguo Atuanya: And then we’ll also have, um, uh, Asia version. Nice. Uh, in 27 [00:37:08] Vince Menzione: Milano. Maybe the year after would be good. [00:37:11] Oguo Atuanya: We, we, we need to arrange, I’ll work with, um, uh, you know, uh, MCEO. Harold. [00:37:16] Vince Menzione: I love it. I love it. [00:37:17] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. [00:37:17] Vince Menzione: Um. I would, uh, so I have one question. I might’ve asked you this question before, but I would love to just ask you now. [00:37:24] ’cause times have changed. Our lives change, but this is my favorite question. I ask all my guests, especially all my good friends like you, you’re hosting a dinner party and you can host a dinner party anywhere in the world. It might be here, it might be in Houston, it might be in Kenya, it might be anywhere. [00:37:41] We maybe, maybe it’s in EMEA or AsiaPac. Um. You can invite any three guests from the present or the past to this amazing dinner, whom would you invite? A guo and why? [00:37:55] Oguo Atuanya: So this one always gets me because [00:37:58] Vince Menzione: I love that. [00:37:59] Oguo Atuanya: Yeah. So, you know, you and I have talked before, right? So there’s a standing, uh, invitation for my mom, you know, who know? [00:38:05] Love that. Yes. Swear a while ago. [00:38:07] Vince Menzione: Yes. Yes. [00:38:07] Oguo Atuanya: And then, you know, my sister also who [00:38:09] Vince Menzione: passed [00:38:10] Oguo Atuanya: away, passed away in May [00:38:10] Vince Menzione: last year. [00:38:11] Oguo Atuanya: So I’d love to have this tea because, you know. [00:38:14] Vince Menzione: Some great conversations. We’ll see how [00:38:15] Oguo Atuanya: he’s doing and, you know, and check [00:38:17] Vince Menzione: in with [00:38:17] Oguo Atuanya: how, how, how things, um, are going and now Wow. This third one, [00:38:24] Vince Menzione: who’s the third one? [00:38:26] Oguo Atuanya: This third [00:38:26] Vince Menzione: one is, he talked about your son a little bit the last couple of days. Yeah. Days. But I don’t think, [00:38:30] Oguo Atuanya: I don’t think he’s, he wants to be bored. [00:38:33] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:38:33] Oguo Atuanya: Having, having, um, a dinner with you [00:38:35] Vince Menzione: and you’ll be there. So now we need to ask add one more [00:38:38] Oguo Atuanya: person. Yeah. We need to add one more person. I’m thinking about that. [00:38:42] MSB. Who’s become an MIPI [00:38:46] Vince Menzione: love it. [00:38:47] Oguo Atuanya: I [00:38:47] Vince Menzione: would [00:38:47] Oguo Atuanya: love to have him at the, or her at the table. [00:38:50] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:38:51] Oguo Atuanya: And, and talk about what that journey was like. [00:38:53] Vince Menzione: I love it. I love it. Well, that’ll be a fun dinner and I might come by and bring dessert or something. [00:38:58] Oguo Atuanya: You, [00:38:58] Vince Menzione: you, you, [00:38:59] Oguo Atuanya: you’re [00:38:59] Vince Menzione: always maybe just stop by and say, [00:39:00] Oguo Atuanya: you’re always welcome. [00:39:01] Vince Menzione: I’d love to meet your mom and your sister. So [00:39:03] Oguo Atuanya: thank you Vince. [00:39:04] Vince Menzione: Um, you are a great friend. I’m so excited to have you here in the room. Your organization is doing incredible things and we love having you as part of ultimate partner in our community. So, so great to see you again, my friend. [00:39:18] Oguo Atuanya: Appreciate it, Vince. [00:39:19] It’s always a, a pleasure being here with you and seeing you and, uh, I can’t wait to see you beyond. [00:39:24] Vince Menzione: I love [00:39:24] Oguo Atuanya: it folks out there. It’s selling out. So [00:39:26] Vince Menzione: babe, [00:39:27] Oguo Atuanya: get our, [00:39:27] Vince Menzione: get your tickets [00:39:28] Oguo Atuanya: soon. June 7th to ninth. It’s, uh, the biggest show in the MSU [00:39:31] Vince Menzione: world. It’s the biggest show. And then we, uh, is also gonna participate, I believe, at our, at our Bellevue event, Bellview Forum, which will be an incredible event. [00:39:39] Yeah. And May 13th, May 11th, through the 13th. I want to thank you for watching. I wanna thank you for listening to this episode of The Ultimate Eye, to partnering and following our YouTube channel, ultimate Partner, and for being part of our community at Ultimate Partner. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. [00:39:55] Thank you. Don’t forget, ultimate Partner Live is coming soon, may 11 through the 13th in beautiful Bellevue, Washington. I hope to see you there.
We returned after a week off and the addition of Cora Couch to the Couch and The Rube family, digging into our takes and yours — on MSU basketball and the center position, MSU football after the spring game, the Pistons after Game 1, the Tigers and becoming a dad.
GymCastic Live: Featuring Chae Campbell at NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS (APRIL 17) — in person and streaming tickets are limited → Get tickets here CHAPTERS 00:00 – Cold Open: Etsy Witch & Breaking the Curse 00:36 – Live Show Announcement + ChaeCampbell Guest 02:17 – Headlines: Fisk Documentary + HBCU Impact 02:55 – Black Monday Coaching Updates (BYU, Utah, MSU) 04:48 – Kerri Strug Biopic Drama + Casting Fallout 06:30 – NCAA Nationals Format Explained (Semis + Finals) 08:38 – What "Winning" Actually Means at Nationals 11:26 – Florida: No More Excuses (Title or Bust) 14:34 – The Etsy Witch Ritual Explained 18:23 – Oklahoma: Why They'll Probably Win Again 22:00 – LSU: Contender or Chaos Candidate? 26:51 – UCLA: Jordan Chiles + Floor Magic Factor 32:22 – Georgia: The Ultimate Spoiler Team 36:31 – Stanford: Cinderella with Real Upside 40:49 – Arkansas: Program History Already Made 42:21 – Minnesota: The Surprise Team That Delivered 45:31 – Individual Title Contenders (AA, Events) 47:52 – Dark Horse: Avery Neff for All-Around Title? 53:15 – Event Finals Breakdown (Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor) 01:02:05 – Judging Accountability Crisis 01:07:01 – NCAA Response + Lack of Transparency 01:10:04 – Why Oversight Matters (Big Picture) 01:12:37 – Listener Question: Bracket Draw Fairness HEADLINES More NCAA coaching changes BYU parts ways with long-time head coach Guard Young Michigan State and Utah both extend contracts to current head coaches The Kerri Strug biopic is dead after Millie Bobby Brown left the project due to creative differences with the producers Check out the new BET documentary series, "Flipped," following Fisk Gymnastics NCAA Nationals: The Crystal Brawl What does the schedule look like? Thursday, April 16: semifinals Friday, April 17: Live show Saturday, April 18: Finals What does victory look like? What teams are expected to win? What teams have already achieved a victory by getting to Nationals? Group 1: The Championship Title Picks No pressure, but Florida, you should win Oklahoma, are you really going to let people who aren't even on their highest toe beat you?? Group 2: Wildcards Can LSU lock in again after last year's disappointing semifinal elimination? Why UCLA could win the title Group 3: Spoiler teams The pressure of the death of Georgia gymnastics is off. What can Georgia do at its first Nationals run since 2019? Stanford is out here making its second Nationals appearence in the last decade Group 4: The Nothing to Lose Group This is already going to be a top 4 result in team history for Arkansas Minnesota already busted your bracket at Regionals, what more can they do here? Judging Accountability Crisis Greg Marsden's comments about our NCAA Judging episode How are judges chosen for NCAAs? UP NEXT Listen to post-Regionals College & Cocktails with Reema Behind The Scenes starts up again after NCAA Championships NCAA Episodes: After Day One of NCAA Championships at 9pm CT GymCastic Live Featuring Chae Campbell 7pm CT, Friday April 17th After NCAA Finals Saturday SUPPORT OUR WORK Club Gym Nerd: Join Here Merch: Shop Now Fantasy: 2026 College Fantasy Game now open with weekly winners Games Podcast Tour Tickets Newsletters The Balance Beam Situation: Spencer's GIF Code of Points Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim Resistance Resources
Marc Ryan (in for Valenti) and Rico began today's show with a debate regarding whether the fan who caught Kevin McGonigle's first home run ball should have given it back. They were joined by MSU football head coach Pat Fitzgerald in the first hour before diving into some Red Wings talk in the second hour. The guys reacted to some comments from Brad Holmes about the Lions' draft plans and then returned to the McGonigle ball discussion in the final hour.
Tiger Woods DUI, Eli Zaret joins us as Michigan heads to the Final Four, Savannah Guthrie speaks, Thomas Markle finds love, OnlyFans creator regret, and the end of JFK Jr. & Carolyn Bessette. Eli Zaret joins the show to highlight Michigan's Elite Eight victory over Tennessee, MSU's loss to UConn, the mighty Detroit Pistons, the Detroit Red Wings in free fall, hit on Tiger Woods' latest DUI, the biggest blunders in sports history, the Detroit Tigers are BACK, Eli vs tattoos and much more. Tiger Woods crashed his car for the fourth time. We revisit the DUIs of the past and ruined Thanksgivings. Savannah Guthrie opened up to Hoda Kotb about the kidnapping of her mother. Carson Daly is boring. Jason Benetti was interviewed and reveals he loves boring Carson Daly. Corey Feldman has entered the Dabbleverse. He wants to take out Hackamania. He's miffed he was excluded from the Rob Reiner tribute at the Academy Awards. Stuttering John Melendez broke his arm and was recently called out by a former manager. Love Story wrapped up and we now know how peaceful JFK Jr., Carolyn, and Lauren Bessette died. Markleverse: Thomas Markle got himself a broad 35 years younger. Nice. Prince Harry, meanwhile, is using his children as a bargaining chip. Meghan Markle is looking for a new nanny… yet again. Meghan is looking to get back into acting. Is Meghan a yacht girl or what? Nobody wants to watch a show on Polo. Chris Brown does not want to pay Kevin McCall. Kanye West has a new music video out… directed by Bianca Censori. Thirst Traps: Kylie Jenner. Sydney Sweeney. Megan Fox. One of these is not like the other. Clavicular is in trouble and never been hotter. Elon Musk got hair plugs so he can have a stupid haircut. Chicago is having a problem with Teen Takeovers. We find some gross OnlyFans models who have a bit of regret. No Kings Rallies were all the rage this weekend. Rep. Pramila Jayapal wants reparations for those affected by ICE. TMZ is going hard on politicians and their vacations. Spencer Torkelson is a big fan of Teebs. Us too. Sherrone Moore's crying cop cam has been released. Merch remains available. Buy it before it's gone or miss out. If you'd like to help support the show… consider subscribing to our YouTube Channel, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (Drew Lane, Marc Fellhauer, Trudi Daniels, Jim Bentley and BranDon)
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