Introduce yourself John, tell us a little about your career before becoming a Managing Partner at Accelerate Partners?
I was fortunate enough to have operating roles at RFA and Thrive, leading MSP & MSSPs. It is amazing how much has evolved in the last 5-10 years regarding cloud services, platform disrupters such as M365 and cybersecurity solutions. While at RFA I helped bring to market their MDR platform and saw an MSP evolve into an MSSP. These perspectives and experiences have aided me when speaking with our clients in helping them drive strategy and make technology buying decisions.
” I feel that technology makes a significant impact to businesses,
and it was perfect timing to join JP at Accelerate Partners”.
What led you to Accelerate Partners?
As an independent agnostic technology advisory firm, we remain unbiased towards specific technologies and suppliers. This unique opportunity allows us to work with cutting-edge technologies in cybersecurity, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and more.
The agnostic technology advisory sector is experiencing rapid growth as businesses seek expert guidance in navigating the complex tech landscape. This growth provides abundant opportunities to collaborate with SMB to upper middle market firms and their technology teams, offering expert advice on technology purchasing decisions. I save them time to market in representing them in sourcing the right solutions and service providers based on our deep bench of trusted partners.
I believe that JP Panzica’s leadership is a perfect fit for Accelerate Partners. With his extensive experience in the technology industry and a proven track record of successful ventures, he instills a visionary direction within the company. His deep connections and expertise in the it MSP/MSSP space create an attractive platform for former operating executives like myself.
Tell us about your first six to nine months at Accelerate Partners.
Making the transition from sales leadership roles where I needed to drive revenue to an advisor was a big change. There was a sense of the unknown being an entrepreneur and building a business. I have strong confidence in my background and knowledge base but did not realize how big the need for our services would be.
Instantly I was astonished at how many clients, projects and opportunities were being managed by a small consulting company. I was able to immediately jump in and manage several firms to find new managed service providers. One thing was for sure, there was no shortage of opportunities which got me fired up to find my own!
It’s honestly been a blur, from consulting with top private equity firms, bringing on new hedge funds and asset managers, it takes a while to re-kindle your network, but I can clearly see the outcome and it makes me excited.
What are you most excited about going forward?
I spent half my career at banking intuitions such as UBS and Morgan Stanley working with financial services firms specifically private equity, hedge funds & asset management firms. I feel they are looking for a fresh perspective of what version 2.0 looks like for their firms. They want to know what the latest technologies and trends are.
I am extremely excited about our private equity operating advisory practice working directly with general and operating partners. I can appreciate the lens PE Firms look at technology, but I feel strongly they need to build into their Investment thesis and exit strategy how technology can make a significant impact to their firm and their operating partners. but most of all I’m most excited to grow with Accelerate and serve as a trust advisors to our clients.
