Moving the Needle: How Small Decisions Create Big Business Value

By Aaron Mahl, EVP of Business Development, iTValuations

What does it really take to move the needle in your business?

That’s the question we posed in our recent webinar, The Business of Running a Business, where I had the pleasure of hosting two seasoned leaders: Reed Warren, CEO of iTValuations, and Larry Cobrin, Founder of MSPCFO. What followed was a candid, story-rich discussion on what it means to run and scale a business with clarity, strategy, and measurable results.

Here are a few key takeaways for MSP owners and operators looking to create long-term value in their business:

1. Small Changes Can Lead to Big Impact

Both Reed and Larry emphasized that business transformation doesn’t come from silver bullets – it comes from stacking small, intentional decisions over time.

Larry shared how MSPs can often unlock major value by fixing just 3–5 problematic clients. These may be underpriced, overutilizing, or misaligned with your service model — but once you know where the inefficiencies are, you can course-correct and reclaim profitability. In one case, a client increased their effective hourly rate by $6/month over 18 months. Small gains, applied consistently, add up.

Likewise, Reed walked through how improving just two variables, growth rate and profit margin, by 2% annually can result in a 50% increase in business value over five years. But that kind of outcome only happens with clarity, persistence, and commitment.

2. You Can’t Fix What You Don’t See

One major theme? Flying blind is a luxury no business can afford.

Whether it’s labor efficiency, contract profitability, or the cash conversion cycle, most owners think they have a handle on their numbers, until they realize how much insight they’re missing. At iTValuations, we often find $50K to $400K of value trapped in a business simply by analyzing cash flow timing.

Larry added that most owners know they’re falling short of their goals, but they don’t know why. Tools like MSPCFO help uncover which clients are dragging margins down, or which processes are leaking time and resources. As Larry put it, “You need to know what stone to turn over.”

3. Letting Go Is Hard — But Essential

Both guests were refreshingly honest about their own challenges scaling their businesses.

Larry admitted that one of his biggest struggles was giving up control, from client meetings to peer group presentations, even though letting go often led to better results (as proven by improved feedback scores after he stepped back).

Reed echoed this journey: transitioning from a founder doing “everything” to a CEO building the team that builds the thing. That meant not only training others to do the work but accepting that they might do it differently and often better.

The hard truth? Scaling a business means shifting from being the expert to becoming the enabler.

4. If You’re 5 Years from Exit, You’re Already Late

Everyone says they’re “five years away” from selling. But if you’re within five years, the time to get ready is now.

Both Larry and Reed emphasized the importance of thinking like a buyer. That means clean books, documented contracts, minimal client concentration, and a story that instills confidence, not uncertainty.

Reed said it best: “You are too close to your business to evaluate it objectively.” That’s why he recommends third-party advisors even for his own eventual exit to bring outside perspective and identify blind spots. You don’t want to find out mid-transaction that your company isn’t as ready as you thought.

5. Decisive Leadership Wins

Finally, we touched on a characteristic that separates successful leaders from the rest: decisiveness. Good leaders make decisions quickly and reverse them just as quickly when needed. Indecision is expensive, but ego is worse. The ability to admit mistakes and course-correct is a hallmark of leaders who build scalable, valuable companies.

Ready to Move the Needle in Your Business?

At iTValuations, we help MSPs and IT service companies assess where they are, define where they want to go, and design a roadmap to get there whether that means building, buying, or preparing for a successful sale.

If you missed the live session, you can watch the full webinar replay here.

And if you’re wondering where to start, schedule a conversation with our team to talk about your business goals, and how to make them a reality.