LegUp '23 wrap-up

Wow - what a ride! LegUp '23 was an information-packed fun fest with great industry-leading speakers, some big platform announcements, and so much more! 

The day opened with a Keynote from Colin Knox, CEO & Co-Founder of Gradient MSP. After highlighting the state of Gradient and the Channel as a whole, he moved on to a slate of big announcements, including two new integration partners (coming soon): CyberDrain and Keeper.

16 new Direct Integrations launched

June 1 marks the launch of 16 new direct integrations for Billing, dramatically expanding the opportunity for MSPs to reconcile their tech stack on the Synthesize platform. Check out the list of top vendors we now integrate with:

Synthesize Integration Marketplace unveiled

The launch of new integrations, combined with the availability of our new SDK, supported the announcement of the new Synthesize Integration Marketplace (launching soon). Integration authors can create a custom integration with our API. After submitting, it is validated and tested by Gradient, and then any partner can purchase and use it in a few simple steps.

Interested in pre-registering as an integration author? Fill out the form.

Ryan Barker, CXO & Co-Founder and Rick Stern, Product Director, added detail to Colin's announcements, outlining not only how the Integration Marketplace will work but also highlighting recent platform upgrades - including a new feature, released in conjunction with LegUp '23 - multi-user functionality. Details about earlier enhancements can be found here:

• CSV import enhancements
• List view
• Self-hosted Custom Integrations
• Usability enhancements (hello, dark mode!)
• Filtering

Speakers

We welcomed a variety of speakers to the virtual stage who shared insight and opportunities with the audience:

Special sessions

• Hosted by Matt Solomon of Channel Program, these rapid-fire pitches from our sponsors moved fast and furious (each was only about 30 seconds long). 
• Focus Investment Banking (MSP Team) hosted the M&A Speed Networking session that saw MSPs interested in buying, selling, and learning more about the process meet and network.
• MSP Partner panel was hosted by Bryan Chapman, Gradient Manager of Partner Success, who was joined by Kelvin Tegelaar, CTO of Lime Networks and CEO at CyberDrain; Mikey O'Toole, Managing Director at MJCO; and Mauro Cretari, Regional Partner at CIO Landing, who spoke about Custom Integrations on Synthesize.

Featured speakers

• Michelle Accardi, CEO at Liongard, spoke about building and scaling a highly successful MSP and shared insight on the value of a blue ocean strategy.
• Don Jeter, CMO of Torq, spoke about his experiences in building a brand that people identify with emotionally.
• Jay McBain, Chief Analyst at Canalys, spoke about the power of an open ecosystem and shared trends and insights about the channel.

Boss sponsor speakers

• Jim Buchenberger, Director of Sales at Breach Secure Now spoke about human security and how you can build "superhuman firewalls" in your organization.
• Jimmy Hatzell, VP of Revenue at CyberQP, demonstrated ChatGPT security hacks live from the stage.
• Justin Weller, Director of Business Development and Blackpoint Cyber, made the case for business training as well as technical expertise within MSPs.
• Aharon Chernin, Founder & CEO at Rewst, spoke about automation creation and adoption and used just the right amount of bird puns.

Watch a recap of the day's events below.

Prizes

We concluded the event with awards and prizes!

Award winners

The Partner Awards were selected by Gradient, while the event-specific awards were voted on by attendees directly.

Prize winners

The event ended with the announcement of the $2,000 USD Grand Prize winner, as well as the awarding of gift card winners who'd participated in the Gamification competition.

• Grand Prize winner: Dan Le, Red Cup IT
• $100 gift card winner: Yuri Mendoza
  
• $100 gift card winner: Paul Bowman
• $100 gift card winner: Mikey O'Toole

Thanks to everyone who attended or presented at LegUp '23 - watch for your opportunity to pre-register for LegUp '24!