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MSPs spend too much time talking to other MSPs and not enough time talking to the people they’re supposed to serve.
That’s Paul Croker’s view of some of the channel’s biggest growth problems.
While most industry events bring technology professionals together, they rarely put them in the same room as the business leaders making strategic decisions.
Paul believes that gap is costing MSPs opportunities. As founder of The Hii Community, his mission is to change that.
The Conversations that Never Happen
Paul Croker started the Hii Community due to a simple observation.
If you go to a cybersecurity event like Infosec, you’ll find plenty of cyber and IT professionals.
What you won’t necessarily find are many CEOs, managing directors, finance directors, or business leaders. Yet those are often the people we’re ultimately trying to engage with.
While attending both technology and business-focused events, Paul noticed this communication gap.
The people delivering technology solutions and those making strategic business decisions rarely share the same room. “The conversations are very fragmented.”
The Hii Community brings those conversations together. Hii events are a place where
Tech professionals can develop the soft skills needed to communicate effectively with business leaders, discuss challenges openly, and learn from one another in a safe environment.
Breaking the Echo Chamber
Paul says one of the most overlooked skills in the channel is the ability to build meaningful relationships.
While technical expertise is essential, growth also depends on understanding business priorities, earning trust, and communicating effectively.
All these are skills that an MSP won’t develop through certifications alone. They come from conversations, shared experiences, and exposure to different perspectives.
Paul Croker’s Hii Community creates the space where that growth happens.
“People come from different walks of life,” he explains.
Within a single Hii event, attendees might include MSP leaders, enterprise IT professionals, university academics, telecoms specialists, cybersecurity practitioners, and business owners.
People bring different experiences and perspectives.
My background is in large enterprise environments and aerospace. Others have spent years working in MSPs. Some come from vendor organisations.
That diversity creates something valuable: the ability to challenge assumptions. Bringing all those experiences together breaks down the echo chambers.
In Paul’s own words, “That’s where the magic happens.”
Participants gain exposure to experiences and ideas they might never hear within their own organisations.
For MSPs, this means stronger client conversations, a better understanding of business challenges, and deeper customer relationships.
An MSPs’ Hub of Innovation and Ideas
The reason why Hii is spelled with two “i”s is that it stands for “Hub of Innovation and Ideas.”
The Hii Community is based on three pillars:
- Hii-Tech, which focuses on technology.
- Hii-Business, right now evolving into separate streams for startups, scale-ups, and established organisations.
- Hii-Cyber & Data, which focuses on cybersecurity and data governance.
Shifting Away from Traditional Networking
The events at the Hii Community follow a simple principle: no pitching and no selling.
Croker believes this is essential for creating genuine connections.
People know they won’t be pressured into a demo, a sales conversation, or handing over their contact details.
They can relax and focus on having genuine conversations.
Attendees are not expected to sit through product demonstrations or sales presentations. Instead, they are encouraged to share experiences, discuss challenges, and learn from one another.
Croker believes relationships aren’t built in a single interaction.
I try to engage with everybody that comes along beforehand, during, and after an event.
We want to be warm and welcoming and bring everybody in because, after all, it’s a community and there’s a seat here for everybody. There really is.
This approach makes it easier for newcomers to connect with others and share their experiences.
Does It Work? The Proof Is in the Pudding
Joining an industry event can feel like a step into the unknown.
New attendees arrive unsure what to expect. Others are wary of traditional networking and the sales-heavy conversations that usually arise.
Paul Croker says at Hii events that uncertainty rarely lasts long.
We’re getting some really good feedback from some of the regulars that come along. They weren’t quite sure what to make of it, what was going to be like. But they stepped outside that comfort zone and were really pleased that they have because they’ve learned an awful lot.
For him, that’s the strongest validation of the community’s purpose.
Community Supports More Than Business
Another project Paul is involved in is 404 Stress Not Found.
The initiative focuses on mental health and resilience across the technology sector, supporting everyone from MSP engineers and cybersecurity professionals to business owners and sales teams.
Paul thinks:
We are all at risk, around mental health and it can take out the strongest of us at any moment in time. We get those perfect storms where on the outside it looks like we’re all okay, but we’ve got personal stuff happening or work stuff happening or a bit of both happening. It can really sidetrack us.
404 Stress Not Found appeared after Paul shared his own experiences during a conference presentation.
What followed surprised him.
People approached him afterwards to discuss their own struggles or the challenges faced by colleagues, friends, and family members.
I probably had about 17-20 people come up to me, shake my hand, acknowledge being courageous and coming out and sharing something that makes you quite vulnerable.
Many shared the same concern: there were not enough spaces where these conversations could happen openly.
404 Stress Not Found was created to address that gap.
That got me thinking. I need to create a space with a community mindset where we can collaborate, come together, share ideas, share best practices and just basically be a bit of a buddy system, helping each other.
Although the initiative is not a clinical support service, it created a community where people can connect, share experiences, and support one another when things get rough.
Like Hii, it is founded on the belief that being heard, understood, and connected to others can help us face complex challenges.
The Same Mission, Different Platforms
Hii and 404 are not the only places where Croker is trying to bring people together.
He’s been with GTIA, formerly CompTIA, for about four years.
His peers voted him into the UK and Ireland Executive Council. Also, at this moment, he’s the only non-American on the Global Cyber Security Council.
On top of that, Paul hosts a series of podcasts designed to share knowledge across the industry.
His topics range from conversations with vendors and MSPs to interviews with entrepreneurs, athletes like Jaz Carling, and other people with unique experiences.
Paul’s podcast comes in three different flavors:
We have the Vendor Blender where we talk to vendors and strip back all the fluff and the noise. What is it you do? How do you solve things?
We have Business Insights which is where I come across interesting people who’ve got something cool or different to say that I think listeners will be interested in hearing.
And Shootin’ the breeze with MSPs where I just have a chit chat with an MSP about what they’ve got going on or good things that have been happening.
Connected Communities Need Better Conversations
Before ending this chat, Paul pinned up two upcoming 404 Stress Not Found events. Both are in June, in Newcastle and Bristol.
One of the guys, Nick’s been through some mental health challenges himself and he wants to support this.
And there’s Zoe who got coping mechanisms and strategies, and frameworks you can use to tackle challenges that you might be facing as well.
Whether through Hii, 404 Stress Not Found, GTIA, or his podcasts, Croker keeps returning to the same idea: better outcomes start with better conversations.
For MSPs, that means looking beyond technical expertise and beyond the familiar circles of the channel.
Growth often comes from perspectives, relationships, and opportunities that sit outside the usual echo chamber.
The challenge isn’t finding more people to talk to. It’s talking to different people.
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