Episode Details

By Doug Green

“People buy from people they like and they trust, and that hasn’t changed.”

At MSP Summit 2026, I sat down with Tim Mandell of Leaseweb to talk about what he was hearing from MSPs at the event and why relationships, trust and flexibility remain central to the channel, even as conversations increasingly focus on AI, infrastructure, data privacy and data sovereignty.

Mandell said one of the things that stood out at the conference was how much of the discussion came back to relationship building. Rather than simply trying to sell one another products, companies are looking for ways to determine where each partner fits and how they can work together to solve customer problems.

“We have to make the connections and we have to solve problems and we’re all better together in this,” Mandell said. He added that Leaseweb has been encouraging its sales organization to build relationships first, with the expectation that business will follow.

For Mandell, the fundamentals of the technology business have not changed.

“People buy from people they like and they trust, and that hasn’t changed.”

That trust becomes particularly important for MSP customers that depend on technology but may not have deep technical expertise themselves. Those organizations ultimately have to trust someone to manage important parts of their business, from infrastructure to data privacy, sovereignty and compliance.

The same issue is becoming increasingly important as customers begin their AI journeys. Mandell noted that many organizations know they need to move forward with AI but may not yet know exactly what they need, particularly in a market where technology and requirements continue to change rapidly.

“To be a trusted advisor, you have to first do one thing and that’s listen,” Mandell said. “The rules haven’t even been written for half of this stuff right now. And what we think we need today may change tomorrow.”

That makes being nimble an important part of the MSP opportunity.

Mandell said Leaseweb’s approach is to allow MSPs to build their businesses as their customers grow rather than forcing them to build infrastructure in advance and hope they can fill it. Leaseweb provides the infrastructure and resources while allowing MSPs to make their own technology choices and expand as customer requirements develop.

He also pointed to privacy and data sovereignty as important elements of the Leaseweb proposition. Because customer needs can vary significantly, Mandell said the company can make decisions around individual requirements rather than forcing every customer into the same model.

Leaseweb also operates in a market populated by some of the largest technology companies in the world. Mandell said one of Leaseweb’s key differentiators is its ability to provide significant infrastructure capabilities while maintaining direct human relationships with customers.

“We do darn near everything that those companies can provide you, but guess what? You get to talk to me, and you get to talk to a person,” Mandell said.

That human connection is especially important in the MSP market because MSPs are placing one of their most important assets — their customer relationships — in the hands of their technology partners. Mandell said Leaseweb understands the responsibility that comes with that trust.

“The most important thing an MSP has is their customer base,” Mandell