N-able, Inc. (NYSE:NABL) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Brian Essex: Yes, that’s helpful. I’m just trying to determine are you at some kind of an inflection point now that it makes those customers comprise more than 50% of our ARR. And then I guess with regard to the previous question on, I guess, level of confidence in the guidance for 2023. How much visibility do you get from your MSP customers in terms of what they’re seeing for demand on their platform? And do they give you kind of inputs into what your planning process looks like for 2023? Just wondering at a level of communication there.

John Pagliuca: So we have 25,000 MSPs all across the globe. We have I’d say, a high frequency from a contact point of view across the base. We’ve invested in partner success over the last couple of years to increase a little bit more of that high-touch relationship and bringing in growth specialists to help the MSPs grow. So I’d say we have a good sense from the customer base with our partner success teams as far as what their growth areas are. And what I’ll tell you is the MSPs, generally speaking, and of course, there is exceptions, are really focusing on growing their wallet share. That was true in 2022 as well. But what we’re seeing is for MSPs and if you think about it with labor scarcity, an MSP — when an MSP adds customers, it typically means they’ll need to add a technician, right?

Not at a 1:1, but there’s some linearity or correlation there. But when an MSP adds a service, especially if they’re leveraging an N-able service, they’re growing the wallet share of their customer base, growing their top line, growing their profit and not necessarily dependent on adding labor. That’s why managed EDR as an example, is an important thing for them. They can grow their wallet share; it will help them with their efficiency. So we — I believe we’ll continue to see strong demand from a security and data protection point of view. And that’s a lot of the feedback that we get is that they’re looking at focusing growing their wallet share as that. But when I spoke to the MSPs, I’d say, a couple of quarters ago at our Empower event, which is our first live event that we did in a couple of years, due to COVID, the demand is quite strong, and it aligned with what I was talking about, strong demand for data protection, strong demand for security and their strategy aligned with either growing their wallet share and/or adding more security services.

Brian Essex: Got it. That’s helpful. And then — so I appreciate that. And maybe last one for me to kind of pivot off of that on the wallet share. What are you seeing out there in terms of MSP consolidation? And how does that compare with prior trends? And how might that impact your business going forward, either as your customers consolidate with other MSPs or potentially on the lower end, maybe they get acquired by other MSPs?

John Pagliuca: Great question. So I often say our TAM is not defined by the number of MSPs in the market. Our TAM is truly defined by that IT spend from the SME. And when two MSPs consolidate, really nothing happens to the TAM that’s out there, right? And in fact, what usually happens is that MSPs the largely get and we’re seeing MSPs now that are over $1 billion in revenue. Some are publicly traded. They’re backed by private equity. They’re backed by venture capital. They’re getting, I’d say, much more mature in their business approach. What’s happening is the ceiling of which the customers that they’re selling into has gone higher over the last couple of years. So we’re seeing MSPs now selling into Fortune 1000 companies. And as a result, where when Tim and I got into the space 10-years ago, MSPs were primarily focused on small and medium enterprises that were 50 employees and down.