Craig Fulton from Evergreen - WIN by Making Lasting Memories

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In this episode of The WIN Podcast, host Carrie Richardson interviews Craig Fulton, M&A Advisor at Evergreen Services Group, about how to maximize your experience at industry events like PAX8 Beyond.

Craig offers thoughtful advice on preparing for large conferences, engaging meaningfully with other attendees, and creating experiences that leave lasting impressions. Drawing on his own journey from technician to M&A advisor, he shares both strategic insights and personal anecdotes — from spontaneous road trips to fly fishing outings — that highlight the power of authentic relationship-building.

Key discussion points include:

• Smart planning for large events
• How to build trust and relationships in the MSP community
• Making sponsorships stand out through memorable experiences
• The value of casual, evening conversations for real business insights

Also mentioned is the Women in Leadership panel featuring Sydney Hockett, taking place the Sunday before the event kicks off.

Contact Craig: [e-mail]
Subscribe for more interviews and insights from MSP industry leaders.

Carrie Richardson and Ian Richardson host the WIN Podcast - What's Important Now?

Serial entrepreneurs, life partners and business partners, they have successfully exited from multiple businesses (IT, call center, real estate, marketing) and they help other business owners create their own versions of success.

Ian is certified in Eagle Center For Leadership Making A Difference, Paterson StratOp, and LifePlan.

Carrie has helped create and execute successful outbound sales strategies for over 1200 technology-focused businesses including MSPs, manufacturers, distributors and SaaS firms.

Learn more at www.foxcrowgroup.com

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Episode Transcript

Carrie Richardson (00:03):
Hi, good afternoon everybody.
My name is Carrie Richardson andthis is The WIN Podcast.
With me today is Craig Fulton,an m and a advisor for
Evergreen.
Craig, how are you doing today?
I'm doing great, Carrie.
Thanks for having me.
Excited to, join you on this andlooking forward to catching up
with PAX 8's event.
Yeah, I'm excited about that.
It's our first major eventsponsorship.

(00:24):
It's gonna be a good time.

Craig Fulton (00:26):
I've been telling people PAX eight beyond is the
event of the year.
It's a great experience, it's agreat venue, incredible content,
great sponsors like yourself.
So yeah, it's gonna be a goodtime.

Carrie Richardson (00:38):
Yeah, I didn't go last year.
But I was there for theinaugural event, which I think
we nicknamed Rob Rae Con at thetime.
And I heard that last year wasgreat.

Craig Fulton (00:51):
I'm telling you, it was, and being someone that
ran some of the bigger events inthis industry, I'll give'em
credit.
It was the best event I've everbeen to.
The Gaylord Rockies incrediblevenue.
I love that foyer and just thelook and feel of it.
But they were able to transformthat space to feel like you were
in a Pax eight environment.
The way they do it with thegaming and the signage and then

(01:14):
the keynote and the lightdisplay and the vibe is very
important, right?
It really sets the tone fornetworking and learning and
having a good time.
Yeah, that was my favorite eventand I'm sure will be again

Carrie Richardson (01:26):
Their content team is extraordinary.
Yeah.
Everything they produce looksamazing.
I really appreciate the level ofdetail that goes into everything
they produce.

Craig Fulton (01:38):
We all know what we're doing these events, but it
doesn't really feel like you'rebeing sold to constantly when
you're there.
It really has that communityvibe to it.

Carrie Richardson (01:47):
I'm really excited to be interviewing a lot
of people who've been at theprevious events and who can shed
some light on how to prepare foran event this big.
If you don't spend a little timeplanning your agenda before the
event, there are things that youwill probably miss.
So how do you prepare for anevent of this size as an
attendee?

(02:08):
And then how do you prepare whenyou have engagements or
sponsorships to handle?

Craig Fulton (02:14):
As an attendee, and I've been to many of these
even when I was a technicianbefore the career path I took.
Always look through the agenda,find the sessions that are
important and are gonna alignyour goals.
Sadly, I know a lot of people goto events, it's oh, it's a break
from the office and I'm going tohang out.
I was guilty of doing that earlyon, and then one time I said,

(02:36):
I'm gonna get intentional aboutlearning something here and
bringing it back and making somechange.
Especially when I would sitthrough some of the operational
stuff like I wanna learn.
How are people deliveringmanaged services and making
money?
This is 15 years ago.
It was like, how are you gonnamake the change from ad hoc
hourly billing to this thing?
And that's the power of doingthis.
And they've got some greatcontent there.

(02:57):
They've got C-level operationsthat runs the PAX eight Academy
delivering this content.
These are people that haveworked in IT service businesses
and have grown them and they'resharing this material Look at
the agenda, map out whichsessions you want to join.
Hey, look, let's be realistic.
Don't try and cram a full day ofsessions.
You're gonna burn yourself outby the end of the day.

(03:18):
You're just gonna be like, I'mdone.
Make sure you build some time totake some breaks in there.
And you'll see when you getthere there's plenty of
opportunity to relax anddecompress between sessions.
I love the video game part.
Drinks and food and I recommendanybody go over to that foyer,
do you wanna see some of thebest networking with that view
or the Rockies?

(03:38):
People gather around down there,there's fire pits all over the
place.
I road trip a lot with my kids.
And we have this rule stay offthe interstate.
Start a conversation with astranger every day.
I do the same thing at theseevents.
I stay off the interstate, Istay out of it, and I start a
conversation with someone.
And I know that's hard, but myopening line is always, Hey,
where you from?

(03:59):
Because people, oh, I'm fromLansing, Michigan.
Oh man, we got a school here.
And then boom, conversation'sgoing.
That's the power of theseevents.
Now, for me, we're notsponsoring this event, but we
love to go and meet withbusiness owners.
Yes, ultimately we wanna acquirebusinesses, but we know that
takes trust.

(04:19):
This whole community's built ontrust.
The businesses are built ontrust with their clients.
So obviously yes, the acquirerwe need to build trust.
We would love to have aconversation.
About 90 days out, we startreaching out to people we know
and, Hey, you're gonna be atthis event.
We'd love to meet up, like I'mgoing fly fishing with a couple
people I know in the Rockiesbefore the event, get to meet up

(04:41):
with my good buddy, Joe Heddy.
We plan that out and then I justwalk around and talk to people
in the hallways and I go to somesessions that are relevant to
what I do, so I can see what arepeople talking about right now?
What's important?
Like obviously super interestedin ai, right?
Because I just keep seeingpeople talk AI and I'm like what

(05:02):
are you doing?

Carrie Richardson (05:04):
So mostly I'm swearing at AI lately.
It seems to change what it'sallowed to do or capable of
doing.
the thing that it did for meyesterday, flawlessly-today,
it's here are three sentencesinstead of the normal podcast
transcript that I would edit foryou.

Craig Fulton (05:19):
Yeah.
I know it man.
Everybody makes fun of me.
'cause I, I'm on repeat withthis, but my knock on AI is why
are we having it do the highlyintellectual things?
Like why can't this thing do mylaundry?

Carrie Richardson (05:32):
It probably can.
But they're gonna collect dataon what your underwear looks
like.
And how often do you wash it?

Craig Fulton (05:38):
I would say this for someone sponsoring or or
you're a vendor attending, makememories for people.
Look, I know steak dinners arenice and everything, but that's
not a memory.
Make a memory.
The fly fishing one, I know wewere talking about the cars.
One time I knew someone- reallywanted to drive a Porsche 9-11 I

(05:59):
rented one on Turo, we went fora ride, and he brings it up all
the time, make memories, dosomething different.
Go off road like, this is thepath most traveled, least
traveled, I would say just gooff road.

Carrie Richardson (06:09):
You mentioned, you're coming in the
day before to go fly fishing.
You're not taking a day off ofthe conference to go.
So that's an importantdifferentiator I think.

Craig Fulton (06:18):
Yeah that, that is a really good point.
I try and keep everything therewhen I'm in these moments and I
want to create a memory, if Icome up with a wild idea, I'm
like, Hey, do you guys wanna dothis?
You wanna go do the CoorsBrewery tour?
Let's go.
Make memories for people.
That to me is always key.
And I know you've been great atdoing that.
I've seen you at events like thecigar clubs and the bourbon

(06:39):
stuff.
You're getting people togetherand you're creating memories.
And I love to see it.
I love to see it.

Carrie Richardson (06:45):
Eventually everyone comes up to the patio.
you're welcome to have one fromthe magic humidor.
But you're going to have to sithere for an hour and talk to me.

Craig Fulton (06:53):
Yeah.
I, I, and I love the evenings.
That's when good conversationhappens, right?
People are unwinding.
Their guards down, had a coupleof drinks.
Yeah.
And that's when you get the realstories.
This is when I've had MSP ownerstell me, man, struggling to make
payroll.
I'm like, oh wait, what's goingon?
Yeah man, these invoices andthis, I got this going on.

(07:14):
People aren't telling you this.
That ain't in the morning overbreakfast.
Okay, we're not ready.
If you want the goodconversations after dinner,
sitting around a fire, enjoyinga cigar with Carrie that truly
is where the great conversationshappen.

Carrie Richardson (07:28):
I didn't used to believe that when we first
started sponsoring events.
I was very much if they don'twanna talk to me at eight
o'clock at night, they're notgonna want to talk to me at 11
o'clock at night.
There's no need for me to be outat midnight anywhere.
Tracy and I divided the days up'cause I didn't wanna stay out
late and I don't drink, so Ireally don't wanna go and have
to go hard until two in themorning entertaining a group of

(07:51):
people at a nightclub somewhere.
But Tracy was always like,alright, I'll do that part.
And I'll be up for thebreakfast, I wanna make the
rounds at the tables.
What are you guys gonna learntoday?
What sessions are you going to.
What did you like aboutyesterday?
And I feel like the people thatare up at 6:00 AM are trying to
solve problems.

Craig Fulton (08:07):
Yeah.

Carrie Richardson (08:07):
The people that are out at 2:00 AM are just
gonna make them.

Craig Fulton (08:14):
I've been guilty of this former, It's in my DNA,
like that's when I come alive.
Unfortunately.

Carrie Richardson (08:21):
You're a night owl.

Craig Fulton (08:22):
Yeah.
Last year at IT Nation, I Itried to bring a mariachi band
back, like we were out at dinnerand I'm like, this man is great.
And we're like, can you come tothis event?
And they said, seven songs,$400.
I'm like, we're in.
And then I remembered we bettercheck with the hotel.
ConnectWise had the whole venueand I thought, oh man, they
wouldn't even let me bring a 12pack of beer in there.

(08:43):
I doubt a mariachi band's gonna,is gonna fly.
So maybe this PAX eight event.
Be at the foyer because youcould see Fulton's Mariachi band
playing down there.

Carrie Richardson (08:54):
It'll be playing right next to cork's.
Race car

Craig Fulton (08:57):
right in the middle.
My whole plan is like if I seesomeone that doesn't look like
they're having a good time, I'mjust gonna point and the band
will go over and surround themand just start playing you.

Carrie Richardson (09:05):
Oh yeah.
People loves that.
I really hope this happens.
I hope you've already planned itand paid for it.
We'll see and it's going tohappen.

Craig Fulton (09:14):
Maybe I like to surprise people, so we'll see.
You can

Carrie Richardson (09:17):
definitely send the mariachi band my way.
I would.
Okay.
Send it over to our booth, likea Pied Piper of mariachi.

Craig Fulton (09:27):
Where is your booth in the expo hall?

Carrie Richardson (09:29):
That's an excellent question, and if I had
thought about it, I would'velooked that up before we spoke.
Probably on the roof because wesigned up last.

Craig Fulton (09:39):
I'll find it.
We don't have a booth, but I'llbe there.
If people wanna meet with me youcan find me on LinkedIn.
My email address is c Fulton atevergreen sg services group.com.
Sydney Hockett will be there, VPof m and a.
We'll have our team of m and aprofessionals there.
Sarah Ahman, Reid, we're evenbringing some of our investment

(10:01):
team.
'cause I think they're getting alittle jealous.
You guys have a lot of fun atthese conferences.
I'm like, there's a lot of worktoo.
Why don't you come and check itout?

Carrie Richardson (10:09):
So y'all just lucky the floor didn't collapse
during ludicrous last year,

Craig Fulton (10:14):
I had to leave because I get real hypervigilant
about things like that.
This is what news, floorcollapses.
I'm like, yep, I'm out.
I'm out.
I'll wait outside.

Carrie Richardson (10:24):
You see the Gaylord getting ready for the
conference is reinforcing thefloors and the ceilings and you
mentioned Sydney Hockett wouldbe on a panel?
Do you know what day and timethat panel is at?

Craig Fulton (10:34):
Yeah.
On Sunday before the event kicksoff, they do a women in
leadership panel, and Sydneywill be there sharing her
stories.
She's an incredible person.
I met her two and a half yearsago and I thought, oh boy, this
is the future of managedservices here.
Has completed more m and a dealsthan some whole companies.
I think she's up to 50.

(10:54):
Knows the industry, knows thepeople is, can make connections,
build relationships.
Go check it out.
And then we may have a surpriseguest.
Co-founder and m and a partner,Ramsey Hoping he'll make it he's
a great person to talk to.
Laughs a lot a smiley guy.
It always stuns people.
Down to Earth guy.
I think we get that.
Oh, you're a private equity, or,no, we're a holding company, but

(11:17):
you're like investment people.
We're like, wait a minute, youfun people.
It's so yeah, if anybody wantsto chat with us email me.
I sit here staring at Outlook.
Let's go.

Carrie Richardson (11:26):
Alright.
Any final best pieces of advicefor maximizing your time at Pax
eight Beyond or anotherconference that size.

Craig Fulton (11:35):
Don't make this about just time away from the
office and getting a break.
Take advantage of this.
It's rare I have friends inother industries and family and
when I describe what we have,they're like, whoa, you guys
share that level of informationwith each other?
I'm like, yeah, man, I wish Ihad that in, in my world.
So don't.
Don't pass up that opportunitywhen you're there.

(11:56):
Meet with people.
I'm trying to tell people, calmdown with the m and a frenzy.
You don't need to sell yourbusiness.
But let's talk about how you canadd value to it.
Like simple things like, hey,control your vendor costs, and
if you're a seven x business,that could be 300,000 in your
pocket one day.
Let's talk about that.
Let.
You don't need to sell rightnow.

(12:17):
Have conversations with people,learn what others are doing.
You'll probably have a biggolden nugget takeaway that'll
change things.
Gotta do it.
You gotta get outta your comfortzone.
And if you're afraid to getoutta your comfort zone, find
me, find Carrie and find

Carrie Richardson (12:33):
Craig's Mariachi band.

Craig Fulton (12:36):
We'll make it fun.
I think people know I have ahard time staying serious for
too long.
But we'll have a good time doingit, so looking forward to it.

Carrie Richardson (12:43):
All right.
I'll look forward to seeing youthere.
Thanks for joining us today.

Craig Fulton (12:47):
Alright, thanks.