Tech Sales Network's second episode features Lewis Pinner, Chief Revenue Officer at Creative ITC, the rapidly scaling managed service provider backed by private equity. Lewis spent over 13 years at Cisco before senior roles at JPMorgan Chase, Pure Storage, NetApp, and Verkada, and now leads sales, pre-sales, and marketing at Creative ITC under CEO Keith Ali.

Harry Driscoll talks to him about what actually separates a genuine performer from someone who just talks a good game, how reference and back-channel checks work at the CRO level, why job-hopping is an instant red flag in interviews, and what building Creative ITC's new Houston office from scratch has taught him about starting over.

FIVE KEY MOMENTS

• 10:20 Why Lewis calls the MSP/IT sales market "incestuous": reputation and a tightly connected network of vendors, VARs, and MSPs.
• 15:20 The GP-figure red flag: spotting the difference between someone who "did the deal" and someone who was really just an overlay on it.
• 23:10 "It's in the title, Chief Revenue Officer. I own revenue": Lewis on where accountability sits when the numbers don't land.
• 29:08 Inside Creative ITC's dedicated AI team, and the "hustle score" data Lewis uses for coaching rather than surveillance.
• 44:12 "You either want to come on the journey... or you don't want to get on the bus": hiring for buy-in, not just skill.

GUEST
Lewis Pinner
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lewispinner/

HOST
Harry Driscoll
https://www.linkedin.com/in/harry-driscoll-170676b7/

HOST COMPANY
Prince Resourcing Group
https://www.linkedin.com/company/prince-talent-resourcing-group/

SPONSOR
Prince Resourcing Group
https://www.linkedin.com/company/prince-talent-resourcing-group/

Produced by Vertical Drop
https://vertical-drop.com/

What happens when you build a technical team first, a sales team second, and never take a penny of outside investment?

In this episode, Harry Driscoll and Owen Lovell sit down with Stuart Harper, CEO of Optec Services, to unpack how he took the company from a one-man operation in a rented room to a team heading toward 30 people, Fortinet's expert partner in Wales, without a business degree or a single investor.

Stuart talks openly about the early days of selling anything to pay the bills, the moment services became more valuable than hardware, why finding good salespeople has been harder than building a brilliant technical team, and the ongoing challenge of protecting culture as headcount grows. He also gets candid about the pressure that never really goes away, even when the business is doing better than ever, and why it took him three days to switch off on his first proper holiday in years.

Highlights:
00:00 – Starting Optec alone with no investment or business background
08:00 – Why the technical team came before the sales team, and why good salespeople are so hard to find
18:00 – Moving from reselling hardware to a services-led, security-focused business
23:00 – Protecting culture while scaling from a two-person team to 30
38:00 – Office culture, hybrid work, and where the balance sits
44:00 – The struggle to switch off and avoid burnout as a founder
50:00 – Growth plans for the next five years and advice for founders starting out

Host Links
Harry Driscoll: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harry-driscoll-170676b7/
Owen Lovell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/owen-lovell-prince/
Prince Talent & Resourcing Group: https://www.linkedin.com/company/prince-talent-resourcing-group/

Guest Links
Stuart Harper: https://www.linkedin.com/in/optec-stu/
Optec Services: https://www.linkedin.com/company/optec-services/

If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to like, subscribe, and leave a comment with your biggest takeaway.

Produced by Vertical Drop.