09 July 2025 
14 minutes 
Entrepreneurial stories
A candid look at what it’s really like to sell your MSP, and stay in control
Korton joined Your.Cloud in 2021. Korton started their own buy-and-build path but quickly realized that distracted them from their core. They joined with Your.Cloud to accelerate their growth, with success.
When Bastiaan Topper, Managing Director of the Dutch managed services provider Korton, decided to join Your.Cloud, it wasn’t a decision taken lightly. For years, his team had been pursuing growth independently, balancing acquisitions with customer delivery. But the scale of the ambition began to clash with the bandwidth of the business.
“At Korton, we decided to take this step,” Bastiaan explains. “And speaking for myself, it was mainly to be able to do even more great things in the future.”
Korton’s journey towards external partnership didn’t begin in crisis, it began with strategy. In 2017, the company redefined its growth path, with a plan to expand both organically and inorganically.
“In 2017, we started shifting our strategy at Korton,” says Bastiaan. “Part of that strategy was figuring out how to actually continue our growth.”
“On one hand, we pursued organic growth by acquiring new business, new customers, and focusing on a specific vertical,” he explains. “But on the other hand, we also decided to grow inorganically by adopting a Buy & Build strategy.”
Initially, Korton intended to stay fully independent in executing this strategy. And for a while, it worked.
“In 2021, we successfully completed our first acquisition on our own,” Bastiaan says. “However, as we progressed through this process, we realised that while the strategy was solid, it was a significant distraction from our core business: delivering cloud infrastructure to our customers.”
It was around this time that Korton came into contact with Your.Cloud.
“That matched really well,” says Bastiaan. “Your.Cloud operates with a philosophy of working through specialised, vertical-focused companies. Improving those companies, while simultaneously providing the capacity to make acquisitions.”
“For us, this was a win-win,” he adds. “We no longer had to handle the entire process of an acquisition, identifying acquisition targets and managing everything that comes with it.”
“We could refocus on the business we serve as Korton, whilst still achieving growth and being part of a larger entity. Exactly in line with the strategy we had envisioned back in 2017.”
Looking back, Bastiaan says the partnership delivered exactly what had been promised.
“I can confidently say that all the promises made have been fulfilled,” he reflects. “This includes both support in M&A and Buy & Build, as well as assistance in improving our organisation.”
“In the case of Your.Cloud, this is based on a decentralised structure, where entrepreneurs are encouraged to take ownership and learn from the other companies within the group.”
Within Your.Cloud, support doesn’t just come from the centre, it comes from peers. The network of managing directors share insights regularly.
“This exchange of knowledge is highly encouraged in various ways,” Bastiaan says. “For example, having other MDs on speed dial if we have a question. There are playbooks, exchanging of best practices, and even a bit of friendly competition as we gain insights into each other’s numbers.”
“This benchmarking aspect makes it very interesting to tap into the vast pool of knowledge available, ultimately improving our own organisation.”
For owners of MSPs who are considering selling or partnering, Bastiaan’s experience offers a valuable reference point. He didn’t lose his company, he gained breathing room and the capacity to do more with it.
“We didn’t have to give up who we were,” he says. “But we stopped doing the parts that weren’t our strength. That’s allowed us to focus, grow, and still build on the vision we set years ago.”
Q: Will I still be in control of my company?
A: Yes. Bastiaan makes it clear:
“We didn’t have to give up who we were. But we stopped doing the parts that weren’t our strength.”
Q: What kind of support can I expect?
A: M&A execution, organisational improvement, and peer-driven best practices.
Q: What makes this different from traditional investment?
A: Your.Cloud runs a decentralised model where companies stay independent.
Q: Will I have to figure things out alone?
A: No. You join a network of leaders who share what works.
Korton is a Netherlands-based Managed Services Provider focused on delivering secure, scalable cloud infrastructure to customers in specialist vertical markets. Now part of the Your.Cloud group, Korton continues to operate independently while benefiting from group-wide M&A capacity, operational support, and a collaborative network of peer MSPs.
Your.Cloud has a proven track record of helping MSPs get to the next level. Our decentralized model is all about you, the business owner, and everything it takes for your MSP to thrive without losing your own unique touch and identity.
We'd love to tell you more about it, and who knows, maybe that first cup of coffee will soon turn into a glass of champagne.
