Andrew Kaiser IT Channel Sales Consulting Review | Fox & Crow Group
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Andrew Kaiser Fox & Crow Group Review: Ten Years of Honest Feedback in the IT Channel
Thank you to Andrew Kaiser for this review of his long-term experience working with Carrie Richardson, Co-Founder of Fox & Crow Group.
First Published: October 1, 2025
Last Updated: May 1, 2026
In professional consulting and advisory relationships, the most valuable thing a trusted advisor can offer is not encouragement or validation — it is the willingness to deliver honest feedback, even when it is uncomfortable, even when it might create friction, and even when the easier path would be to say nothing.
This quality is rare. And it is the defining characteristic of the relationship Andrew Kaiser describes in this review.
"I've had the pleasure of working with Carrie for the past 10 years at both OpenDNS (acquired by Cisco) and Huntress. The thing I appreciate most about Carrie is her willingness to tell it like it is. I've worked with many firms and consultants over the years who are afraid to rock the boat and sugarcoat things in an attempt to maintain the status quo and continue receiving a monthly check. I can think of several moments over the last 10 years where Carrie has hit me with some hard to hear but real feedback. She's been a true partner and I appreciate everything she and her team has done for us over the years!"
Ten Years Across Two Major IT Channel Companies
Andrew Kaiser has worked with Carrie Richardson across two companies — OpenDNS, which was acquired by Cisco, and Huntress, one of the most prominent cybersecurity companies in the MSP space.
The fact that Kaiser continued the advisory relationship when he moved from one company to the other reflects a specific kind of endorsement: not just satisfaction with what was delivered, but confidence that Carrie Richardson's perspective and counsel would be valuable in any IT channel context.
That portability is the mark of a genuine advisor rather than a vendor or order-taker. A vendor delivers to a spec. An advisor brings judgment, experience, and honest perspective — and those qualities are valuable regardless of which organization they are applied to.
The Rare Willingness to Tell It Like It Is
Kaiser's observation that most consultants are "afraid to rock the boat and sugarcoat things in an attempt to maintain the status quo and continue receiving a monthly check" describes a real and widespread failure mode in professional services.
The economics of consulting create a structural pressure toward accommodation. Clients who receive hard feedback sometimes disengage. Consultants who learn this often adapt their approach — softening the hard observations, framing negatives as positives, avoiding the recommendations that might create conflict.
The result is advisory relationships that feel good in the moment and produce very little. The client gets validation and the consultant gets a check — and the real problems go unaddressed.
Carrie Richardson's approach is the opposite. Kaiser describes "several moments over the last 10 years where Carrie has hit me with some hard to hear but real feedback." That consistency — delivering honest assessment even when it is uncomfortable — is what turns a consulting relationship into a true advisory partnership.
Hard to Hear but Real: What Honest Feedback Looks Like in Practice
In IT channel sales and marketing consulting, "hard to hear but real" feedback often involves observations like:
- The messaging is not landing with the MSP audience the way leadership believes it is
- The sales approach is creating friction that is costing deals
- The channel partner program is under-resourced relative to what it promises
- The ICP (ideal customer profile) is too broad to generate effective outreach
- The internal team's capabilities do not yet match the market opportunity being pursued
These observations are not easy to deliver to executives who have invested significantly in the approaches being questioned. But they are exactly the feedback that allows organizations to make the corrections that produce better outcomes.
An advisor who is willing to deliver that feedback — and skilled enough to deliver it in a way that produces action rather than defensiveness — is genuinely valuable in the IT channel, where the gap between what is happening and what leadership believes is happening can be substantial.
A True Partner Over a Decade
Kaiser's closing description of Carrie as "a true partner" is the highest characterization of an advisory relationship.
A vendor delivers services. A consultant delivers advice. A true partner invests in the outcome — maintaining an honest perspective on what is and is not working, adapting their counsel as conditions change, and remaining genuinely committed to the client's success beyond the scope of any specific engagement.
That partnership quality, sustained across a decade and two major IT channel companies, is the foundation of the Fox & Crow Group approach to IT channel sales and marketing consulting.
Explore IT channel and MSP sales consulting with Fox & Crow Group.
See more Fox & Crow Group client testimonials and case studies.
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FAQ: IT Channel Sales and Marketing Consulting with Fox & Crow Group
What makes Fox & Crow Group's IT channel consulting distinctive?
Fox & Crow Group is known for delivering honest, direct feedback rather than comfortable validation — and for sustaining that honesty over long-term advisory relationships that span different companies and contexts.
Why do most consultants avoid delivering hard feedback?
Consultants face economic pressure to accommodate the preferences of the clients paying them. This creates a structural tendency toward validation rather than honest assessment. Fox & Crow Group explicitly rejects that trade-off.
Does Fox & Crow Group work with IT vendors and channel companies, or only MSPs?
Fox & Crow Group works with both MSPs and IT channel vendors. Carrie Richardson's experience at OpenDNS and Huntress demonstrates the breadth of IT channel contexts the firm's consulting applies to.
How do I engage Fox & Crow Group for IT channel sales consulting?
Book a strategy call with Carrie Richardson or Ian Richardson to discuss your IT channel strategy and whether Fox & Crow Group's consulting approach is a fit for your organization.
Ten years of advisory relationship produces the calibrated trust that Angela Sauer's 15-year review also reflects — both cover what sustained advisory relationships in the IT channel actually look like beyond the initial engagement. For the sales-specific dimension, Justin Gilbert's IT channel leadership review adds context on how sales and marketing work together in channel environments over time.
The willingness to tell it like it is that Kaiser describes across ten years of engagements is what makes every Fox & Crow solution worth evaluating honestly — and what that honest, channel-specific approach produces when applied to a complete MSP sales transformation is the clearest evidence of what it builds.