In this podcast special we’ve joined thousands of other podcasters around the world to take part in something called Podcasthon. I’ve chosen a charity called 404 Stress Not Found, that’s aimed at helping MSPs to cope better, and here’s my guest to tell you all about it…

Welcome to Episode 331 of the MSP Marketing Podcast with me, Paul Green, powered by the MSP Marketing Edge.

MSPs: How to get help if you’re struggling

Featured guest: Paul Croker is an award-winning Cyber Security person with a rich background in IT that span the years and sectors. In his last corporate role was heading up the IT for a pan-European space company where Paul led the way for the UK entity spanning two sites, managing complex needs of IT for space projects with budgets and an aggressive headcount to take into account too as the business was ramping up. 

Paul has also setup 404 Stress Not Found CIC. A not for profit looking to tackle the mental health and resilience issues that plague the tech industry. IT and Cyber are impacted as people are burned out, stressed out and not sure which way to turn. They may not know what is happening or be able to spot the signs. 404 Stress Not Found is a safe place, at in person events and via our free online portal, you can connect with others, hangout, or ask for help, listen to others in need, or start your own journey, it’s what you need it to be. 

Hello and welcome to this special episode of the podcast. This week, we’ve joined together with thousands of other podcasters around the world to take part in something called Podcasthon. We’re giving up this episode to promote a charity of our choice, and you’re going to love the charity that we’ve picked. It’s called 404 Stress Not Found. It’s a new organisation that’s aimed at helping MSPs to cope better. And here’s my special guest to tell you all about it.

Hello, I’m the founder of 404 Stress Not Found. My name is Paul Croker.

And thanks so much for joining me on the podcast, Paul. You and I have known each other for, it must be 9, 10 years something like that, it’s been a long time. And bizarrely, and what has sort of created this special episode today is I bumped into you and your wife, Gemma, at Barcelona Airport like back in autumn/fall last year. Now we had actually both been to MSP Global, so it’s not like we were just randomly flying into Barcelona, but we had a great chat outside the airport. I was very hungover, I remember that. And you were a bit more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed than I was.

I think I just had a coffee as well, which probably helped.

Yes, you had. Which is a dangerous thing at two in the afternoon, but there we go. And we started talking about what you’re doing with 404 Stress Not Found, and I realised this is the perfect thing for this special episode. So let’s start right at the beginning. So just first of all, let’s find out about you. Just give us the brief version of your story in terms of the MSP that you run here in the UK.

Sure, so I started a company called 18iT about five years ago now or thereabouts, off the back of exiting a pan-European space company, which is all very cool. So when we talk about rocket science, I know what that used to look like. And what we do now over here is very different. But I take those lessons and basically curate them for MSPs and people in the tech space.

That’s really cool. And you can actually say it’s not rocket science because that’s what you used to do.

And I do use that quote when I talk on stages. Yes.

So you should, I would. I mean, I couldn’t even get into a rocket facility, let alone be a rocket scientist, but that’s pretty cool. And you founded this thing called 404 Stress Not Found. So how long has that been in your life? And we’ll explore how you created it.

So it’s been a thing rattling around in my head for about a year or so. And actually was born out of an idea I had when I was going around various conferences, obviously I’ve bumped into you at several of those as well, which are great, but they are transactional in terms of ROI, people are talking about tech… we’re not really talking about the squidgy bit, the human element in those conversations and latching onto those things really. So that was the original concept idea was to have something which is focused on the people, getting to know us as individuals, and having a place where we can kind of talk about things.

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. So what have you actually created and how does it benefit MSPs?

Oh crikey when did it start, beginning of 2025, we ran the first event in Bristol, here in the UK, we ran the second one in Birmingham in the UK, then we went to Brighton, London, and we finished up in Newcastle. And over the course of those events what we did was kind of a voyage of discovery. They mutated slightly, but the essence was the same. We were getting MSPs or people working in the tech sector together, both corporate IT and SME IT. They might be business owners or they might be tech leaders or they might be people on the tools, so to speak. We don’t care about the job titles and the roles because mental health doesn’t either, so neither do we. So we’ve morphed those events as we’ve gone through.

My wife came to one in Brighton, which is great to have her there because her background’s in SEND, special education as well and dealing with people with neurodiverse skills at university. She said, Paul, we’ve got these great sessions going on, we’ve got people that are automatically now opening up and kind of bearing a light into some of the challenges that they’ve got. We need to look after those people as well and be able to have them so they’re ready to perform after they leave our event and the following day. So we brought an online platform into play as well. There’s a portal now that people can use for free, the events are free to attend as well because I don’t want barriers to entry with this. And we are running as a not- for-profit organisation with donations and stuff. So we’re looking for companies, organisations that can donate funds to us as well. We’re registered what we call a CIC, a charitable interest company at the moment in the UK, but the plans are to make it into a fully fledged registered charity.

I love that. And do you know what, I think everyone at some point has an idea like this, don’t they? I’ve had an idea for a cause rattling through my head for 20 years, but I’ve never acted on it. So genuinely bravo to you for actually not just taking it the next step, but having a goal and a vision. And I know we have loads of vendors that listen to this podcast and watch our YouTube videos. So those vendors, please hands in your pockets and we’ll tell you where to go and find the details of this shortly. And if you can support that, I think that would help Paul with this mission.

So you’re helping MSPs with their mental health, and as we stand here early 2026, that’s a perfectly acceptable thing for you and me to talk about in public like this. And yet 10 years ago, maybe even five years ago, it was somewhat less acceptable to talk about, especially within the channel. And yet, as you and I know, and most people listening to this or watching this will know, the channel is absolutely the place where we need to be talking about mental health because it’s predominantly male and it’s predominantly lots of men sitting on their own, in rooms on their own and with all of the issues that that causes. So do you feel that this is the time for an initiative like this or do you feel like it’s almost overdue?

It’s definitely overdue. If I’m honest, the people that I’ve spoken to, MSPs, industry experts like yourselves and others have said, Actually, this is really interesting, thank you for starting it and being the tip of the spear. It needs people talking about it.

We need people going on stages at events or just raising their hand up saying, “You know what, I’m struggling at the moment with this stuff.” And that’s okay.

We seem to think that when we ask people how they’re doing, we’ve got to say how busy we are, how good everything is… business is good, it’s booming, it’s going really well. We’ve got all these busy things going on, all the rest of it. Whereas when I step away or turn away or when I get home, I’ve got my head in my hands because I’ve got other things happening potentially outside of work as well, it’s not just inside of work. It could be family, it could be friends, it could be other things that are muddying the waters. And I have to deal with that and it’s how do I deal with that and all the stuff I’ve got going on in work as well.

Yeah, absolutely. And when we talk about mental health and the example you just gave there, if someone that’s perhaps struggling with one area of their life, which maybe not be their work, but obviously it’s going to affect their work because we’re humans and we have feelings and those feelings permeate into everything. Do you see that because we’re talking about it more these days, that people are more likely to say, Oh, actually I’ll go and join something like this. Or conversely, to get involved with something like this and maybe go to one of the events, even though actually things right now for them would be great, but they want to keep things that way and perhaps support other people.

It’s a great point you make there, Paul, actually. And I’ve been talking with people who are struggling themselves, so they come to find ways in which they might not have thought ab