A Commitment To Independence

September 30, 2024

I want to share a concerning trend we’ve seen over the last few years, along with my thoughts and intentions around it.

Slingshot is approached weekly by venture capitalists and prospective buyers. It’s flattering — proof of the strength and success of what we’ve built over the decades. But I firmly believe that sacrificing our independence would mean sacrificing our ability to prioritize serving our clients, nurturing our team, and driving quality and innovation in IT services.

A Commitment to Our Clients: We Will Stay Independent

Slingshot’s mission has always been crystal clear: to deliver exceptional IT services that empower organizations to thrive. Since our founding in 2002, our focus has been unwavering: creating real value for our clients by offering solutions that are designed to meet your specific needs, not just industry standards.

“Rollups” have become the norm. Companies are bought, and their original goals shift to meet the demands of new ownership. That’s not the future we envision for Slingshot. Our independence is a key reason why we can remain nimble, focused, and deeply committed to each of our clients.

Why Slingshot says “No” to Venture Capital: Integrity, Quality and Good Service

We regularly meet small businesses seeking a new IT provider because — after their previously-good provider was acquired — they stopped responding in any timely fashion (a user unable to work for two weeks, a whole company unable to work for two days), no longer had capable staff available for common tasks, or outright ignored certain requests because their client was now too small to matter. Those “big box”-aspiring providers probably budgeted for that attrition and a quick gain. But that’s messed up.

Being independent lets Slingshot make decisions that directly benefit our clients without being undermined by uninvolved shareholders’ bottom line. We are accountable only to our clients, our families, and God. This lets us build new solutions, not on any shelf (or used by our competitors), that are just the right fit. It lets us keep up with evolving cybersecurity threats, as well as the legal and regulatory responses to those. It lets us deliver to our clients the best proactive and responsive service around.

Our Vision for the Future: What’s Best for Our Clients

So we’re not throwing that away. We’re in this for the long haul, and we value long-term relationships over short-term gains. Staying independent lets us continually invest in our team, technology, and our clients. Whether we’re providing managed IT services, cloud services, or cybersecurity, every service is designed and delivered with our clients’ best interests in mind.

We’re not interested in being acquired, and we won’t be joining a larger conglomerate. We’ll remain independent so we can always keep our clients first.

Rob Eberhardt

founder and owner

Don’t wait for an attack.

Contact Slingshot today to get protected.