Most MSPs schedule a first QBR sometime in the first quarter after a client onboards. By then, the relationship has already been set, usually without any real conversation about what the strategic side of IT is supposed to look like, who needs to be involved, or what you're both trying to accomplish together.
The vCIO kickoff meeting fixes that. It's a 90-minute meeting that happens early, right after the sale closes and onboarding is underway. The goal is to establish the strategic relationship on the right terms and do real work in the same sitting, before any bad habits form.
Who needs to be in the room
On the client side, you want three types of people.
The decision-maker: the business owner, CEO, or whoever signed the contract. You need their buy-in to do this work well, and they need to understand what you're asking of them.
The day-to-day contact: whoever calls when something breaks, a new employee starts, or the internet goes down.
Key stakeholders: managers or department heads who will be part of future conversations. Not always required at this stage, but include them if there are obvious candidates.
The business owner is the critical one. If they're not there, you're explaining a strategic relationship to someone who can't actually commit to it.
On your side, bring the vCIO and anyone else who will have a regular role in the relationship. This is also a good time to be clear with the client about who does what on your team, especially what the vCIO's role is and what it isn't. The vCIO owns the strategic relationship, but they're not the catch-all contact for every support request, new employee setup, or day-to-day IT question. Setting that expectation early avoids confusion later, particularly as your MSP grows and responsibilities are more distributed.
Setting up the relationship (first 30 minutes)
Start by introducing the vCIO process and establishing how the relationship is going to work. Cover:
What the TSM process is and why it's different from what most clients have had with IT providers before
Why their involvement matters: you need the right people in the room to make good decisions, and this is where those decisions happen
How often you should meet. Ask them, then offer a recommendation. Quarterly works for most clients; some warrant more frequent check-ins early on.
What they can expect: agenda in advance, clear next steps, no wasted time
What you expect from them: if they're not getting value, say something rather than just stopping showing up
Communication preferences: do they want access to their Strategy Overview portal and roadmap? Do they want service detail, or just business-level updates?
Every meeting ends with the next one on the calendar. No open-ended follow-ups, no gaps.
Ask if they have questions before moving on.
The first TSM (60 minutes)
Don't wait for the second meeting to do real work. You already know things about this client from the sales process, from what the salesperson heard, from what your techs found during onboarding. Bring that into the room.
Start with a business goals conversation. Ask them what they're trying to accomplish this year. What's getting in the way. What IT problems they've been living with that never got solved, and what they're hoping will be different now.
Then walk through your initial findings. What came up during the sales process or early onboarding that's worth flagging? Urgent issues go first. Things already on their radar are worth naming directly; it shows you were paying attention. Log everything in Strategy Overview so there's a shared record.
By the end: they know where things stand, a few near-term priorities are agreed on, and the next TSM is on the calendar.
What you're walking away with
Everything from this meeting should be captured in Strategy Overview, in the client's Goals Plan, Assessment template, or both. Before you leave (or close out the call), confirm you have:
Meeting cadence agreed on and the next meeting already scheduled
Key contacts identified on both sides: who owns what, who calls whom for what
Business goals documented: what they're trying to accomplish and by when
Client history captured: how long they've been in business, how they've used IT, what's changed
IT pain points on record: what's gone wrong in the past and what they're counting on you to do differently
The vCIO's role clearly defined: what you handle, what goes to other team members, and how to reach the right person
This isn't just paperwork. It's the foundation every future TSM builds on. If any of it is missing, the next meeting starts from scratch.
When to split it into two meetings
For most clients, 90 minutes handles everything. For larger clients with more stakeholders, or when the initial findings need more time, splitting the kickoff and the first TSM into separate meetings is fine. What matters is that the relationship conversation happens first, not during the same meeting where you're trying to do real work.
Why this matters
Most clients have never had a real strategic IT relationship. Their last provider either skipped the QBR entirely, ran it inconsistently, or treated it as a stack review with no business conversation. This meeting sets a different expectation before the wrong one gets established.
It also gives you something to point back to when the process starts to slip. You both agreed to how this works. You were in the room.