Former OCSL execs start buy-and-build project with first acquisition

Tim Thrower and Iain Maclean acquire Marathon Professional Services

Two former OSCL execs have kickstarted a buy-and-build project with the acquisition of Marathon Professional Services.

Former OSCL MD and founder Tim Thrower, along with former project services director Iain Maclean, left the business in 2018, shortly after its acquisition by Cancom.

The pair have now launched a new venture which will be entirely services led, Maclean (pictured, left) told CRN.

"The business that we always wanted OCSL to be was a services business focused on cloud, transformation and managed services," he said.

"But it was really hard to do that because you can't twist a hardware company to become a services company very easily. It's a very hard drug to get sales people off of.

"So we were looking for a company that was services only, rather than a little bit of hardware and a lot of services. Even that is hard to twist to services only."

Maclean will take the role of CEO, while Thrower (pictured, right) comes into the business as chairman.

Marathon founder Paul Hepburn (pictured, centre) will retain a 20 per cent stake in the business and stay on as CTO.

Maclean said that the new leadership team will look to grow the business organically, but also through acquisitions of MSPs with revenue of between £500,000 and £1m - via holding company Peach PE.

There is no external investment in the venture.

Thrower said: "After 28 years with OCSL, I was looking to make a move into a business with massive potential for growth and a passion to succeed.

"With Marathon we have a shared determination to lead the way in a managed services market that continues to accelerate and evolve."

Marathon was originally formed to provide IT services to London Marathon Events Limited, but has evolved to provide services to channel partners.

It will continue to sell to channel partners, Maclean said, while acquisition targets will be businesses that serve end users.

He added that the core services of the business moving forward will be around cloud, in particular Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.