Technology
New opportunities for growth and disruption abound in the technology sector. Quantitative information alone paints an incomplete picture in this fast-moving landscape. Our qualitative due diligence insights provide the deep understanding of technology solutions that investors need to make informed decisions.
Expert insights into cutting-edge technology
Over the past five years, the Blue Heron technology team has conducted more than 3,000 diligence projects examining a wide range of companies, leaders, conditions, and risks. Collectively, the team brings decades of experience and a range of approaches to gathering nonquantifiable insights.
Quarterly earnings conference calls and 10-K filings can provide windows into companies’ strategies and communication styles, but these alone are not enough. Blue Heron’s dedicated technology team cuts through industry buzzwords and hype to provide clear insights and coherent data. The tech team regularly gains insight into such pivotal areas as:
management strategies and expertise;
customer buying decisions;
economic moats; and
price sensitivity.
Recent areas of research
Web and apps
E-commerce, fintech, startups, digital
Software and services
Cloud computing, PaaS, IaaS and SaaS, developer tools, cybersecurity
Artificial intelligence
Generative AI, large language models, machine learning, deep learning
Semiconductors
Chip design, foundry, fab equipment, supplies
Hardware and equipment
Electronics, communications equipment
Bull case
To discover whether the bull case for a software company’s stock was appropriate, Blue Heron spoke with former employees and customers and found that the market was underestimating customer demand while overestimating competition.
Accurate data
To determine whether the claims of the senior management team at a data warehouse company were accurate, Blue Heron spoke with former employees and customers and found that the claims were more hyperbole than fact.
Secure business
To explore a promising-looking firewall and SIEM infrastructure security management software vendor, Blue Heron spoke with customers and found that vendor consolidation, along with upsell and cross-sell activity, were driving adoption for the vendor’s products.
Fintech IPO
Calls with former senior managers at a fintech company that was about to IPO revealed that the CEO was struggling to delegate and key talent was leaving in frustration due to his micromanagement and micro-aggressions.
Meet our technology team
Killian Bell
Sector Leader, Technology
Killian is Technology Sector Leader and a Technology Senior Researcher at Blue Heron with a primary focus on financial technology. He is a former technology journalist and copywriter who spent more than a decade covering Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other industry giants for various publications. He was also a researcher on several books about Apple. Prior to this, Killian worked in the public sector.
Craig Brett
Researcher
Craig is a Technology Researcher at Blue Heron. Previously he was a journalist at Bloomberg and other global news agencies, where he covered healthcare, finance, technology, and other sectors from bureaus in London, Toronto, Singapore, Tokyo, and Mumbai. He has written widely about emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, and quantum communications. He divides his time between Canada and Singapore.
Mary-Ellen Barker
Project Manager
Mary-Ellen is a Technology Project Manager at Blue Heron with a focus on hardware and the cloud. Before joining Blue Heron, she was a journalist for more than 25 years. Her journalism career included 20 years at Reuters in London, which culminated in managing global coverage of news about companies and markets.
Adrian Dickson
Project Manager, International
Adrian is a Technology Project Manager and Researcher at Blue Heron. With broad international experience following a career of over 20 years as a journalist and senior editor at Reuters, Adrian has led diligence projects for Blue Heron in several countries, including China, Japan, India, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Nigeria, as well as in Europe and the United States. Earlier in his career, while working for Reuters, he launched several real-time professional financial news services in Brazil, Japan, China, and India. Based out of Buenos Aires, he is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.