I’ve spent a career evaluating the business impact of technology and building strategies that optimize the contribution technology makes to enterprise missions.
In my first career as a naval intelligence officer I was frequently called upon to find ways to leverage technology to enable our missions of all source intelligence analysis. Other times I was required to assess how adversaries were using technologies as they sought to gain advantage in their own decision-making. Later as an executive with TRW and then Northrop Grumman I helped shape internal investments that sought to create technology in support of critical government missions. Back in government as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) I was part of a team that sought to leverage the very best technology in the free world to support agency missions of analysis, production and collaboration.
For the past decade I have continued to evaluate technology, including participating in numerous formal due diligence assessments. I have conducted due diligence assessments in support of private equity firms, venture capital firms, large companies seeking understanding before before purchasing other firms in M&A, and for other companies that wanted to assess their own capabilities so they could optimize their own value for a future transaction.
I have captured lessons from my experience in technology due diligence in a short presentation on the OODA YouTube Channel this link and embedded below:
These lessons are provided in a way that should be of use to organizations on both the buy-side and sell-side of potential transactions, and concludes with actionable recommendations including expectations you should have when selecting a due diligence partner.
Our hope in producing this short overview of lessons learned from technology due diligence is that you will keep OODA in mind for your future needs. In tech due diligence, experience matters, and we have that.
More about Bob Gourley:
Bob Gourley is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence consultancy OODA LLC. OODA is the publisher of CTOvision.com and OODALoop.com.
Bob previously founded Crucial Point LLC, a technology research and advisory firm.
Bob’s first career was as a naval intelligence officer, which included operational tours in Europe and Asia. Bob was the first Director of Intelligence (J2) at DoD’s cyber defense organization JTF-CND.
Following retirement from the Navy Bob was an executive with TRW and Northrop Grumman, and then returned to government service as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).
Bob was named one of the top 25 most influential CTOs in the globe by Infoworld. He was selected for AFCEAs award for meritorious service to the intelligence community, and was named by Washingtonian as one of DC’s “Tech Titans.” Bob was named one of the “Top 25 Most Fascinating Communicators in Government IT” by the Gov2.0 community GovFresh. Bob was noted as “Most Influential on Twitter for Big Data” by Forbes. The blog he founded and publishes, CTOvision, is now ranked among the top 50 federal technology blogs.
Bob holds an undergraduate degree in Chemistry and three masters degrees including a master of science degree in scientific and technical intelligence from Naval Postgraduate School, a master of science degree in military science from USMC university, and a master of science degree in computer science from James Madison University.
Bob is a founding member and member of the board of directors of the Cyber Conflict Studies Association, a non-profit group focused on enhancing the study of cyber conflict at leading academic institutions and furthering the ability of the nation to understand the complex dynamics of conflict in cyberspace. He is a board member of the Defense Intelligence Memorial Foundation, which honors the fallen officers of the Defense Intelligence Enterprise (DIA, NSA, NGA, NRO, Service Intelligence Components and Combatant Commands) through scholarship and philanthropy.
Bob serves on public boards and advisory boards for a number of companies including Balbix, Centripetal Networks, Haystax, Wayin, Invincea, SitScape, Fixmo, Spacecurve, Twiki, JackBe, ZafeSoft, Optensity and Triumfant. He has advised Cloudera, Pentaho, Platfora and Recorded Future. He has previously served on the board of Naval Intelligence Professionals, on the Intelligence Committee of AFCEA and the Cyber Committee of INSA. He is an advisor to MissionLink. He is a co-founder and board member of the Cloud Security Alliance DC Chapter. Bob is also on several government advisory boards. He has served on Defense Science Board task forces.
Bob has led and participated in multiple due diligence assessments for private equity firms and businesses seeking evaluation of potential M&A targets.
OODA LLC provides services in Security, Opportunity and Technology.
Bob is frequently cited in the media.
Gourley media appearances include: CBC News, Fox News, Fox Business, CNBC, GovMattersTV, Fed News Network, BBC, NBC, ABC and CybersecurityTV. He has been interviewed on multiple local news TV and radio stations. Gourley has also been interviewed for media reporting which has been nationally syndicated including being featured in stories in the Associated Press, Washington Post, NBC online, Fox News online, BBC, The Atlantic, Slate, The Verge, Popular Science, Nature and People Magazine. He is frequently interviewed for as an expert for trade journals and has appeared in Aviation Today, Via Satellite, Air Force Magazine, Computer World, InfoWorld, FireceIT, WashingtonExec, FCW and Government Computer News.
Bob is a frequent speaker at corporate events including boardroom sessions for executives and broad employee awareness training. For more see our Corporate Events page.
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