I’ve never been interested in owning a little bit of everything. The whole point of paying attention to markets, really paying attention, is to develop conviction about the companies that actually matter.
The ones that are ‘sticky’. The ones that the rest of the economy quietly depends on whether it knows it or not.
That’s what the North Tech 15 strategy is built around.
1. The Core
The foundation is simple: a Nasdaq-100 base that gives broad, efficient exposure to large-cap technology. It’s liquid, low-cost, and does exactly what it’s supposed to do, keep pace with the market while the satellite positions do the more interesting work.
2. The Satellite: Sovereign Gatekeepers
This is where the real conviction lives. I’m looking for a specific type of business, what I call Sovereign Gatekeepers. Not the next disruptor. Not the most exciting story at the conference.
The companies that have already won, and whose products are now so deeply embedded in the infrastructure of the digital economy that removing them would cause genuine systemic disruption.
Three things have to be true for a company to make the cut:
- An infrastructure moat: the product is mission-critical and functionally irreplaceable without serious consequences.
- Pricing authority: margins hold regardless of what the macro environment is doing, because customers simply don’t have an alternative.
- Cash-flow generosity:real Free Cash Flow, not adjusted earnings dressed up to look good. The cash has to actually exist.
Every hyperscaler, every data centre, every connected device runs through a handful of companies. I want to own those companies.
Staying invested
The most expensive mistake in long-term technology investing (any investing) isn’t picking the wrong company. It’s leaving the market.
The best returns come from maintaining conviction in a thesis, and trusting earnings over the headlines.
If the earnings hold and the thesis is intact, the position holds. That discipline sits at the centre of how I manage the North Tech 15 and is a feature of the monthly factsheet.
Free Portfolio Access
On the first of every month I publish a full breakdown of the portfolio: positions, sizing rationale, performance attribution, and risk metrics.
For free complementary access, sign up to my weekly Substack to receive your discount code today: