CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD)

Crowdstrike's platform looks for needles in haystacks by asking all of the hay, "Do you feel something long, hard, and sharp next to you?" and if they say yes, grabbing that needle and isolating it.

This is different from other platforms that take the haystack, piece by piece, and run it through a conveyor belt, looking for needles as each item runs by.

At least, that's the way I think about and analogize their tech. The way it works depends on knowing the qualities of "needleness"/"malwareness" and they depend on the computers in its network to both identify what the qualities are of various hack tools, and to share those qualities with all of the other associated tools.

I like this business because it combines cloud-based subscription strucure (strong, relatively predictable recurring revenue) with the network effect of a first-to-market network tool. The first to market will often win the race because they have a headstart. This network is a huge benefit when installation and activation is easy, but migration to a new tool later on has high switching costs. Tech teams will know this software and respect it if it has a strong market share, and people will build their careers on it. It can and should create a win-win situation for the companies it works with and the people who run the systems in those companies.

All CrowdStrike has to do is execute on their plan well, and I think this is a company has a very strong long-term strategy.

(I own this stock at the time of this recommendation.)