Over fifteen years ago, we set out to change how enterprise technology decisions was conducted. Our idea was simple but powerful: instead of relying on anecdotes or biased insights, what if investors and executives could access statistically significant data directly from technology leaders, data they could trust?

How We Began: A Napkin Idea

ETR was born from a sketch on the back of a napkin. Over beers after work in New York, Erik Bradley, our Chief Strategist, and a cofounder discussed the fact that existing research firms were selling survey data back to vendors. They recognized a gap in that model and envisioned a new one. On a napkin, they sketched out the framework for a new kind of research company. They believed that by surveying CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs—leaders with visibility into upcoming technology spending decisions—they could create insights that would be invaluable to the financial services community.

As Erik put it: “We decided that we could recreate that type of survey … at a much higher scale. And if we did so in a standardized fashion, we could actually turn this into a data company. It was just a back-of-a-napkin idea. But the reason we needed to do it is because we felt like there was a hole in equity research. It was being commoditized, and we needed to start bringing data into equity research.”

That vision, quality data at scale that clients could trust, became our foundation.

That idea became Enterprise Technology Research (ETR). Fifteen years later, what began as a single standardized survey has grown into a trusted technology market research platform serving institutional investors, Fortune 500 companies, and technology leaders around the world.

From One Survey to a Global Market Research Platform

In the beginning, the focus was on proving that scalable, unbiased data could change the game. By January 2015, our core syndicated Technology Spending Intention Survey (TSIS) had already surpassed 500 respondents, a critical milestone in showing statistical strength. Two years later, in January 2017, we introduced ETR Insights, adding qualitative interviews to complement our quantitative surveys.

By January 2018, we debuted our first research platform, followed quickly by expanding our client bases to include our first enterprise client in June. That same year, we surpassed 100 clients in a single year, a major step in our growth.

Brad LaScolea originally started at ETR in 2012 as one of our first sales leaders. He left the company in 2021 and later returned in 2024 as CEO. Over the years, he has witnessed the impressive milestones and growth of the company. “When we launched, it was literally one standardized survey, conducted twice a year. Today, we’re an end-to-end technology market research firm serving institutional investors, enterprise tech companies, and IT leaders worldwide. I'm extremely proud in our continued evolution since returning to ETR, which allows us to deliver differentiated and invaluable data-driven and forward-looking insights to our customers.”

We have always evolved with the times. In March 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the world, we rolled out the COVID-19 Impacts Survey, which later evolved into our popular Macro Views Surveys. This agility demonstrated our ability to deliver rapid, reliable insights in moments of crisis, and would be demonstrated again in other surveys such as our Crowdstrike Outage Impact Flash Study.

By December 2022, the ETR Community had grown to more than 7,000 members, and in June 2023, we introduced the ETR Observatory, a data-backed way of visualizing product-level market trends. VP Research Analyst Daren Brabham, PhD, described the Observatory as "a deep dive into products at the vendor level, spending, ROI, innovation, that clients can’t get anywhere else.” Erik explained that this new product was devised to answer an industry need. “We created the Observatory to give the industry something 100% backed by end-user data. It’s now one of our most recognized products.”

Building the ETR Community: Technology Leaders You Can Trust

The foundation of everything we do has always been our ETR Community, our trusted and vetted community of technology leaders. What started as a few hundred respondents per survey has grown into more than 9,000 technology leaders, contributing over 25,000 survey completes annually.

Nick Lane, Head of Community, expressed the importance of the ETR Community. “Our Community has essentially been the backbone of what we do since ETR began. Without our members, CIOs, CTOs, VPs, and IT practitioners, we wouldn’t be where we are today.” 

Unlike generic survey panels, the Community is carefully vetted. “We constantly update our roster. When someone tells us they’re a CIO, we verify that they really are, and that they’re making real purchasing decisions at a real company,” noted Daren.

That rigor makes our data uniquely trustworthy, something both our clients and our team highlight again and again.

A New Chapter: AI, Platforms, and Innovation

The past two years have brought some of our most transformative changes yet.  As previously mentioned, in July 2024, Brad returned, jumping into the CEO seat. That November, we introduced our AI Product Series which delivers a data-driven view of AI usage trends and identifies the products and use cases that generate real value. Early 2025 was marked by the unveiling of the ETR Community Platform. And later this year, we are excited to announce we will roll out the next generation of our ETR Platform, offering AI-powered analysis, along with far greater flexibility and customizability than our first iteration to meet ever changing customer needs.

Our Culture of Resilience

Like our products, the people that make up the ETR team help make the company second to none. And as Alicia Agostino, Director of Finance and Operations, expressed the team has strived to make the company as success. “Only 25% of businesses make it to 15 years,” she notes. “We’re a small team... but here we are, making our mark. ETR is like a family. We all work hard, and we’re proud of what we’ve built together”.

When we asked our team to describe ETR in one word, the list included answers such as resilient, collaborative, strategic, team, quality, dauntless.

Together, those words reflect more than adjectives. They capture the spirit of a team that has grown stronger with every challenge and milestone and are proof that culture and commitment are at the heart of our success. They are a reminder that while technologies will evolve, the foundation of ETR will always be our people.

The Future of Technology Market Research at ETR

For the next 15 years, our vision is clear: growth, expansion, and deeper service to our community. Brad sees the next era of ETR being refined with the help of technology advancements. “By harnessing AI, we’ll be able to conduct due diligence at scale in real time—an evolution from the near real-time capabilities we deliver today. Our speed to insight already sets us apart from the industry, and AI will take it even further,” said Brad. Erik sees new horizons in our future. “We’ve been hyper-focused on enterprise tech, but our foundation is ready to expand into new industries and verticals.” And as Daren summed it up, “We’re a bit of a hidden gem now, but in 15 years, I see ETR as an undeniable piece of the toolkit for every client we serve.”

From our first survey launched in New York in 2010 to today’s global community of technology leaders, we have stayed true to our mission: building trust through unbiased, high-quality, actionable data that empowers smarter decisions.

As we celebrate our 15th anniversary, we honor team members, community leaders, and clients who have made ETR what it is. Their voices remind us that while the tools and technologies will change, trust, quality, and resilience remain timeless.

Here’s to the next 15 years of trusted market intelligence.