Corporate & financial
Aquaa Partners
We turned a tech-M&A boutique — and its CEO — into a quoted authority across the world's financial press.
A boutique M&A and strategic advisory firm that helps established companies become growth leaders by acquiring disruptive technology businesses.
Scroll to follow the story ↓
The brief
Following the publication of CEO Paul Cuatrecasas' book Go Tech, or Go Extinct, Bridgehead was appointed to position both Paul and Aquaa Partners as thought leaders in disruptive-tech M&A — translating the book's themes into timely commentary on the moments markets were already watching.
Paul Cuatrecasas
What they needed
Promote the insights set out in Go Tech or Go Extinct.
Position the CEO as an expert commentator on technology-led transformation.
Demonstrate the commercial importance of digital disruption to legacy industries.
Support business development by raising visibility among prospective clients.
The approach
A thought-leadership-led media programme built on automation, digital transformation and technology-driven growth — placed where it carried weight with investors and acquirers.
Pivoted through lockdown
In-person media engagement was rebuilt as virtual briefings and sector-specific webinars during COVID, keeping the CEO in front of journalists when most voices went quiet.
Commentary across sectors
We positioned Aquaa's CEO on the role of technology in building resilience across retail, aviation and maritime transport — making an abstract thesis concrete.
Reactive newsjacking
We monitored the agenda for openings, landing interviews, opinion pieces and reactive commentary aligned to the book's core themes.
The thought leadership
The Death of Value Investingand the Dawn of a New Tech-Driven Investment Paradigm
To give the campaign hard proof, we produced and launched an original Aquaa Partners research report. It compared more than two decades of total shareholder returns across tech and non-tech indices — and showed that the risk-reward relationship had quietly flipped: tech now delivered higher returns at lower volatility. It became the analysis the financial press ran with.
Nasdaq 100 Tech total shareholder return since 1999 — ~2.5× the non-tech index
the tech index's return versus the FTSE 100 non-tech (838%)
average annual maximum loss, tech vs non-tech (2009–2020) — lower risk, not higher
The results
pieces of coverage
estimated readers reached
top-tier financial titles
Coverage over time
Coverage built steadily through 2020, peaking as the tech-stocks analysis landed across the financial press (representative monthly split; 55 pieces total).
The coverage
10.1M readers
Markets
Tech stocks are set for exponential growth, says this strategist
Barron's · Aug 2020
109M readers
Tech
The companies set to benefit as drone delivery is fast-tracked
Dow Jones MarketWatch · 2020
174M readers
Innovation
Are you ready to eat lab meat?
Forbes · Featuring Aquaa Partners
The breakthrough
One original analysis, placed once, that cascaded across the financial press.
Off the back of a Dow Jones MarketWatch interview, we placed an original thought-leadership piece analysing the improved returns of tech stocks versus traditional equities. The findings were then picked up and run again — proprietary analysis becoming the story across multiple titles.
Seen in
The impact
Increased visibility among target investors and corporate audiences.
Strengthened the firm's leadership profile in disruptive-tech M&A.
Positioned the CEO as an authoritative commentator on digital transformation.
Supported business development through enhanced brand credibility and inbound interest.
The outcome
Sustained presence across international business and financial media — and a CEO the markets' own titles now quote on the future of technology.
