11. Buying boring Software Companies
For our eleventh episode, we're going off the beaten path to look at a company you've likely never heard of, but whose performance would make the tech gods of Silicon Valley blush. This company doesn't have a flashy product... it doesn't have a charismatic CEO on magazine covers... its headquarters are in Toronto, Canada, not California. Its genius lies not in a single invention, but in a relentless, disciplined process. It has often been called the "Berkshire Hathaway of Software." We are talking about the ultimate under-the-radar compounding machine... Constellation Software.
While most software companies focus on building the next big thing, Canada's Constellation Software ($CSU.TO) has quietly become one of the best-performing stocks in the world by doing the exact opposite. Led by the brilliant and reclusive capital allocator Mark Leonard, Constellation is a master acquirer. Their strategy is simple yet powerful: buy hundreds of small, durable, and mission-critical software businesses in niche markets, and use their cash flows to buy even more.
This disciplined approach has created a compounding machine that has delivered truly staggering returns for decades. But as Constellation grows into a corporate giant, the challenge of finding enough quality acquisitions at reasonable prices becomes ever more difficult. With the stock trading at a perpetual premium and facing increased competition for deals, is the golden era of hyper-growth over? We're decompiling the code of this unique business to determine if the Constellation Software compounding story can continue to shine for investors.
