Our story
A technology advisory firm built by people who have done the work on both sides: in the field and in the numbers.
Black Owls started in the field. For several years we installed networks, cabling, cameras, and access control for businesses, first as a subcontractor on other companies’ projects and then under our own name. Along the way we earned a California low-voltage contractor license. And on project after project we noticed the same thing: the hardest part was rarely the technology itself. It was choosing it, usually with little time and too many options.
In smaller companies, technology decisions usually share a desk with everything else, and there is rarely time to compare providers. In larger organizations, with capable IT and procurement teams, the challenge is a different one: the market moves faster than any internal team has time to follow, and each provider naturally presents its own part of it. In both cases, what helps is an outside view of the whole market, from someone on your side of the table.
Today Black Owls is a technology advisory firm. We help organizations choose, contract, and implement technology across internet & voice, cybersecurity, network & Wi-Fi, IoT & physical security, and cloud & managed services. Instead of offering one solution, we help you find the right one among many.
Why Black Owls
We have built what we recommend. We know what an installation really takes, where projects tend to need extra attention, and how a plan on paper changes once it meets a real building.
We read a technology decision like a financial one. Our background is in quantitative finance. ROI, CapEx and OpEx, and the effect on your balance sheet, profit and loss, and cash flow are part of every recommendation.
We look from four sides. Technology, business, finance, and customer experience. A choice that works on only one of them is not a good choice.
We tell you when you do not need us. If your current setup is right, or your team already has this covered, you will hear it from us.
Founder
Ivan Shaitzhanov, Founder and CEO
Before technology, Ivan worked in quantitative finance. That is where the habit of testing every decision against the numbers comes from.
He built Black Owls first as a network and security integration company, running projects from design through installation. That field experience now shapes how the firm advises: every recommendation is checked against what it will take to implement and what it will mean for the business.
“I believe technology should amplify what people are capable of. If a recommendation doesn’t make your team faster, safer, or less dependent on luck, I won’t make it.”
Our network
No one knows every technology in depth, and neither do we.
What we have is direct contact with the people at more than 500 providers, in every technology area from connectivity to cybersecurity.
Engineers when depth is needed. Specialists in each technology join the conversation when a decision calls for it.
The right person to call. When something needs attention, we know who to reach at the provider.
We also work alongside managed service providers, integrators, and installation partners, and bring in the right one when a project calls for it.
How we do business
Not every dollar is worth earning. That is the first of seven principles we run the firm by.