The Olive Branch Between Technology Buyers and Sellers

Our Founding Story

In 2018, Chris Heard, CEO of Olive, found himself at Calgary airport after a successful meeting, closing on a big enterprise software deal.

Despite securing a deal, he realized that the customer had been swayed by tactics rather than finding the best solution. This moment of reflection sparked Chris’s vision:

There has to be a better way for buyers to make major IT decisions

This was the start of Chris’ mission to build an AI It consultant to help buyers make unbiased IT decisions. After finding the perfect co-founder in Dan Harrison, they created Olive, the first platform purpose-built to help buyers navigate their most important IT decisions, free of the typical bias and inefficiencies that plague the traditional RFP process.

Our Mission

To provide software and unbiased insights that drive ALL major IT decisions.

Product Growth

Early Stage 2019 to 2020

Realizing the need for immediate value, Chris and Dan focused on developing a robust requirements management platform. This streamlined the tedious process of identifying and managing business requirements, providing immediate value to users while building trust in Olive’s reliability.

2021 – RFx Platform

Expanding further, Olive introduced functionality for vendor and stakeholder management. Now, companies could issue comprehensive RFPs and RFIs, saving months of research time and increasing success rates, all while trusting Olive to deliver on their promises.

2022 – Extended Use Cases

Olive’s functionality expanded to include pricing and early-stage discovery, empowering users to manage the entire vendor lifecycle. This enabled consulting firms to deliver more value to clients by aiding in project discovery, build vs. buy decisions, and vendor management, all with Olive as their trusted partner.

2023 – Olive AI

Leveraging generative AI, Olive incorporated AI throughout the platform, providing users with AI-driven recommendations for requirements and solutions. This effectively acted as a co-pilot in major IT decisions, reducing the need for costly consultants and internal teams, while maintaining the trust Olive had built with its users.

2024 and Beyond – Unbiased Market Insights

With a wealth of data, Olive now provides detailed reports on top software categories based on real peer information. These reports, free from vendor financing, represent the first truly unbiased analyst reports, reinforcing Olive’s commitment to transparency and trustworthiness.