The Startup Founder’s Guide to Analyst Firms
As you get started on your influencer relations strategy, you’ll need to figure out which firms you want to engage with. There are a range of analyst firms out there, but the industry can be split into two major segments: Forrester, Gartner, and IDC, and the range of smaller, boutique firms. Let’s start with the largest — Gartner.
Gartner
With annual revenues over $4B, Gartner is by far the largest analyst firm and, because it gets at least 70% of its revenue from end users, it also exerts the most power in the industry. Its end user customers engage with analysts on a range of technology topics: from vendor and product comparisons, to creating a shortlist, to contract negotiation and procurement.
Gartner’s main audience remains IT, but its acquisition of CEB attempts to expand its addressable user base to wider parts of end user organizations. CEB addressed IT, but also supply chain, legal, finance, and human resources functions. The two parts of the business are still largely separate, following different research models and customer interaction approaches.
Forrester
Forrester takes a similar approach to Garter, with a focus on technology end users. Where Forrester differentiates is by examining how technology relates to business challenges, while Gartner remains technology-focused. Forrester’s equivalent to Gartner’s Magic Quadrant is the Forrester Wave. Waves are hugely influential in certain tech domains.
IDC
Of the three largest firms, IDC is arguably the most unique. Unlike the other two, IDC is primarily a numbers house. It has an army of people analyzing market trends, publishing industry forecasts, and more. Because of its focus on numbers and impartiality, IDC tends to be heavily quoted in the press. If you’ve read statistics about enterprise or consumer data growth in the last twenty years, that’s IDC. Technology vendors comprise the majority of IDC’s customer base, and IDC’s analysts take a highly consultative approach with their clients. Unlike Forrester and Gartner, however, IDC doesn’t have a strong end user client base. IDC analysts primarily work with technology vendors.
Specialist Analyst Firms
While firms like Forrester, Gartner, and IDC grab most of the headlines, there’s another tier of analyst firms worth exploring, particularly as you’re just starting out on your influencer relations journey. Specialists tend to be lower cost than the larger firms, and much easier to work with on things like scheduling inquiries, getting quotes for press releases, and even performing custom work like creating a total addressable market for your new startup’s space. These are firms like 650 Group, Constellation Research, ESG Global, RedMonk, and Ventana Research.
Many of these companies specialize in coverage areas, like 650 Group’s in-depth expertise of the networking space, or audiences, such as RedMonk’s grasp of developers.
Who Should You Work With?
Bluntly, if you’re a startup in the enterprise space, there’s no way to avoid the Gartner tax. Paying it doesn’t guarantee coverage or endorsement. It only offers accessibility to analysts and their research. You can, however, delay when you pay it. If you’ve just gotten a seed or Series A, you don’t need a subscription with any of the big analyst firms. You’re still validating markets and products, and figuring out what your ideal customer profile looks like. There’s little a large firm can do to help you.
Instead, look at some of the specialist firms that may have better expertise in your specific market. They’ll certainly be easier to work with as you’re getting started, and they’re often far more flexible on how you engage with analysts. With some firms, you can work with them on a project basis without worrying about a long-term annual commitment. If you want to build a custom TAM model to share with VCs as you raise future rounds, for example, specialist firms are often ideal for this type of work.
I’ll go into more detail about how to engage with analyst and influencer firms in future articles.
Wrapping Up
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of analyst firms. Some are household names with immense sway in the enterprise technology space. Others are niche, targeting specific topics and audiences. Don’t presume you have to work with a large name out of the gate. Figure out what your needs are and locate the best analyst firm for you at your company’s level of maturity and future growth trajectory.
Now that you’ve got a foundation in the types of firms available, here’s how you can engage with them.
As always, if there’s something you’d like me to cover about analyst and influencer relations for startups, drop a comment or find me on Twitter.
Where To Go Next?
Check out these other articles on Sway for Startups:
