Dear startups: Do not confuse Industry Analysts (IAs) with Financial Analysts (FAs). At least one of the two is amazingly useful for you.
We’ve all heard it:
„Financial ANALYSTS... Their projections are always off! What do they know? Cause of all evil..."
Fair or not - Here’s a different point:
Industry Analysts ARE NOT Financial Analysts.
FAs natural habitat: Balance sheets, P&L, mathematical indicators. Based on which they gauge financial health and project future performance.
IAs live and breathe business technology. They look into root business decisions, product vision, tech and capabilities, differentiation, roadmaps and delivery excellence.
One value proposition of IAs is to protect buyers from making poor tech/vendor decisions in our increasingly complex business technology world.
Hence, for startups in b2b tech, briefing IAs is critical.
But it is hard.
Try to explain your business with plain meaningful facts. Even acknowledging uncertainty. W/o competitor bashing. In less than 10 steps.
Sales & Marketing struggle the most.
I help my clients do this. The harder they find it, the more they gain:
Clarity on Product-Market-Fit and Go-To-Market.
IAs guidance is # 1 impact in 60-80% of b2b tech decisions.
Investors and M&A use IAs insights.
It’s the part of the game you don’t want to miss.