Scouring the internet for private company data requires a great deal of diligence and creativity, but it’s crucial to developing your market competency. Unlike with publicly traded companies, information is often not dependable and is scattered across a number of fragmented private company data sources, such as Crunchbase, Datanyze, LinkedIn, Glassdoor and others.
Aside from current challenges in collecting this information, when you’re committed to the work of researching private companies, you start to realize the benefits it has for you as a hungry entrepreneur or an educated investor. Accurate, comprehensive data lets you take apart that Magic 8-ball to get answers to questions that may help the future of your business and how you operate within your shared space.
Why Private Company Data is Hard to Compile
Private companies can be intentionally quiet about their products, solutions, operations, strategy and finances — making it really hard for anyone without an inside track to get meaningful insight on them. To get a complete snapshot of these companies, you have to piece together multiple data sources, often some with stale information.
You then need to cross-check that information and curate a point of view of reputation, market momentum, and scale. And unless you know where to look, and know how to piece together the scattered tidbits you collect from various private company data sources, you can’t build a cohesive picture of the business. And if you can’t do that for all of your competitors and comparators, your market competency will suffer.
Get an Edge Over Competitors
Knowing your market cold, especially with the constant infiltration of early-stage private companies, is not an easy task. Private company research is a manual effort, but one that’s fundamental for being the most prepared in the room. When you learn about a company, its product and the market it operates within, you also begin to understand the level of maturity in go-to-market capabilities of the company due to the clarity, frequency and activity in these various data sources.
Whether you’re looking for idea generation, financial performance metrics, valuation modeling, conducting risk assessments — or wondering about total amount raised, rounds of funding, shared owned content, employee headcount, and more — analyzing and researching private companies is imperative for keeping tabs on leading incumbents and rising newcomers.
Private company data is the key to determining whether a company will be able to keep up with its competitors. The more data you have that your competitors cannot access, the greater the competitive advantage — one that not only gives instant credibility but positions you in a place of preparedness to cultivate meaningful conversations with prospects.
A robust database of information that continuously evolves at the speed of the internet is the insights engine that will give the distinct edge needed in delivering benchmark-beating ROI.
Whether you’re keeping a close watch on your current investment portfolio or on your competitors’ current standing, tracking performance with private company data can offer the insights you need to make confident decisions.
How are you researching private companies to stay ahead of the competition?
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