a16z

Rare conversation that ties category creation directly to pricing power and to reading real product market fit signals in enterprise deals. Useful when you are deciding whether to spend on a category play at all.

a16z Podcast: Creating a Category, from Pricing to Positioning

On a16z by Martin Casado, Michel Feaster, Sonal Chokshi 37 min

A four stage model for analyst relations from inbound only to a dedicated team, written for founders rather than AR professionals. It is honest that the value is market intelligence long before it is a quadrant placement.

Why You Should Engage With Analysts, and How to Do It Right

From a16z by Michael King and Stacy D'Amico 14 min read

• Gartner and peers influence the slower moving buyers who drive about 70 percent of enterprise technology spend.
• A commercial analyst relationship needs 25 to 30 percent of one person's time to run properly.
• Plan on 6 to 10 analysts: about 4 you work with regularly plus a few covering adjacent markets.
• You cannot be in a Magic Quadrant for a category of one, Gartner only builds them for mature markets.