Article · 14 min read

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

Michael King and Stacy D'Amico · a16z Free Advanced

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.

  • 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.
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The question it answers

  1. When should we start talking to Gartner and Forrester, and what do we actually say?

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