3 Common Mistakes Founders Make in Analyst Relations
May 4, 2026·2 min read·
By
PBPrateek Bhajanka
If you are taking a cookie cutter approach to Gartner, Forrester, IDC, Frost, etc then you are doing more harm than good to yourself and the industry.
Analyst relations is not a tick in the box, or one time activity or even a self-centered discussion. It is a bridge to meet the buyers' problem statements, challenges with the solution you are selling and building.
Mistake 1: The founders assume all the analyst firms are the same.
Reality 1: All the analyst firms and their priorities are different:
- Gartner - is more end-user focussed and has qualitative buyers insights
- IDC - is more technology vendor focussed and has quantitative insights
- Forrester - focusses on end users too and usually starts coverage of newer technology sooner than Gartner
- KuppingerCole - focuses on end-users too but mostly on research rather than advisory
- Frost - is mostly research driven too.
Mistake 2: The founders execute the briefings the same way for all the analyst firms.
Reality 2: The briefings approach should be different
Gartner:
- Plan a series of engagements rather than dumping everything in one call
- Start with the problem statement, use-cases, differentiators of the product, GTM strategy
- Product demos - focused on the core use-cases and non-core use-cases
Forrester:
- Focus more on the product capabilities rather than GTM pitch
- Plan at least 2 calls to go over the product and its differentiating capabilities in depth
IDC:
- Focus on field data based on your customer base and insights
- Walk through your entire portfolio of services and products
Mistake 3: Not focussing on adjacent markets and coverage.
Reality 3: Understanding the analysts' coverage area
- In Gartner, the analysts' coverages for markets are well defined
- If you are an EDR vendor, it makes sense to speak with EDR analysts as primary and CNAPP and SOC analysts as secondary
- Gartner TSP and ITL analysts serve different purposes — treat ITL analysts as primary for end-user insights
If any of this feels uncomfortably familiar, it's fixable. Reach out at prateek@fieldciso.com
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