Brad LaPorte: How Gartner Works & The Role Analysts Play in Shaping New Market Categories

In today’s episode, we’re doing something a little different from our usual founder interviews and we’re speaking with Brad LaPorte — a former Gartner and current go-to-market advisor for cybersecurity startups. In the interview, Brad gives us a behind-the-scenes look into how Gartner works and helps us understand the role analysts place in shaping market categories.

Topics discussed:

• High-level overview of what Gartner is and how it works (Both from a vendor and buyer perspective).
• What the perfect analyst relations program looks like for an early-stage VC-backed startup.
• What founders should do if they feel they don’t fit into existing market categories.  
• What happens behind the scenes when Gartner creates a new category 
• The most common mistakes founders make when it comes to analyst relations 
• 3 pieces of advice for startups looking to engage analysts as they take their idea to market