What are the best databases for a newbie to evaluate industry dynamics?

May 13, 2020

by a searcher from Harvard University - Harvard Business School in San Francisco, CA, USA

Hi folks! I'm at the earliest stages of evaluating whether a Search fund is right for me. I'm starting to research potential industries to target. I know there are a number of databases where one could look. What's the best place to start? Thank you!

6 Likes

16 Replies

271 Views

Replies

Reply by a searcher
from Indiana University at Bloomington in Bloomington, IN, USA

I realize you are just trying to identify industries, but at such a high level a lot of that data might be too general to be of much help to you. So as a supplemental or complimentary tactic, you could select some industries that you have reason to think might be promising. Then seek out the trade associations for those specific industries. Most of the key players in and around that industry will be members of these trade associations. The associations, and/or their members who do consulting, often publish useful data, articles, case studies, etc. Some of that is available for free or inexpensively. Additionally, you might find people through the association that you can just reach out to directly for conversations. Depending on the size of the industry, there may be just a few key players who are the known hubs/connectors. People will share a surprising amount of inside intel and insights if you just reach out, show interest, ask smart questions, and are a good listener. This may be especially right now, when so many of us are stuck at home twiddling our thumbs. Good luck in your search! Hope those ideas help you!

Reply by a professional
from Yale University in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

@Kusum: If you have time on your hands and if you are looking outside the US, you may wish to access data provided free by many business registries in a format called XBRL. With XBRL, data comes alive. Unfortunately, private companies in the US do not provide data in XBRL though public companies do. You could also check out the website of Open Corporates. It is free unless you are an industrial user but the data quality is not great,

+14 more replies.

Join the discussion