Why Analyst Relations Matter Earlier Than You Think
When you are building a digital health company, analyst relations might feel like something to worry about later. Maybe after Series B. Maybe when you have a polished marketing team. Maybe when “real” buyers start calling you back.
But waiting too long is a mistake. Analyst relations are not a late-stage activity — they’re an early-stage advantage. They act as extensions of your go-to-market strategy and help tell your story to the buyers and investors you want to reach. They also shape shortlists and influence perception long before your sales team ever gets a meeting.
In this piece, we’ll look at the role analysts play in an increasingly competitive market, how they work, when to engage them, and how to prepare in advance. I’ll also share a few analyst firms you can start engaging with well before launch day.
The Role of Analyst Firms in the Digital Health Market
Working with analyst firms isn’t just about press releases and vendor awards. It is about credibility, influence, and accelerating market trust. We increasingly see that analyst insights are used by:
- Health system executives evaluating technology investments
- Private equity firms and venture capital firms doing due diligence
- Channel partners choosing what to integrate and resell
Good analyst relations help you in three ways: they validate you externally, sharpen you internally, and open doors you cannot always open alone.
Here are some of the key firms digital health companies should understand:
| Firm | Known For | Useful When |
| Gartner | Wide healthcare IT coverage, vendor briefings, Hype Cycles | Category creation, late-seed through growth-stage |
| KLAS Research | Healthcare-specific, provider interviews, early validation | Seed to growth-stage validation with providers |
| Spotlight AR | Analyst relations coaching for startups | Early-stage readiness and positioning |
| The Skills Connection | Analyst report strategy and response guidance | Optimizing Gartner Magic Quadrant or Forrester Wave submissions |
| Forrester | Bold, sometimes emerging tech focused | Brand presence for mid-market and enterprise |
| Info-Tech Research Group | Growing fast, client-focused research | Alternative to Gartner for smaller companies |
| IDC | Market sizing, IT buyer intelligence, global research across healthcare and life sciences | Mapping market opportunity, sizing TAM/SAM/SOM, supporting investor narratives |
Every firm has a different style and different influence patterns. Picking the right starting point matters. We’ll explore how each one works later in this piece—but first, the basics.
How Analyst Firms Work
If you are newer to analyst relations, it can feel like a secret club. It is not. But you do need to know the rules of the road. The most common starting points are:
- Vendor Briefings: Most major firms, including Gartner and Forrester, offer free vendor briefings. This is where you present your company, solution, and differentiation to the analysts who cover your space. It is your opportunity to educate them, but they may ask tough questions.
- Research Inclusion: Getting into a published market guide, report, or evaluation can put you on buyer shortlists. But research inclusion is not guaranteed. It often requires proof points, customer traction, and category fit.
- First Look / Emerging Tech Reports: KLAS offers “First Look” or “Emerging Tech” reports where earlier-stage vendors can get reviewed based on a smaller set of customer interviews. It is a faster, earlier way to build credibility.
- Peer Review Programs: Some firms offer customer review programs where your users can submit feedback that gets aggregated into broader reports.
- Due Diligence Support: For firms like KLAS, investor communities rely on their deep-dive due diligence research before writing checks.
Being a Client Does Not Guarantee Love
Buying a subscription doesn’t mean analysts will favor you. In fact, most analysts guard their credibility fiercely. Good products and honest positioning get traction. Trying to buy your way to better coverage usually backfires.
When and How to Start Engaging Analysts
You don’t need $10 million in revenue to start analyst engagement. But you do need a few basic ingredients:
- A working solution (even if it is still evolving)
- At least 1-2 live customer deployments (even pilots)
- A story that connects your technology to a real-world problem
The right time to engage is when you can tell a credible story that shows real-world use, even in a small way.
Here’s a basic starting playbook if you are just getting started with analyst relations.
- First, take time to research and identify the firms that matter most to your specific target buyers. Not every firm influences the same audiences. Choose two or three to start with that align with your solution and market entry point.
- Next, request a vendor briefing through their website. Most major firms, including Gartner and Forrester, have simple online forms you can complete. Make sure you are clear about what coverage area your solution fits into so your request routes to the right analyst.
- Once the briefing is scheduled, invest time into preparing a tight and credible briefing deck. Focus on clear messaging: the problem you solve, how you solve it differently, and evidence from the field — even if it is early. Analysts will appreciate facts over fluff.
- During the briefing itself, be ready for hard questions. Analysts are not there to be impressed; they are there to learn. If you do not know an answer, be honest and offer to follow up.
- Finally, after the briefing, keep the relationship warm. Send meaningful updates every few months about milestones, wins, or notable market trends you are seeing. Analyst relations are built over time, not in one meeting.
You do not need an army of PR people to get started. You just need clarity, humility, and consistency.
How to Prepare for an Analyst Briefing
Walking into an analyst briefing unprepared is one of the fastest ways to waste the opportunity. The best analyst briefings have three things in common:
A Tight, Credible Narrative
You need to explain:
- What problem you solve
- Who cares about it
- Why you are better or different
- How you are gaining traction
Clear Proof Points
Analysts are trained to spot vaporware. Show live deployments, quote customer feedback, and share early usage data if you can.
A Conversation, Not a Commercial
Expect the analysts to ask hard questions. Welcome it. Be honest about what you know and where you are still learning.
Here is a simple table you can use to prepare:
| Question You Must Answer | Example |
| Who is your buyer persona? | “Chief Medical Officer at mid-sized health systems.” |
| What measurable problem do you solve? | “Reduce readmissions by improving medication regimen compliance by 22%.” |
| What is your current deployment footprint? | “5 live systems across 2 states, with 3 more contracted.” |
| What category or market space do you fit into? | “Post-acute patient engagement platforms.” |
Remember, if you try to be everything to everyone, you’ll convince no one.
Beyond the Briefing: How to Activate Analyst Relationships
The companies who win with analysts don’t just show up once. They stay engaged. You should think about analyst relations like you think about customer success:
- Regular updates when you launch major features, sign new customers, or hit milestones
- Providing customer references who can share their stories
- Sharing market trends you are seeing on the ground
Good analyst relationships are built on mutual value. You help them stay informed. They help you stay visible.
In parallel, activate your analyst traction in your sales and marketing:
- Cite analyst recognition (carefully and appropriately)
- Train your sales team to reference analyst trends that favor your category
- Use analyst validation to de-risk your solution in buyers’ minds
Navigating Specific Analyst Firms (What to Know)
Every firm has its own rhythms and expectations. Knowing how to approach each one will make your analyst engagement smoother and more successful.
Gartner
Gartner is often the first name people recognize in analyst relations. They offer free vendor briefings that give you a chance to tell your story, but you need to fit into their structured market categories. If your solution lines up cleanly, the process moves faster. If not, it might take some back-and-forth to find the right home for your story.
Pro Tip: Focus your briefing on the measurable outcomes you deliver. Analysts want to understand where you fit within their frameworks, how you differentiate, and what customer proof you have. A clear, confident, and data-backed story will resonate.
KLAS Research
KLAS is deeply aligned with provider organizations. Their “First Look” and “Emerging Tech” programs are designed for earlier-stage vendors who have at least a handful of customer references. Unlike Gartner, KLAS builds much of its reputation through direct interviews with end users — not just reviewing your pitch deck.
Pro Tip: Be ready to connect KLAS directly to your customers. Providers trust KLAS research because it reflects their peers’ voices, not just marketing claims. Having even a few enthusiastic customers willing to speak makes a huge difference.
Spotlight AR and The Skills Connection
These two organizations specialize in helping companies prepare for and maximize analyst relations. Think of them as trusted advisors who can coach you on everything from messaging to managing research evaluations like Gartner Magic Quadrants or Forrester Waves.
Pro Tip: If your internal team is small or inexperienced with analysts, outside help can save you months of frustration. Spotlight AR and The Skills Connection can sharpen your value proposition and make sure you avoid rookie mistakes.
Forrester
Forrester remains a strong and important voice, especially around customer experience, patient engagement, and emerging technology landscapes. Their “Wave” reports are highly visible in certain healthcare segments and can directly influence buyer behavior.
Pro Tip: Focus your Forrester engagement on how your solution impacts the patient or member journey. Analysts appreciate companies that can articulate measurable improvements in consumer experience, clinical workflows, or cost efficiency.
Info-Tech Research Group
Info-Tech is becoming an attractive option for earlier-stage companies looking for meaningful engagement without some of the barriers found at larger firms. Their approach is known for being highly actionable and more accessible to emerging vendors.
Pro Tip: If you are earlier in your journey and looking for high-ROI analyst engagement, Info-Tech can offer good value. Prepare to share clear case studies and client outcomes to maximize your footprint with their research teams.
IDC
IDC is widely recognized for its market intelligence, global reach, and deep quantitative research. In healthcare and life sciences, they are particularly helpful for companies looking to define and validate total addressable market (TAM), segment dynamics, and buyer behavior across IT decision-makers.
Pro Tip: If your team is crafting investor materials, pricing strategy, or market expansion planning, IDC’s data sets can be a powerful support. They are often referenced by both strategic and financial buyers when evaluating growth-stage companies.
Bottom Line: Analyst Relations Are a Growth Accelerator
Analyst relations is not an optional “nice to have” for later. It is an early investment in trust-building that pays off across sales, marketing, and fundraising.
Even modest engagement early on can:
- Build third-party validation you can point to in sales cycles
- Strengthen your category positioning
- Surface feedback that sharpens your product strategy
You don’t need a huge budget to start. You just need clarity, humility, and consistency.
If you are serious about succeeding in digital health, investing in smart, steady analyst engagement is one of the best moves you can make.
We can help
If you want help getting started with analyst relations, or building an analyst activation strategy that actually moves revenue, reach out. We work with digital health companies who are ready to show up differently — and succeed faster. Write to us at info@accretiveedge.com.
