Yardstick

Anand, founder of CB Insights (approaching $100M in revenue), identified a critical gap in how enterprise software buyers make purchase decisions. Existing platforms like G2 Crowd rely on user-submitted reviews that are often untrustworthy, fake, or not representative of the buyer's specific situation. For enterprise companies with 500+ employees, choosing the wrong software—like a CRM or customer service platform—can cost millions of dollars. Yet the research process remains inefficient and unreliable.

Launched just 90 days before this discussion, Yardstick's MVP is deceptively simple: researchers conduct structured interviews with software buyers who have purchased in the last two years. They ask seven key questions: who else did you consider, who did you pick, what price did you pay, would you renew, and what's your customer satisfaction? The transcripts are then compiled and sold to two customer segments: investment bankers making public/private market decisions, and enterprise software buyers conducting their own procurement.

Anand leveraged his existing network from CB Insights to seed initial customers. The positioning was clear: rather than compete with G2 Crowd on SEO (an uphill battle), Yardstick inverts the business model entirely. G2 makes money from vendor sponsorships and ads; Yardstick charges buyers directly. This eliminates conflicts of interest and ensures data integrity.

The pricing strategy—$30-40k annually—targets a specific buyer profile: enterprises for whom software decisions carry seven-figure consequences. This price point makes sense because the research saves weeks of diligence and reduces the risk of costly mistakes. Unlike newsletter-based or community-based monetization (which the speaker explicitly cautions against), Yardstick moves toward the transaction, charging for access to analyzed, original research.

The business also benefits from Anand's credibility. CB Insights employs rigorous research standards; customers trust Yardstick will conduct interviews properly and synthesize insights honestly.

At 90 days in, Yardstick remains lean—Anand plus seven employees. The speaker predicts it could become a $100M+ business, comparing it in potential to CB Insights itself. The architecture is elegant: a small team of researchers can generate high-margin SaaS revenue by simply conducting interviews and packaging transcripts. The bigger opportunity lies downstream: as Yardstick accumulates interview data, it becomes a proprietary database of software market insights, pricing trends, and buyer behavior—moat-building content that becomes more valuable over time.