Inside IriusRisk’s Enterprise Go-to-Market Strategy: When and How to Engage Industry Analysts

For B2B founders navigating enterprise sales, industry analysts can either be powerful allies or an expensive distraction. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, IriusRisk CEO Stephen de Vries shared how they developed a nuanced approach to analyst relations that aligns with specific market segments and growth stages.

Market-Dependent Impact

The first lesson from IriusRisk’s experience is that analyst influence varies significantly by market segment. As Stephen explains, “If you’re selling to the enterprise space, I think the analysts play a bigger role. If you’re selling to maybe directly to engineers or a b to C space or even B2B in mid market, probably not so much.”

This insight helped IriusRisk avoid the common mistake of treating analyst relations as a universal requirement. Instead, they recognized that alternative channels might be more effective for certain segments: “I think the online services like Captera and the comparison sites, they probably have a bigger influence to play than the analysts.”

The Enterprise Reality

For enterprise sales, however, analyst relationships remain crucial. Stephen notes that “in the enterprise space, we found that working with analysts makes a difference and they’re still seen as the reference.”

This influence manifests in how enterprises make purchasing decisions. Rather than viewing analysts as kingmakers who directly control deals, IriusRisk found their role to be more consultative. Stephen explains that analysts “will mention products. I don’t think they’ll essentially be kind of overly pushy on choosing a particular product, but they’ll try and stay consultative in that respect and just let you know that there are products that can help solve particular problems for you.”

Building Productive Analyst Relationships

IriusRisk’s approach to analyst relations focuses on sharing market insights rather than just pitching products. “We’re talking to the analysts saying, look, this is what we see, and this is where we see industry going, and this is what our product can do,” Stephen explains.

This strategy aligns with how analysts work with their enterprise clients. As Stephen notes, “The end clients of the analysts are asking those kinds of questions, and they’re also asking broader questions around, hey, I’ve got this kind of problem. I’m doing this kind of security activity, and it’s taking me too long, and I don’t have adoption within my engineering teams. How do I solve that?”

Timing Your Analyst Investment

IriusRisk’s experience shows that timing matters in analyst relations. Their investment in analyst relationships coincided with growing regulatory tailwinds in the security industry. As Stephen explains, “now is the first time when we’re saying maybe it’ll be good idea that we look at the design of the things we’re building from a security perspective before we go and build them.”

This market context made analyst relationships more valuable, as enterprises increasingly needed guidance on navigating new security requirements.

Measuring Success

The impact of analyst relations at IriusRisk can be seen in their growth numbers: “112% growth, and the year before that, were at about 104%. So 85 was a slower year for us.” While this growth isn’t solely attributable to analyst relations, their strategic approach to analyst engagement has supported their enterprise expansion.

For B2B founders, IriusRisk’s experience offers valuable lessons in how to approach analyst relations:

1. Match analyst investment to your target market
2. Focus on sharing market insights, not just product features
3. Time analyst engagement with market developments
4. Maintain a balanced approach that includes other channels

The key is understanding when analyst relationships truly matter for your growth – and being strategic about how you build them.