Anand Sanwal is the founder and CEO of CB Insights. He clarifies that CB Insights seeks to integrate non-traditional startup data into established risk models rather than replace legacy credit bureaus.
Assertion Supported
JPMorgan is avoiding blockchain and digital currency, unlike Goldman Sachs
“When you compare that, for instance, to JP Morgan, you don't, you see JP Morgan has sort of avoided the digital currency space, right? They're not doing anything in blockchain or Bitcoin you know, like Goldman is, right?”
Insight
Unfunded corporate partnerships with startups are always a waste of time
“Oh god, yeah so big companies will come to you. If you're a startup here, they'll come to you and say, hey, we don't have any money, but we want to do a partnership, and like, they'll use terms like joint value creation. Like, you should just run fast from the…”
Disclosure
CB Insights sees a bigger opportunity competing with McKinsey than Bloomberg
“I, you know, I really think of us more, to some degree, going after, like, McKinsey, right? So if you think about McKinsey services as a pyramid, there's sort of that bottom layer, which is sort of, you know, what are my competitors doing, and where are market…”
Insight
Sanwal advises B2B data startups against being the low-cost provider
“Do not be the low-cost provider. Like, just do, like, again, I'm going to be very emphatic about these, this advice, but You know, your mileage may vary. We started at some ridiculously low price, like, just don't do that.”
Insight
Distribution partnerships almost never work for startups
“And then, sort of similar, distribution partnerships sound good, but they almost never work.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Business lags behind sports and politics in adopting predictive analytics
“Political forecasting, professional sports have sort of adopted predictive analytics and used it to make better decisions. The business world really hasn't, right?”