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Crunchbase vs. Pitchbook
For those who have subscriptions to/used both, what's the difference between the two? What do you/your company pay for the Pitchbook subscription?
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We believed Pitchbook would be useful in the development and execution of a robust fundraising strategy and process for our early stage startup (we'd already closed on a $750k convertible note).
The database itself is impressive. Easily the most robust and complete set of early stage investor data we discovered, and it seems about as accurate as could be expected (MUCH better than Crunchbase, but still lots of invalid data).
However, translating that robust data set into anything remotely useful for our purposes proved to be fruitless.
We were explicit from the outset about our intent, and the ISR clearly understood our objectives. They seemed to be intent on enabling our success, right up until we signed the contract, and from that point forward, the AE was downright combative.
At every touchpoint post-agreement, the AE interfered with our intended use of the product, attempted to extract more fees (at 50-100% increases to what we'd already paid), and we soon found ourselves resenting both the company and the money spent.
Really interesting and insightful — thank you! Congrats on closing the convertible note :) A few other questions based on your experience:
1) Beyond Crunchbase and Pitchbook, did you consider other potential platforms (e.g. CB Insights, etc.)?
2) $18k/year for how many licenses/seats? Were you originally quoted a higher price and settled on $18k, or was it un-negotiable?
3) What were some of the more painful limitations they imposed on you? How did that impact how useful the platform was to you?
Also, what was the AE trying to upsell you on after you signed the contract?
I hate when that happens. All nice until the sale then they nickel and dime you to death...
This answer is focused more on Pitchbook's value, but might help:
Question
Is Pitchbook worth the pricing?Answer
Pitchbook is quite expensive but still has valuable data and reports that we use frequently. The reason why it's not a definite yes is that you have alternative sources (Crunchbase primarily), that you can get funding data for a variety of companies. For early-stage deals, it's rarely accurate, but for growth-stage deals the funding details - investors, valuation, timing, etc. is helpful. I would say if you're a small fund with limited management fee and focused on early stage, it's tough to justify. If you're a larger fund and you are doing later stage deals where that intel is valuable I think it's worth it.
Looking for a better way to plan remote meetings across time zones, and keep up with events. What software is doing that best today?
WRT pricing: As of 11/2019, we paid $18k for a year. I forget the limitations in our agreement, but there were many, and they were not obvious until it came time to use the system and it was crippled for our purposes.