Guide to Research on Privately-Held Companies

If your company has a product or service to sell, you must be able to quickly and efficiently locate information on privately held companies, which will point you to the most likely prospects for your goods and services. Among other things, this will help you build viable mail and call lists. So in addition to finding out who your prospects are, you'll also need to locate valuable, yet often well-guarded, financial and contact information for those prospects.

While privately held companies are often quite secretive about their business information, there are ways to penetrate the corporate "wall of silence." Private company research can be done in various ways. Yet the greatest boon to researching the privately held company has been the advent of the Internet, which places all the information you need right at your fingertips. Some places you'll find information on privately held companies online include:

1. Company websites

2. Online business directories

3. News sites

4. Online trade or professional journals

5. Online business journals

6. Websites specifically intended to help you research privately held companies

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Use reference sites that offer information on privately held companies

Some of these websites offer information only for companies within a particular industry, while others take a more comprehensive approach, providing research on privately held companies in a broad range of industries.

I recommend: Reference USA and Hoovers provide research on privately held businesses in many different business classifications, and ThomasNet offers info specifically on manufacturing companies.

Visit how-to sites that take you step by step through the company research process

Some websites will lead you through the entire process of finding information on privately held companies, providing links to many different resources that you can use in your research.

I recommend: Polson Enterprises provides a wealth of information on researching an industry or specific company on its "Market Research, Industry Research, Business Research" webpage.

Try sites that aren't aimed specifically at business to business research

Many individuals have reason to research privately held companies. Two examples are job seekers and investors. So, be sure to take advantage of the private business research information you may glean from these sites, as well as those aimed at business-based researchers.

I recommend: About.com and Quintessential Careers are two websites aimed at job seekers, which offer a great deal of helpful information and resources for doing research on privately held companies. BusinessWeek offers investing and stock research, categorized by company and industry, for investors or business people interested in the viability of a privately held company's financial position.

Check websites that provide data on the largest privately held companies for comparative info

Many websites rank the top 5,000, 500, or 50 privately held corporations or companies. These sites provide info that can help put things in perspective for you as you seek information on the medium or small privately held businesses you need to research.

I recommend: Inc.com offers its Inc.5000, which it refers to as "The Fastest Growing Private Companies in America."

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• When you research privately held companies, be sure to use a number of different online resources. Doing so will help you build the most comprehensive informational profile for the business.

The official source of Research on Privately-Held Companies is
the Research on Privately-Held Companies page at Business.com