If your job depends on spotting what’s next—new funding rounds, shifting competitors, or weird blips in your industry—you can’t afford to miss the signals. Manually checking dashboards all day? That’s a fast track to burnout and missed opportunities. This guide is for anyone who needs market intel from CB Insights piped straight to them, not buried in another browser tab.
CB Insights (cb-insights.html) is a beast of a tool for tracking companies, investments, and industry trends. But unless you set up custom alerts, you’re only scratching the surface. Here’s how to build alerts that actually work for you, not against you.
Why Bother With Custom Alerts?
Let’s be honest: The default alerts in most platforms are either way too noisy or miss the stuff you actually care about. Custom alerts, when set up right, mean:
- You’ll get pinged only when something truly relevant happens.
- You stop wasting time babysitting dashboards.
- You can react (or at least look like you’re on top of things) before everyone else.
But if you overdo it, you’ll drown in notifications. The trick is to be ruthless: set up only what you’ll actually use, and review your alerts every so often to trim the fat.
Step 1: Get Clear on What You Actually Want to Track
Before you even log in, think about what you care about:
- Specific companies (competitors, partners, acquisition targets)
- Sectors or technologies (e.g., “generative AI”, “battery tech”)
- Funding rounds (Series A in fintech, for example)
- Acquisitions or exits
- Regulatory moves or patents (if you’re into the weeds)
Pro tip: Don’t try to track everything. Start with your “oh crap, I wish I’d known that sooner” moments from the past few months.
Step 2: Log In and Find the Alerts Section
- Fire up CB Insights and log in.
- Look for “Alerts” or “Notifications” in the main menu. Sometimes it’s tucked under your profile icon or under “Settings.”
- If you don’t see anything called “Alerts,” try searching their help docs—sometimes the terminology changes slightly.
If your plan doesn’t include custom alerts, you might get stonewalled here. Don’t bother hacking around it—just ask your admin or sales rep what’s possible and move on.
Step 3: Choose Your Alert Type
CB Insights offers a few types of alerts, but the main ones are:
- Company alerts: Updates on specific companies (funding, product launches, leadership changes).
- Search/topic alerts: Updates about sectors, technologies, or custom search queries.
- List alerts: Notifications about companies you’ve grouped together in a list (for example, “Top 20 Insurtech Startups”).
Pick the type that matches what you listed in Step 1. Here’s the honest truth: Start simple. You can always layer on more complexity later.
Step 4: Create and Fine-Tune Your Alert
For a Single Company
- Search for the company profile.
- Look for an “Alert” or “Follow” button—usually at the top right.
- Click it. Choose what you want to be notified about (funding, M&A, news, etc.).
- Set your delivery preferences (email, in-app, sometimes Slack).
For a Sector or Custom Search
- Use the main search bar to enter your keywords (“robotic process automation,” “quantum computing,” etc.).
- Narrow your search using filters (date, funding type, geography, etc.).
- Look for a “Create Alert” or “Save Search & Alert” button.
- CB Insights will now watch for new activity matching your criteria.
For a List of Companies
- Build a list by adding companies as you browse.
- Name your list something obvious (“2024 IPO Watchlist” beats “List 3”).
- In the list view, look for “Set Alert” or similar.
- Choose what events to be notified about.
Pro Tips
- Don’t over-select. Every checkbox you tick is another possible notification. Less is more.
- Test your first alert. Trigger one manually if you can, or wait for a real event and see if you get notified.
- If the platform lets you set frequency (instant, daily, weekly), start less frequent. You can always crank it up if you feel FOMO.
Step 5: Double-Check Your Notification Settings
- Go to your overall notification preferences (usually in your profile or settings).
- Make sure your email isn’t going to spam. (Seriously. These things love the Promotions tab.)
- If you want alerts in Slack or Teams, connect your account if available. Setup can be a pain, but it’s worth it if you live in chat apps.
If you’re not receiving alerts, check if your IT department or spam filter is blocking them. Happens more often than you’d think.
Step 6: Review and Adjust Regularly
The first week, you’ll probably get too many alerts—or not enough. Here’s what to do:
- Too noisy? Dial back trigger types or delete less important alerts.
- Too quiet? Broaden your filters or add more companies/topics.
- Set a reminder to review your alerts every quarter. Priorities change.
If you just ignore alerts, you’ll train yourself to miss important stuff. Ruthlessly prune or pause any that don’t serve you.
What Works, What Doesn’t, and What’s Overhyped
What works: - Company-specific alerts (for direct competitors or key partners) are usually spot on. - Custom search/topic alerts are powerful if you dial in the filters. - List alerts are handy for tracking a whole group (e.g., your sales target list).
What doesn’t: - Broad, generic topic alerts (“AI,” “retail,” “blockchain”) will drown you in noise. - “All news” alerts are basically a firehose—avoid unless you love scrolling. - Relying on alerts as your only source of truth. Sometimes even CB Insights misses a headline or lags by a day.
Overhyped features: - “Smart” or “AI-powered” recommendations can be hit or miss. Test before you trust. - Real-time alerts often aren’t truly real-time—expect a lag, sometimes several hours.
Troubleshooting: If Alerts Aren’t Firing
- Double-check your filters—overly narrow settings mean you’ll get nothing.
- Confirm your email, Slack, or app settings.
- Make sure the companies or topics you care about are actually tracked by CB Insights (smaller startups or stealth companies might get missed).
- If you need help, CB Insights’ support is usually responsive. Just be clear about what you set up and what’s not working.
Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
You don’t need a million alerts to stay ahead. Start with a handful of high-signal, low-noise triggers. See what actually helps. Cut what doesn’t. Add new ones as your needs change—or as you realize you missed a big story.
The best alert system is the one you actually use. Don’t overthink it—set up your first alert, see how it feels, and tweak as you go. Happy monitoring!