If you work in strategy, product, or leadership, you know the feeling: Are we keeping up with the best? What’s everyone else doing that we’re missing? It’s easy to get lost in opinions and gut checks. What you want is real data—something that cuts through the noise and tells you how your company actually stacks up. That’s where CB Insights comes in.
This guide is for folks who want to use CB Insights to benchmark their company against industry leaders—without wasting hours, or falling into the trap of chasing vanity metrics. I’ll walk you through how to get what you need, skip what you don’t, and avoid common traps.
1. Get the Basics: What CB Insights Actually Does (and Doesn’t)
Before you dive in, get clear on what CB Insights is good for—and where it falls short.
CB Insights strengths: - Massive database on private and public companies, funding rounds, acquisitions, patents, and more. - Industry maps, market trends, and company “mosaics” that show traction and signals. - Detailed profiles on startups and established players, including financials, investors, and deals.
Weak spots: - Some data (especially financials for private companies) is estimated, not gospel. - Not every company is covered, especially in niche or non-tech industries. - The interface is powerful, but it’s easy to get lost in features you don’t need.
Bottom line: Use it for big-picture comparisons, market signals, and to spot gaps. Don’t expect it to give you the secret sauce behind someone else’s success.
2. Set Up Your Benchmarking Goal (Don’t Skip This)
Decide what you actually want to learn. “Benchmarking” is a slippery word. Are you trying to: - Compare your funding and growth to top competitors? - See how your product or patent portfolio stacks up? - Find out which markets or customer segments leaders are targeting? - Identify new opportunities or warning signs?
Pro tip: Pick 1-2 clear questions. Example: “How does our growth and investor interest compare to the top 5 companies in our space?” If you try to benchmark everything, you’ll spend days spinning your wheels.
3. Build Your Comparison Set (Don’t Just Take Their Word For It)
CB Insights tries to help by grouping “competitors” or “industry peers” for you. Sometimes it nails it; other times, you’ll get a random grab bag.
Here’s how to build a useful comparison set:
- Start with your known competitors. Search for their company profiles directly.
- Use Collections and Lists. Add companies you know, then use CB Insights’ “similar companies” feature to find others.
- Check industry maps and market landscapes. These are pre-built groupings by CB Insights that can help you spot leaders and up-and-comers. Just be ready to toss out irrelevant entries.
- Don’t forget the outliers. Sometimes the best insights come from companies you don’t usually watch—think smaller disruptors or “adjacent” players.
What to ignore: Don’t obsess over getting the “official” list of competitors. Every industry changes fast. Focus on relevance, not completeness.
4. Choose the Right Metrics (And Skip the Vanity Stuff)
CB Insights throws a ton of data at you—funding, headcount, patent filings, web traffic, and a bunch of “signals” they calculate themselves. Here’s what actually matters for benchmarking:
Useful metrics: - Funding raised and investor quality: Shows market confidence, but don’t confuse money with momentum. - Employee growth: Good proxy for scaling, but watch for companies growing headcount without revenue. - Customer/partner announcements: Signals traction in real markets. - Patent filings and R&D activity: Only if IP is central to your space. - Product launches or pivots: Who’s actually shipping?
Overhyped or misleading: - Web/social “buzz” scores: These can be gamed or reflect hype cycles. - Market cap for public companies: Useful, but not always comparable to private firms. - “Mosaic” scores: CB Insights’ own algorithm. Can be a starting point, but don’t take it as gospel—dig into the details.
Pro tip: Pick 3-5 core metrics that actually track to your business goals. Ignore the rest.
5. Pull the Data (Don’t Get Lost in Filters)
Now it’s time to get your hands dirty.
How to actually do it: 1. Search for your company and your comparison set. Save them to a Collection. 2. Use the Comparison tool. This lets you see your set side-by-side across funding, employees, patents, etc. 3. Apply filters, but lightly. Too many filters and you’ll accidentally exclude useful data. 4. Export to CSV if you need to. Sometimes it’s easier to play with the numbers in Excel or Google Sheets.
What to watch out for: - Data gaps: Especially for private companies, some info is estimated or missing. Treat these as directional, not precise. - Out-of-date profiles: Always check the “last updated” date on a company profile. - Companies with multiple entities: Some big firms show up under several different names—make sure you’re comparing apples to apples.
6. Make Sense of the Results (No Magic Bullets Here)
You’ve got your data. Now what?
Look for: - Relative position: Are you ahead, behind, or in the middle of the pack on your chosen metrics? - Trends over time: Maybe your funding looks small, but your growth rate is higher than the “leaders.” - Obvious gaps: Are industry leaders filing way more patents? Opening new offices? Entering new markets?
Avoid: - Paralysis by analysis: The perfect benchmark doesn’t exist. Look for patterns, not perfection. - Copycat thinking: Just because “Company X” raised $100M doesn’t mean you should too. Context matters.
If you hit a wall: Sometimes the data doesn’t match your gut. That’s ok—use it as a conversation starter with your team, not the final word.
7. Go Beyond the Numbers (Where CB Insights Can’t Help Much)
CB Insights is great for hard data, but it can’t tell you: - Why a leader’s product is actually taking off. - How customers feel about a competitor’s service. - What’s happening inside a company’s walls.
So: - Pair the data with your own customer interviews, market research, and industry gossip. - Don’t treat CB Insights as a crystal ball. It’s a tool, not a strategy.
8. Keep It Fresh (But Don’t Obsess)
Benchmarking isn’t a one-and-done thing, but you don’t need to check CB Insights every week either.
A good rhythm: - Quarterly: Update your comparison set and check key metrics. - Before big decisions: New product, funding round, or market entry? Use CB Insights to check your assumptions. - If something big happens: Major competitor acquisition or funding news? Worth a quick look.
Don’t: Fall into the trap of chasing every metric update. Most “signals” move slowly.
9. What to Skip (Trust Me, You’ll Thank Yourself)
There’s a lot in CB Insights you can safely ignore for benchmarking: - Predictive rankings and “hotness” lists: Fun to read, but often based on self-fulfilling hype cycles. - Overly broad industry landscapes: If you’re a B2B SaaS startup, you don’t need to benchmark against the entire “AI” sector. - “Company Signals” you don’t understand: If you can’t explain it to your team, it’s probably not worth tracking.
Focus on what actually helps you make better decisions—not what looks flashy in a slide deck.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Benchmarking with CB Insights can give you a reality check, spot gaps, and maybe even spark a few new ideas. But don’t get bogged down chasing perfect data or obsessing over every last metric. Pick what matters, check in regularly, and use what you learn to take action.
At the end of the day, benchmarking is a tool—not a substitute for actually talking to customers or building something great. Keep it simple, stay skeptical, and keep moving forward.