While collaborating with a Data & AI podcast series Let's Talk About Data!, we discovered that hundreds of niche, high-quality Data & AI tools exist across the globe — yet most enterprises are only aware of a handful.
This raised a critical question:
Why are all those strong Data & AI tools invisible to the customer base?
35+
Countries with vendors and increasing
100s
Of niche tools tracked globally
The Visibility Problem
Why startups and smaller vendors rarely qualify for analyst recognition — even when they excel at solving real business problems.
How Gartner Shows
How Forrester Shows
Why?
Gartner & Forrester applies strict eligibility criteria — vendors often need:
- • Minimum enterprise implementations across multiple geographies
- • Revenue thresholds and funding stability
- • Recognition in analyst or customer surveys
- • Broad feature sets, not just single capabilities
This means startups and smaller vendors rarely qualify — even if they excel at solving a real business problem.
What we will make visible!
These companies don't meet Gartner or Forrester eligibility criteria but are often single-feature specialists that solve problems faster and cheaper, staying invisible to enterprise buyers despite being enterprise-ready.
Why Analysts Miss Them
Gartner & Forrester apply strict eligibility criteria:
- Minimum enterprise implementations across multiple geographies
- Revenue thresholds and funding stability
- Broad feature sets, not just single capabilities
- Recognition in analyst or customer surveys
The Consequence
-
Customers default to "Leaders"
And pay for large, complex platforms
-
Only 30-40% of features ever used
But enterprises pay for 100%
-
Smaller vendors with laser-focused solutions
Could solve the pain point at a fraction of the cost — but never make it onto the radar
Our Role
We extend the horizon by making niche, high-quality startups and SME vendors visible:
Pain Points & Resolutions
You're Not Seeing the Full Market — And It's Costing You
Enterprises continue to face three recurring challenges:
High R&D Budgets
Wasted on long discovery cycles
Resolution
Reduce R&D time by rapidly identifying the most relevant tools
Blind Spots
80-90% of niche tools never reach evaluation
Resolution
Provide visibility into the most suitable niche and high-quality tools globally
Overpayments
60-70% extra for underutilized platforms
Resolution
Enable access to tools that deliver high value without unnecessary cost
By bridging this gap, we reduce R&D time, expand visibility into global innovation, and enable access to tools that deliver higher value at lower cost.
Cost of Inaction
When the visibility gap remains unaddressed, enterprises face compounding risks:
Multi-year contracts & proprietary architectures
Restrict flexibility and delay change
Vendor Lock-InCompetitors adopt agile, niche tools
Move faster and innovate ahead while you fall behind
Innovation Lag / Lost Competitive AdvantageOutdated or misfit tools
Create workarounds, manual processes, and costly integrations
Growing Technical DebtOverpaying for mega-vendor solutions
Overbuilt, underutilized, or misaligned with needs
Higher Total Cost of OwnershipClosing this gap isn't optional — it's the difference between keeping pace and falling permanently behind.
The Next Wave of Data & AI Products
Enterprise transformations will not be led by legacy vendors like Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, Informatica, etc.
Rather, they will be driven by Specialized, Agile Technologies
The New Life of a Data Product
Traditional vs New Era — From Months, sometimes, into Minutes/Seconds!
| Phase | Traditional | New Era |
|---|---|---|
| Ideation & Discovery | Business identifies a need, months of research | AI agents autonomously surface needs from patterns — instant inception |
| Design & Assembly | Data models, pipelines, frameworks — weeks to months | Auto-generated pipelines, schema, docs. Assembly drops to hours or minutes |
| Execution & Consumption | Data product goes live — lifespan measured in years | Data product may serve a single query, then retire. Lifespan can be minutes |
| Sunset or Evolution | Decommissioning or upgrades every 1-3 years | Automated retirement or mutation into a new product within seconds |
Why Listen to Us?
Collaboration with podcast series Let's Talk About Data! brings unique, vast knowledge and value from across the globe.
We're not guessing the gap — we've mapped it!
Global Reach
Host of Let's Talk About Data!
80+ episodes, 35+ countries, and growing...
Tool Discovery
Mapped the Market
Tracked 100s of niche & high-quality Data & AI tools globally
Community Influence
Massive Reach
50,000+ direct and 3+ million indirect reach to Data & AI communities
Engage us for a curated discovery pilot
We'd love the opportunity to present a detailed look at what we do — and how we make it happen.
Get in Touch