What is the best way for a start up to get in front of Gartner?

This may be a trick question. Why? Based on a finger to the wind, the majority of startups in 2011 are seemingly B2C versus the B2B trend that we witnessed in 1990's and early 2000's. And if you are a B2C startup, save your time and money by thinking about other initiatives as Gartner exerts little-to-no influence in the B2C world.

The myth around overnight B2C success as celebrated in the hit movie, "The Social Network," is sucking all of the investment and talent oxygen out of room, which is taking a toll on B2B's of late. Witness a B2C like Instagram: They have exceeded over a million users and their "About Us" page has exactly two (2) team members. Do they need Gartner? Not in your life - heck, they barely have time for SecondMarket to value their rapidly rising fortunes.

If you are a B2B startup, the good advice provided by Nancy Nardin and Jeremy Pepper (no relation) is helpful. And hitchhiking on that valuable advice, may I humbly offer this:

Gartner likes to classify the world of enterprise IT in TLA's (Three Letter Acronyms) like HCM, CRM, ECM, ERP, MRP, PPM, etc. If your start-up doesn't map to the established TLA taxonomy, you are faced with the daunting task of becoming the first mover in a new TLA. While it can be done, it will take longer and more money to get the desired traction at Gartner.

That said, this is why robust Q&A sites like FOCUS, Quora and LinkedIn Answers are gaining greater influence within the enterprise. "Neo-B@B" startups are looking to disrupt and Q&A sites are fellow travelers on the road to innovation.

Here are my recommendations for helping start ups to get in front of analysts:

1) Be succinct and clear about your company's objectives, value proposition and business model (including your target audience, market potential, competitors and existing marketshare). Market share will depend on what stage you are and how mature your industry is.

2) While most companies prepare a presentation for the analysts, I recommend looking outside of the box. Can you communicate point 1 in a video? Can an infographic visually communicate this better? If you opt for a presentation, keep it to 10-12 slides.

3) Research the appropriate analysts for your industry/company. Gartner (and other analyst firms) provides analyst bios, areas of expertise and past research reports on its website. Identify the top 2-3 analysts who are most appropriate in your area or for your upcoming announcement.

4) Complete the briefing request form on the website. The briefing form will ask for information about your company, founders, and other pertinent information. Be as clear as possible in your responses.

Typically, you can arrange to brief key analysts once a year without being a customer. In the case of product announcements, the analyst may make an exception to meet with you again, but you must distinguish between “incremental” improvements to your tech and within your space to something “innovative” that will change the dynamics of the existing paradigm.

5) If possible, schedule the meeting in person. If the analyst is not local to you, then consider coordinating your business travel dates to coincide with the briefing or plan a larger media/analyst tour.

If you’re meeting over the phone, all calls are recorded. The recordings serve as a resource for analysts who are unable to attend.

6) Consider engaging a Gartner sales person to assist in the process. Why? They want to demonstrate their value to entice you to become a paying customer. The sales person will help coordinate with the analyst’s calendar and may also provide you with a sample report or two written by that analyst.

7) Analysts also list what their upcoming research is. If there is a research project related to your industry, then connect with the analyst. Make sure to tailor your communication based on the report. For example, the analyst may want to speak with Fortune 500 customers versus do an overview of the technology.

These are just a few tips to get in front of the analyst.

The easiest was is becoming a client/customer of Gartner. It costs money - a bit of money - but then the analysts are available for counsel (depending on the subscription) as well as for briefings. And, if you have a service or product that hits certain verticals, you can also speak with those analysts and brief them (not as often, though).

Or, go the other route and find the appropriate analyst and keep them up-to-date on what you are doing as a company, and ask if they will take a briefing; they will try to sell you the services, but counter with it being important that they are kept up-to-date for the overall view and movement in the space.

Thumbs up to Nancy! I usually don't use this space to endorse, but want to say I have read this PDF from Smart Selling Tools and it is absolutely on the mark. It does take forethought, practice and consistency to pull it off, but very guerilla-like and effective.

But even if you did pay/become a client, this is an invaluable guide to understanding the analyst world and doing it right.