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Exploring Data Providers: Best Sources for Revenue and Employee Count Insights

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I'm a growth manager at an enterprise security & networking start-up. We are looking at Clay. Can someone help me understand a few things? First - is there a good source out there for research on which data provider has the best data for a single account data point (e.g. revenue?). I'm sure someone has done research on this, including Clay. I've heard repeatedly that especially for revenue, ZoomInfo has the best data. Why is that? How about for number of employees - anyone seen any research on who is best? My ultimate point here - Clay is attractive since they'll manage those data provider relationships. I want to get a peek behind the curtain on who has the best data and why. Thanks!

  • Avatar of Jacob T.
    Jacob T.
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    Hey Jonathan L. - welcome to the community. It's exciting that you're checking out Clay!

    is there a good source out there for research on which data provider has the best data for a single account data point (e.g. revenue?).|

    I ran a study with Clay on data provider quality. It's different depending on the data point (as you already mentioned) and this is a moving target... but I'll link to a few of my studies below:

    Eric from Growth Engine X also published a study on the best work email providers.

    I've heard repeatedly that especially for revenue, ZoomInfo has the best data. Why is that?

    To be honest, I'm not sure if this is true. I've heard from MANY people ZI data is pretty bad and way overpriced. Furthermore, I wouldn't trust revenue enrichment data unless you're selling to public companies who disclose their revenue in 10k reports etc. Private companies don't disclose their revenue, and therefore there's no consistent way to tell a private company's revenue from company to company, especially in different industries. Some industries can have tremendous revenue with small headcount, whereas others need tons of people relative to their revenue. Think roofing contractors vs saas founders or e-com stores. I would use another proxy for revenue if I were you, like headcount, or whatever is relevant in your industry.

    How about for number of employees - anyone seen any research on who is best?

    LinkedIn headcount is definitely the best in most cases, and this is available in Clay with the "Enrich Company" integration. It's really linkedin data, updated ~once every 30 days. Hope this helps!

  • Avatar of Jonathan L.
    Jonathan L.
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    Hey Jacob - really great feedback. You hit all the points for me - every data point is different. For example, it seems that People Data Labs specializes in headcount data and has some interesting ways of getting that data beyond LinkedIn, or maybe more advanced based on a few reports I read over the weekend. Revenue for private companies is indeed a tough one. Seems like most providers are inferring revenue based on head count so even more important that you get headcount right when revenue is downstream from it.

  • Avatar of Jacob T.
    Jacob T.
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    For sure! Jonathan L.