When scoping out who's making waves in your industry (be it an influencer or a competitor), use these tools to keep your finger on the pulse of what's happening in your specific niche.
A. Angel.co and TechCrunch
Angel.co and TechCrunch.com are my favorite tools for researching competitors and relevant industry influencers. What I think is particularly helpful about Angel.co is that it lists the funding companies have received, as well as all of the social media accounts of the company's top executives. I like TechCrunch because they are generally the first to post breaking, pertinent info about startups. - Maria Zorn, LugIt
A. CB Insights
CB Insights is the ultimate tool when keeping track of mergers, acquisitions, layoffs, product releases, people on the move, funding and trends in your industry and in the wide world of technology. I have three tabs open every day and this is the one that keeps my finger on the pulse of my industry niche. - Christian Blake, Modern Coalition
A. Clutch Research
What's most interesting to me about competitors is what kinds of relationships they're building with their clients. Clutch Research is a great platform to see in-depth reviews of marketing and creative agencies and get a sense of what sets certain agencies apart, what their pricing is like and what their clients genuinely think of them. - Kathryn Hawkins, Eucalypt Media
A. Owler
Owler allows our team to keep an eye on competitors, specifically relating to their media stream, content publishing and general outlook. It also allows us to share bite-sized data on our competitors across our entire team. - Ryan O'Connell, LaunchKC
A. SpyFu and BuzzSumo
From a marketing perspective, I like using SpyFu to research competitors. This tool provides data on ranking competitive keywords, AdWords campaigns, backlink profiles and more. BuzzSumo works very well for quickly identifying what content is working well in any industry and identifying the major influencers. - Antonio Calabrese, Boonle
A. Moz
If you're trying to better understand your established competitors, chances are they have a good online presence. Toolslike Moz or SpyFu.com (which both have 30 day free trials) can help you find related companies and learn how they are marketing themselves and who is talking about them. They may also help you find gaps in their marketing that you can leverage. - Dale Beermann, Pacifica Labs Inc.
These answers are provided by members of FounderSociety, an invitation-only organization comprised of ambitious startup founders and business owners.