GLG
Expert Network & Survey alternative data provider · 1 listed dataset
Datasets from GLG (1)
GLG (Gerson Lehrman Group, Inc.) is a global information services company that operates the world's largest expert network, matching business and investment professionals with subject-matter experts for consultations, surveys, events, and related primary research.[1][2] The company states that it works with approximately 1.2 million professionals across industries, roles, and geographies.[2]
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in New York City, GLG pioneered the commercial expert network model. It reported roughly 3,000 employees and about $650 million of revenue in 2021, when it was described as the largest firm in its category.[1]
What It Does
GLG's core product is the expert call: one-on-one telephone or video conversations between a client and a vetted network member with relevant operating experience.[2] Clients use these calls for market diligence, competitive intelligence, idea generation, and problem-solving across strategy, operations, and investment decisions.
The company frames its offer around "experience-based insight" and positions itself as the platform for trusted human expertise, complementing traditional equity research and management consulting rather than replacing them.[2]
Products
GLG's stated solution portfolio comprises:[2]
- GLG Calls: one-on-one, multiparty, or translated conversations with experts.
- GLG Surveys: quantitative B2B research drawn from the expert network.
- GLG Integrated Insights: combined offerings such as market assessments, company research studies, and competitive landscape analyses.
- GLG Qualitative: focus groups, workshops, discussion panels, and moderated sessions.
- GLG Events: virtual and live roundtables, webcasts, and teleconferences with experts.
- GLG Library: subscription access to event transcripts and replays.
Buyers And Use Cases
The company organizes its go-to-market around five buyer groups: financial services firms, private equity funds, consulting firms, law firms, and corporations.[2] Its first customers were investors, and much of its early growth came from the investment community before it expanded to strategy consultancies and corporates in the mid-2000s.[1]
Typical engagements include due diligence ahead of acquisitions, willingness-to-pay and pricing studies, market entry assessments, and short-term advisory placements of executives on transformation projects.[2]
Compliance
The expert network business model has drawn regulatory scrutiny over insider trading risks, and GLG has developed extensive compliance controls as a result. Its policies prohibit consultants from sharing nonpublic information about their employer or any public company and from breaching ethical or legal restrictions on their knowledge.[1]
The company markets what it describes as one of the most robust compliance frameworks for primary research, developed with thousands of clients, companies, and experts.[2]
History
GLG was founded in 1998 by Yale Law School graduates Mark Gerson and Thomas Lehrman. It began as a publishing house producing industry guidebooks for institutional investors but abandoned publishing in 1999 after discovering clients preferred direct conversations with experts, launching subscriptions to its expert network instead.[1]
Alexander Saint-Amand served as president and CEO until 2018, when Paul Todd, formerly of eBay, took over as CEO.[1] The company raised private equity backing from Silver Lake Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, and SFW Capital Partners, which invested over $200 million in 2015.[1]
In October 2021 GLG filed publicly for an IPO but withdrew the offering in March 2022.[1] By 2021 the firm had more than 3,000 employees and offices spanning 22 cities in 12 countries.[1]
Landscape
GLG is generally considered the largest of the expert networks by revenue and network size, ahead of rivals such as Guidepoint, Third Bridge, AlphaSense-hosted communities, and newer entrants including Dialectica, proSapient, and Tegus.[1] Its scale advantage rests on network breadth, compliance infrastructure, and brand recognition among consultancies and buy-side firms.[1]
As a primary-research intermediary, GLG differs from dataset vendors such as YipitData: its output is bespoke human insight rather than packaged data feeds, though survey and transcript products increasingly blur that line.[2]
More datasets from GLG
GLG lists 1 datasets on this encyclopedia. The most representative listings:
More about Expert Networks & Surveys
Expert Networks & Surveys is one of the signal families covered by The Alternative Data Encyclopedia, with 24 providers and 27 datasets listed in the register. For how the signal is generated, its caveats and the compliance considerations, and the full provider list, see the category article.