Guidepoint

Guidepoint is an expert network and research platform that connects clients with industry and subject-matter specialists. Its services include individual consultations, surveys, moderated research, interview transcripts, and software for searching and synthesizing expert content.^[1][5].

The business was founded by Albert Sebag in New York in 2003, initially under the name Clinical Advisors.^[2][4] Guidepoint reports that its present network includes more than two million vetted experts and that it serves over 5,000 client organizations; these current scale figures are company disclosures rather than independently audited statistics.^[1]

What It Does

Guidepoint's central activity is matching a client's research question with people who have relevant professional experience. A client may conduct a one-to-one call, commission a survey, or use previously recorded and transcribed interviews.^[1] The company says matching is supported by a proprietary knowledge graph and that experts are sourced, screened, and scheduled for specific projects.^[1]

Unlike a conventional observational-data vendor, Guidepoint primarily produces and organizes human-source research. Its information reflects the experiences and opinions of selected participants, not a complete census of an industry. Users must therefore assess expert selection, question design, recency, and potential conflicts when interpreting the resulting material.

Products And Delivery

The product range includes one-to-one calls, Expert Insights, quantitative surveys, AI-moderated interviews, and Guidepoint360, the company's digital research environment.^[1] Guidepoint360 incorporates a searchable transcript library and AskGP tools; the company also advertises access through an application programming interface and Model Context Protocol integration.^[1]

Guidepoint says its library contains more than 120,000 searchable transcripts covering over 80,000 companies and adds about 5,000 interviews each month.^[1] It states that every library transcript receives a compliance review.^[1][3] These counts and review claims come from Guidepoint. The public pages reviewed do not provide the transcript-selection methodology, retention policy, or complete subscription price schedule.

Buyers And Use Cases

Guidepoint markets its services to institutional investors, investment banks, consulting firms, corporations, and professional-services organizations.^[1] Typical applications include testing an investment thesis, commercial due diligence, market mapping, product research, and obtaining practitioner views on a specialized technical or regulatory question.

Wikipedia describes a subscription model encompassing hourly consultations, events, teleconferences, surveys, and custom research.^[4] Commercial terms are not publicly standardized on the current official pages, and the appropriate service depends on whether a client needs new interviews, quantitative responses, or access to an existing content library.^[1]

Compliance

Expert-network research can create risks when participants discuss confidential or material non-public information. Guidepoint describes controls including expert training, dedicated compliance oversight, project-level restrictions, and review of library transcripts.^[3] Clients remain responsible for their own legal and investment decisions; a provider's screening process cannot make every expert statement accurate or suitable for unrestricted use.

The sector received regulatory attention following insider-trading investigations in 2010. Wikipedia's summary reports that an expert who provided network services was alleged to have supplied confidential information used for trading, but that no charges were brought against Guidepoint.^[4] This history helps explain why compliance procedures are a prominent part of the company's current offering.^[3]

History

Sebag launched Clinical Advisors in 2003 to connect cancer patients with potentially suitable clinical trials.^[4] As the network expanded into additional healthcare and business fields, the company adopted the Guidepoint Global name in 2007.^[4] In 2009 it acquired Vista Research, an expert-network operation previously owned by Standard & Poor's, extending its sector and Asian coverage.^[4]

Guidepoint's own chronology dates its first alternative-data product, Guidepoint Tracker, to 2007 and the introduction of live teleconferences and a transcript library to 2018.^[2] It reports reaching one million advisors in 2021 and launching Guidepoint360, mobile applications, APIs, and AI-assisted research features in 2025.^[2] By 2026 the company claimed 19 offices and more than 2,000 employees.^[2]