This post originally appeared on the Crash blog by Jérémy Chevallier.
How to discover tech companies? Head to Crunchbase. Crunchbase is a mass directory of live data on companies, investment firms, accelerators, basically any player in the venture/startup world. Most of this data is self-reported from the startups or investors, but Crunchbase is similar to Wikipedia in that anyone can edit a page if they have information to contribute. These contributions are closely verified by the team to ensure accuracy and freshness.
When you’re searching for companies, you can use Crunchbase Pro (do a free trial) to filter by what they do, where they are, and more.
Filters to discover tech companies
Operating status
This is the most important thing to check for. Make sure you’re always looking for active companies, otherwise you’re going to get frustrated when you spend your precious time pitching to companies that have folded or are dying.
HQ Location
If you’re looking in your area, make sure you’re filtering by geographic region(s). If you want to work virtually, you may want to at least make sure they are in a country that speak the same language as you, or in timezones not too far from yours.
Industry/Category
Discover tech companies that match your interests. There are nearly countless companies in every sector, so narrow your search down to 2-3 at a time and see what you get.
Investment stage, funding amount, and funding dates
Tech companies often raise money from investors, and burning that cash to innovate, learn, market, and ultimately grow. Typically startups will raise for an 18-month runway, meaning they are trying to use up all their funds within 18 months (testing and growing aggressively).
Look for companies that have raised enough money that they can afford you, recently enough that they still have it. If it’s been a long time since they raised, or if they haven’t raised very much (less than $500,000) then that is a good sign they may not be ready for you.
If you want to crash into an early-stage company, your sweet spot is between Pre-Seed and Series B rounds of funding. Beyond Series B, they’ve probably got a typical hiring process, and a Crash pitch won’t do much more than get a good reaction from the recruiter.
Company size
This is another good indicator of a company’s “Crashability.” Companies with small teams (1-10 employees) are far more likely to be managing the hiring process themselves, rather than outsourcing to a recruiter. Companies with larger teams (100+) are federally regulated, and can’t really fast-track you if you blow them away. They have to treat every applicant exactly the same way.
Monthly visits/monthly visits growth
These are very useful filters if you’re looking to pitch companies on content marketing/SEO/social media services. Many companies want to grow organically, meaning they don’t have to pay for traffic. If you can help them do that, this is the filter to use to find the ones that need you.
Mobile app downloads in the last 30 days
This is another useful filter if you’re looking to pitch your services marketing a mobile app, both across the web and specifically on the App Store / Google Play store. App Store Optimization (ASO) is a huge market.
Daily active users (Apptopia)
This filter is super useful if you’re pitching yourself as a product preson and are looking for companies whose app isn’t doing as well as they’d like.
Discover Tech Companies: Examples of filter combinations
US-based consumer startups with small teams
Operating Status: Active
Location: United States
Categories: Consumer, Consumer Goods, Consumer Electronics, Consumer Software
Number of Employees: 1-10, 11-50
Early-stage companies that recently raised enough money to hire you
Operating Status: Active
Last Funding Date: The past year
Last Funding Amount: $250K – $1M
Mid-stage software tech companies struggling with organic growth
Operating Status: Active
Categories: Software, Enterprise Software, Consumer Software
Monthly Visits: less than or equal to 5,000
Monthly Visits Growth: less than or equal to 10%
Remember—the more personalized you are in your approach, the more people will feel that you’re a real human trying to build a real relationship, and the more success you’ll have in your career building efforts!
