Hoover’s: At an Inflection Point, Pursuing Goal of Faster Path to Business

Hoover’s came into being 18 years ago as a pioneer, has maintained revenue growth of 20% or more since 2004, and is now a bellwether $107.5 million company at a critical stage in its life cycle. Hoover’s provides sales, marketing, and business development decision-makers in primarily small-to-midsized businesses with company, executive, and industry profiles that are widely used for new business development and competitive intelligence. Analyzing the plan that Hoover’s is deploying to manage the changing expectations of its user base and the new competition it faces from web scrapers and startups offers guidance for other information companies. This report contains:

- Company highlights, including an overview of role-based services and a table summarizing product offerings;
- A profile of sales and marketing professionals’ information needs, including types of information used, unmet information needs, and opinion of paid vs. free content;
- Details of Hoover’s competitive landscape;
- Analysis of the factors that make Hoover’s unique;
- Essential actions for publishers and information providers.