The only thing we really use outside of "public" data is Hoovers.com.
Commission research?
We have not to date, but I think you certainly could / would at a certain point. Think of it as an iterative process, where you're constantly trying to hone in and develop a progressively narrow, sharper, more accurate market hypothesis. IF you reach a point where you need to commission custom research from a research firm, then by all means, do it. Just note that that kind of thing can be very expensive, so you'd probably want to wait until it's truly called for.
There are also a lot of "stock" research reports out there that you can get your hands on... a lot of times you can get them for free by accessing them through a local library, where they might cost hundreds or thousands of dollars if you bought them outright.
The only thing we really use outside of "public" data is Hoovers.com.
Commission research?
We have not to date, but I think you certainly could / would at a certain point. Think of it as an iterative process, where you're constantly trying to hone in and develop a progressively narrow, sharper, more accurate market hypothesis. IF you reach a point where you need to commission custom research from a research firm, then by all means, do it. Just note that that kind of thing can be very expensive, so you'd probably want to wait until it's truly called for.
There are also a lot of "stock" research reports out there that you can get your hands on... a lot of times you can get them for free by accessing them through a local library, where they might cost hundreds or thousands of dollars if you bought them outright.