Tech Insights: Maximize GLG & AI in 2026

Getting started with expert insights can feel like unlocking a cheat code for your business, especially in the fast-paced world of technology. I’ve personally seen how a few hours with the right specialist can shave months off a product development cycle or completely reframe a market strategy. Forget endless internal debates; sometimes, what you need is someone who has already walked the path and can tell you precisely where the landmines are. But how do you actually tap into this reservoir of knowledge effectively?

1. Define Your Core Questions and Knowledge Gaps

Before you even think about reaching out to an expert, you absolutely must clarify what you’re trying to learn. This sounds obvious, right? Yet, I’ve seen countless teams jump onto expert calls with vague objectives, ending up with interesting but ultimately unactionable information. My advice: treat this step like you’re building a product requirements document. What problem are you trying to solve? What specific decisions are you facing?

For instance, if my team is exploring a new AI-driven cybersecurity solution, my core questions might revolve around market adoption rates for similar technologies, common integration challenges for enterprise clients, or the regulatory hurdles expected in the next 18 months. I’d start by interviewing my internal sales, engineering, and legal teams. What do they not know? Where are they making assumptions? Document these gaps rigorously. A simple spreadsheet listing “Question,” “Current Assumption,” and “Needed Insight” works wonders. This structured approach ensures you’re not just fishing for general knowledge, but targeting specific data points that will move your project forward.

Pro Tip: Prioritize your questions. Not all knowledge gaps are equal. Focus on those that, if answered, would have the biggest impact on your strategic direction or product roadmap. Sometimes, a single well-placed question can unravel an entire false premise.

Common Mistake: Going into expert calls without a clear hypothesis. If you don’t know what you’re trying to prove or disprove, you’ll struggle to guide the conversation and extract value.

2. Choose the Right Expert Network Platform

Once you know what you need, it’s time to find who can provide it. In 2026, the expert insight landscape is dominated by a few key players. For high-level strategic insights and access to C-suite executives, GLG (Gerson Lehrman Group) remains a titan. Their network is vast, and their vetting process is thorough. If you’re looking for more granular technical expertise or faster turnaround times, platforms like AlphaSights or Third Bridge (especially for public market intelligence) are excellent alternatives. For specialized areas like biotech or specific hardware engineering, smaller, niche networks often provide unparalleled depth. I always recommend exploring at least two to three platforms during your initial search.

When selecting a platform, consider a few factors:

• Network Depth: Does the platform have a strong presence in your specific industry or technology domain? I once needed insights on advanced quantum computing architectures, and a smaller, academic-focused network provided much richer perspectives than a generalist one.
• Pricing Model: Most operate on an hourly consultation fee, but some offer subscription packages for frequent users. Understand the cost structure upfront.
• Vetting Process: How thoroughly do they screen their experts? Reputable platforms will have robust compliance checks to prevent conflicts of interest.

My team recently used AlphaSights for a project involving supply chain logistics for edge computing hardware. We needed to understand potential bottlenecks in manufacturing in Southeast Asia. Their platform allowed us to filter by region, specific manufacturing processes, and even years of experience. We found a former operations director from a major semiconductor firm who gave us invaluable, granular details we couldn’t have sourced anywhere else.

3. Develop a Detailed Expert Briefing and Discussion Guide

This step is where the rubber meets the road. A well-crafted briefing document and discussion guide are paramount for a productive expert call. Think of it as your roadmap for the conversation. I typically create a one-page briefing for the expert and a more extensive, internal discussion guide for my team.

The expert briefing should include:

• Project Context: A brief, high-level overview of your project and why you’re seeking their insights. Keep it concise; they don’t need your life story.
• Key Objectives: State clearly what you hope to learn. “We aim to understand the typical sales cycle for enterprise SaaS solutions in the healthcare sector” is far better than “We want to talk about sales.”
• Specific Questions: List 5-7 core questions you want answered. This helps the expert prepare and ensures you cover your most critical areas.

Your internal discussion guide will be more detailed, including follow-up questions, areas to probe deeper, and any internal assumptions you want to validate. I use a simple Google Docs template for this. For example, if I’m asking about market size, my internal guide might include: “If they give a number, ask about their methodology. What data sources are they using? Are they including adjacent markets?”

Pro Tip: Share the briefing document with the expert at least 24 hours in advance. This allows them to gather their thoughts and ensures a more focused discussion. It’s a sign of respect for their time.

4. Conduct the Expert Call with Precision

The call itself is an art. I always recommend having at least two people from your team on the call: one to lead the discussion and one to take detailed notes. Use a recording tool (with the expert’s permission, of course) like Grain or Otter.ai for transcription. This frees you up to actively listen and engage, rather than furiously scribbling.

Start by reiterating the call’s objectives. Then, systematically work through your discussion guide. Don’t be afraid to interrupt politely if the expert veers off-topic. Your time (and their time, which you’re paying for) is valuable. Ask open-ended questions to encourage detailed answers, but also be prepared with specific follow-ups to drill down into specifics. For instance, instead of “Is the market growing?”, ask “What are the primary drivers of growth in this market, and what specific metrics do you track to confirm that growth?”

A crucial part of this step is active listening. Pay attention not just to what they say, but how they say it. Are they confident? Are they speculating? Do they have direct experience with the specific problem you’re asking about? I once had an expert who was brilliant in theory but lacked practical implementation experience, which became clear when I pressed for details on actual project timelines and budget allocations. That distinction is vital.

Common Mistake: Letting the expert dominate the conversation without guiding them to your specific needs. Remember, you’re paying for their insight into your problem, not a general lecture.

5. Transcribe, Analyze, and Synthesize Findings

The call isn’t over when you hang up. The real work begins afterwards. Immediately after the call, review your notes and the transcription. I use Grain’s AI summary features, which are fantastic for quickly identifying key themes and action items. I then manually go through the transcript, highlighting direct answers to my core questions and any surprising insights.

Synthesize these findings into a concise summary. For our edge computing project, after several expert calls, we created a “Market Opportunity Summary” document. It included: “Key Market Drivers (Validated),” “Primary Adoption Barriers (Identified),” and “Competitive Landscape Insights (Refined).” We then cross-referenced these insights with our internal data and existing market research reports from firms like Gartner or Forrester. This triangulation is vital for validating expert opinions against broader industry trends. Remember, an expert’s view is just that: one view. It needs to be contextualized.

Case Study: Last year, my team was developing a new API management platform. We had an internal debate about pricing tiers for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). We conducted five expert calls with former product managers from successful SaaS companies. The consensus, based on their experience, was that a freemium model with a clear upgrade path significantly outperformed tiered subscription models for SMBs in the first 12 months. Specifically, three experts independently cited a 15-20% higher conversion rate from free to paid users within 6 months for freemium. This insight directly led us to pivot our pricing strategy, resulting in a 12% increase in user acquisition in Q3 2025 compared to our projections under the original tiered model. We used the insights to inform our A/B tests and saw clear validation.

6. Integrate Insights and Iterate

The final step is to actually use what you’ve learned. Expert insights are worthless if they just sit in a document. Integrate them into your decision-making processes. Update your product roadmap, refine your marketing messages, or adjust your strategic priorities. Sometimes, an insight might even lead you to abandon a project, which, while painful, is ultimately a successful outcome if it prevents wasted resources.

I always schedule a follow-up meeting with my core team to discuss the synthesized insights. We then create specific action items and assign owners. For example, if an expert highlighted a critical security vulnerability in a competing product, our action item might be “Engineering to conduct a deep dive into [specific security protocol] and assess its robustness by [date].”

Expert insights aren’t a one-and-done deal. The technology landscape evolves constantly. What was true six months ago might be outdated today. Consider expert calls as a continuous feedback loop, a way to regularly sanity-check your assumptions and stay informed about emerging trends. I typically recommend revisiting key strategic questions with new experts every 6-12 months for critical initiatives. It’s an investment that consistently pays dividends in reduced risk and accelerated growth.

Harnessing expert insights effectively can be the difference between guessing and knowing. By following a structured approach, you transform anecdotal opinions into actionable intelligence that drives real business outcomes.