Notes from analyst briefings.

Kept over several years of briefings, from both sides of the table.

Overheard. A founder told the analyst, "we're the only ones doing this." She smiled and wrote something down. I later found out she keeps a count. We were the fourth "only" of her day.

Misheard. For one whole quarter I heard "agentic" as "agnostic." Nobody noticed, including me. The sentences worked fine either way. That says more about the sentences than about my hearing.

Learned. An analyst is not a journalist and not a buyer. An analyst is drawing a map. You get thirty minutes to hand over one clear sentence they can place on it. If your sentence is vague, they will write their own from memory. You will not like their version.

Overheard. "All the decks look the same this quarter. I check the fonts to tell them apart." I wrote that down three years before I wrote the lead essay. It waited.

Learned. New category words are born in these rooms. An analyst tries a word out loud. Vendors hear it and start repeating it back. Two quarters later it is on every homepage, definition still pending. Watch a word get born once and you spend them more carefully forever.

Learned late. Our best briefing was the one where the CEO got asked "what don't you do" and answered without a pause. His exact sentence showed up in her report.