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The VC Playbook: How to Spot a Purple Cow in Crowded Pastures

By Barbara Tague, Financial Research Leader

The venture capital landscape is pivoting to a stage of accelerated capital deployment as investment periods narrow and macroeconomic conditions burgeon. With a crowded marketplace and a sense of underlying urgency, how do investors spot coveted startups in this environment?

In this playbook, we leverage insights from Harry Stebbings of 20VC to answer this question among others, including: What are the characteristics of successful early stage companies? Which unconventional criteria play an important role in securing deals?

About the Author
  • Barbara Tague, Financial Research Leader

    Barb is a Financial Research Leader covering the financial services segment at AlphaSense. Previously, she spent more than a decade at institutional investment managers and at a SaaS startup leading business development, content, and product initiatives.

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APAC Macro Briefing 2026: Risk Meets Opportunity

In this report, we show how resources and workflows available in the AlphaSense platform can help contextualize the APAC macro environment, exploring the key implications for corporate leaders and investors across sectors.
Title slide for "APAC Macro Briefing 2026: Risk Meets Opportunity" with a map of the Asia-Pacific region.

Top AI Use Cases for Private Equity

In this report, discover how private equity teams are leveraging AI to accelerate conviction with speed. With purpose built, AI-driven solutions like AlphaSense, teams are gaining a competitive advantage with custom workflows and unmatched content sets for the most differentiated deal intelligence.
Top AI Use Cases For Private Equity by Barb Tague, Financial Research Leader. Illustration featuring isometric buildings and currency symbols.

AI in Drug Development 2026: From Experimentation to Execution

Learn how AI is reshaping drug development in real time, turning AI execution into a key competitive differentiator.
Presentation slide titled "AI in Drug Development 2026: From Experimentation to Execution" by Sara Mallatt and Sean Carmichael, with line art of laboratory equipment.

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