Articles & Research
Essays, industry perspectives, and research from our team and contributors.
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13 entries
What Expert Networks Actually Do
A guide to the expert network industry: what the product actually is, the use cases it gets bought for, how a project runs, why the compliance stack exists, and how to tell whether you are getting the good version.
TCE Research Team · Aug 25, 2026
The Art of the Former Employee Interview
Former employees are the most underutilized source of competitive intelligence. Here is how to run those conversations.
TCE Research Team · Aug 25, 2026
How AI Is Reshaping Expert Networks
AI is transforming how expert networks source, match, and deliver insight. What it means for research teams and deal professionals.
TCE Research Team · Aug 25, 2026
You Just Chip Away Everything That Doesn't Look Like David
What a Renaissance sculptor teaches you about sourcing experts in messy, low-visibility markets: you do not manufacture the answer, you remove everything that clearly is not it.
Chris Leach · Jul 29, 2026
The Empty Seat
Why an airline would rather fly a premium seat empty than sell it cheap, and the short chain of companies that sets the price in your hand.
Chris Leach · Jul 19, 2026
Oh, SNAP! How the Junk-Food Rollback Reprices America's Packaged-Food Complex
How new SNAP restrictions on junk food ripple through the packaged-food complex, with a 54-name map of who is most exposed across public equities.
Chris Leach · Jul 18, 2026
The 5 Consultants: Archetypes from an Expert Network
A field guide to the five kinds of consultant TCE encounters on the other end of expert-network engagements - who builds the business, who burns the hours, and what each archetype says about how this industry actually works.
Chris Leach · Jun 8, 2026
OPEC Fractures - The New Middle East Energy Order
UAE left OPEC on May 1. The exit formalizes a regional realignment with compound effects across cartel pricing, the petrodollar, and Saudi strategy.
Chris Leach · May 12, 2026
The Textbook We're Living In: Keynesian Wartime Economics
Defense spending is reshaping the US economy exactly as Keynesian macro predicts. Where the 2026 surge is landing - and which chapter comes next.
Chris Leach · Apr 26, 2026
Pain at the Pump
A founder's read on what is actually moving fuel prices right now, and why the headline numbers miss the operator-level story.
Chris Leach · Apr 13, 2026
You're Getting Recycled Experts. Here's Why.
The difference between database matching and precision sourcing, and why it matters for your next engagement.
TCE Research Team · Feb 20, 2026
How to Get More from a 45-Minute Expert Call
Most expert calls underdeliver because clients show up unprepared. A practical guide to structuring calls that move decisions.
TCE Research Team · Feb 15, 2026
The IC Deck Is Due in Two Weeks. Here Is How to Run Commercial Diligence That Fast.
A tactical guide for deal teams running commercial due diligence on compressed timelines.
TCE Research Team · Feb 10, 2026